1. Two U.S. Senators on Monday unveiled bipartisan legislation aimed at doubling nuclear power in 20 years and increasing funding for research into low carbon sources of energy. Sponsored by Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander and Virginia Democrat Jim Webb, the bill would provide $100 billion in loan guarantees for carbon-free electricity projects, adding to the …
MIT Technology Review covers a proposed hub for connecting the three independent electricity grids that span the continental United States could make it easier to ramp up production of renewable electricity. Only a fraction of 1 percent of the electricity generated in the United States can currently be transferred between the grids, and there is …
Japan’s RIKEN describe a new method to immobilize a given number of oligonucleotides (ODNs) on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in a specific arrangement directed by a geometrical template made of DNA. The basic strategy is as follows. First, a set of thiolated ODNs for immobilization and a nonthiolated template are hybridized to make a DNA nanostructure. …
Nanocomp Technologies, Inc., a developer of energy saving performance materials and component products from carbon nanotubes (CNTs), today announced it has produced and delivered 10 kilometers of its CTex™ CNT yarn to one of its Fortune 100 aerospace customers. Delivering long lengths of CNT yarn further solidifies Nanocomp’s position as the only U.S. commercial company …
Lung tissue is preserved in the Toronto XVIVO Lung Perfusion System developed at the Toronto General Hospital with the aim of repairing lungs prior to transplant. The technique allows for lungs to be removed from a donor and kept at body temperature while being assessed for function and transplant outcome.Credit: Toronto General Hospital A new …
Artificial bacterial flagella are about half as long as the thickness of a human hair. They can swim at a speed of up to one body length per second. This means that they already resemble their natural role models very closely. (Image: Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems/ETH Zurich) ETH Zurich researchers have built micro-robots …
Ray Baughman, director of the Nanotech Institute at UT Dallas, is developing various kinds of carbon-nanotube-based “artificial muscles” for prosthetics and robotics. These materials change shape and size in response to electrical or chemical signals; some expand by up to 1 percent and exert 100 times more force than natural human muscle over the same …
Here is a list of the top ten political risks of 2009 by the Eurasia Group Risk consultancy. The risks1 Congress – The current financial crisis has created an unprecedented space for government interference in economic affairs within developed states. Risk of wasteful and not useful over-regulation like Sarbanes Oxley. Sarbanes Oxley was implemented to …
Light rather than electrical current: The inner or outer surfaces of glass micropipettes can be coated with nanoparticles of a narrow-band-gap semiconductor. When visible or near-infrared light is used for excitation, these micropipettes (labeled PE Stim in the image) can activate nearby neurons (labeled *) in brain tissue without the damage associated with electrical stimulation. …
Showa Denko KK (SDK) has developed VGCFTM-X, a new grade of SDK carbon nanotube with an optimized design for resin composite applications. The company will begin construction of a 400-ton-a-year VGCFTM-X plant at its Oita Complex in March, 2009. The plant, due to start up in 2010, will have a leading cost-competitive position since it …
Nvidia introduced the Cuda development tool in June 2007 to allow scientists to tap into the GPU’s power. More than 50,000 users have downloaded the software By 2012, three of the top five supercomputers in the world will have graphics processors using parallel computing applications to crunch numbers at a clip that’s not possible on …