Replacing carbon atoms in diamond with pyramids of carbon could produce a new material that is both lightweight and hard. Diamond may have a softer side: T-carbon. This fluffy form of diamond, simulated in a Chinese supercomputer, could be used for a variety of applications — if someone can make the stuff and prove its …
Die micrograph of the fully integrated DC-DC converter chip. Image courtesy of Wonyoung Kim. Harvard – Plug-and-play multi-core voltage regulator could lead to “smarter” smartphones, slimmer laptops, and energy-friendly data centers. To promote energy-efficient multitasking, Harvard graduate student Wonyoung Kim has developed and demonstrated a new device with the potential to reduce the power usage …
Virgin Galactic’s signed contract with the Southwest Research Institute is the first such agreement to fly scientists into space (over 100 kilometers or 328,000 feet above the Earth), enabling valuable microgravity, biology, climate and astronomy research. As part of the contract announced today, SwRI has made full deposits for two researchers to fly on Virgin …
Official global poverty estimates are only rarely produced, and when they do appear, they are out of date by the time they are published. Thus, when world leaders met in September 2010 to assess progress toward reaching the Millennium Development Goal of halving global poverty, they had to rely on poverty data from 2005. By …
The sharp, magnetized tip of the probe used in this study induces an answering field in the superconductor in a phenomenon called the Meissner Effect. The strength of the response at each point gave SIMES researchers new information about the superconducting state of the pnictide. (Image courtesy Lan Luan.) Researchers from the Stanford Institute for …
Chemistry of Materials – Self-Templating of Metal-Driven Supramolecular Self-Assembly: A General Approach toward 1D Inorganic Nanotubes The rational design of one-dimensional (1D) inorganic nanomaterials directed by self-assembled soft matters is one of the most attractive subjects in modern chemistry. In this work, the self-templating approach based on metal−cholate supramolecular self-assemblies is reported, which is distinct …
The OECD nuclear electricity generation for Jan-Nov 2010 was 1984.1 TWH which was 2.3% more than last year 2010 estimate including December, is 2160TWH to 2175 TWH (35-50TWH more than in 2009). December, 2010 probably will probably be in the range of 175-190 TWH. For 2010, preliminary numbers indicate that US nuclear plants generated 806.3 …
This doughnut of ultracold gas spins without friction, creating a current of atoms that could be used to develop the first “atomtronic” sensors. Physicists have developed a new type of circuit that is little more than a puff of gas dancing in laser beams. By choreographing the atoms of this ultracold gas to flow as …
Preamble from Brian Wang- this is a long article and it is on the topic of politics and policy. It does not relate to science and technology, so please skip this article if you do not want to read things that are not science and technology or if a libertarian take on politics and policy …
Bloomberg – China will curb its reliance on exports sooner than the U.S. can cut its budget and external deficits, removing a support from the dollar that will unsettle currency markets, Morgan Stanley’s Stephen Roach said. “In the next three or five years China will move aggressively to increase its private consumption and reduce its …
Etalim, based in Vancouver, Canada, says its engine, roughly the size of a basketball, could improve the economics of electricity production for the cogeneration of power and heat in homes, and as a way to harness the heat produced at concentrating solar collectors. The company has ambitious goals. A first prototype, completed last year, demonstrated …