A new-found aspect to superconductivity, called the “paramagnetic intrinsic Meissner effect,” is that a strong magnetic field could be used to raise temperatures at which materials become superconducting. A superconductor in a weak magnetic field expels the external magnetic field, but a superconductor in a strong magnetic field sometimes concentrates magnetic lines rather than loses …
Early detection saves lives as treatment is more effective. Also, it can be 100 times cheaper to treat early stage versus later stage cancer. The Canary Foundation goal is to deliver early detection tests for solid tumor cancers by 2015. Cancer treatment cost $89 billion in the U.S. in 2007. Over 1.4 million new cancer …
Arizona State University’s Center for Applied Nanoionics (CANi) has a new take on old memory, one that promises to boost the performance, capacity and battery life of consumer electronics from digital cameras to laptops. Best of all, it is cheap, made from common materials and compatible with just about anything currently on the market. This …
The main method for producing graphene currently involves peeling sheets from a chunk of graphite using sticky tape – a technique that is too awkward to be of use to electronics manufacturers. Graphene has the potential to be used for electronics and to replace silicon with faster and more efficient processing. Scott Gilje and colleagues …
University of Rochester researchers have patented the device, which they hope will make tests such as identifying proteins in a tiny sample of blood as simple as placing a drop on a handheld device. Laboratories and hospitals all over the world use similar, albeit cumbersome, hours-long processes in efforts to identify everything from DNA fragments …
A recent paper by Barry Bosworth and Susan Collins of the Washington-based Brookings Institution compares performance over the 1978-2004 period. After 1993 it compares India’s post-1991 reforms with China. Accounting for Growth: Comparing China and India, Working Paper 12943, February 2007, National Bureau of Economic Research, www.nber.org Breakdown shows close to equal service growth. With …
Scientists from Spectrolab, Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing, have recently published their research on the fabrication of solar cells that surpass the 40% efficiency milestone—the highest efficiency achieved for any photovoltaic device. A pdf with levelized cost of electricity analysis for natural gas, coal and nuclear from 2006 Natural gas is 3.8 to 5.9 cents(US)/kwhCoal …
Currently carbon nanotubes are sold on the world market for $100,000 to $800,000 per kilogram. However, Cheap tubes has reduced prices significantly in May 2007. They have 90% by weight SWNT CNT for $42,000 – 50,000 per kg. They have MWNT for as little as $350/kg. One ton orders have a 90 day lead time. …
Making a negative-index material that works for visible light is more difficult, because the building blocks have to be much smaller–no bigger than 10 to 20 nanometers. That’s now very possible to achieve, however, and several groups are working on it. If it can be done, these metamaterials could be used to increase the amount …