Masaru Yoshida (Leader) and Yoko Matsuzawa (Researcher), Smart Materials Group, the Nanosystem Research Institute (Director: Kiyoshi Yase) of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; President: Tamotsu Nomakuchi), have developed a new dispersing agent that allows easy control of the isolated dispersion and aggregation states of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) by UV …
QD Vision, Inc. (www.qdvision.com), developer of nanotechnology-based optical products for displays and solid state lighting, today announced it has relocated to a new, high-volume production facility in Lexington, Massachusetts to support new products launching in 2012. They make quantum dot lighting and are working on quantum dot displays. QD Vision is currently working with several …
I have previously provided my opinion on the three major views on what a possible Technological Singularity will be like. 1. Event Horizon – The claim is that future becomes weirder than we can imagine now and changes faster than we can handle. I believe that we will still be able to understand the changes …
A revolutionary material that will replace steel in warhead casings will bring added lethality and increase the likelihood of a hit on an enemy target, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced August 10. By combining several metals with standard manufacturing techniques, High-Density Reactive Material (HDRM) has the potential to dramatically increase the explosive impact …
The SENS Foundation Academic Initiative’s new structure is actively in the process of being implemented, and involves a number of significant changes. Among these are the separation of the Initiative into branches, an updated membership system that allows students to become involved more easily and in more ways, the creation of volunteer committees, and the …
Duke electrical engineers have developed a man-made material that they say literally allows them to manipulate light at will. They say that the results of their latest proof-of-concept experiments could lead to the replacement of electrical components with those based on optical technologies, which should allow for faster and more efficient transmission of information, much …
MHD Generators could make zero emission coal generators affordable and efficient and MHD generators could also make nuclear power for space very light with an energy density of one to three kilograms per kilowatt. Magnets are about 22% of the cost. Superconductors and new permanent magnets (using nanomaterials) could make more powerful magnets that are …
The status of goals of the DARPA synapse brain emulation project. It appears on track for human scale brain emulation by 2019. It is funded at $30 million per year. Europe could kick off a $1.6 billion human brain emulation project with a target for 2024. It seems like there will be a human brain …
Universe Today – gravitational microlensing, promises to find planets down to 10 Earth masses, much further out from their parent stars. Using this technique, a team of astronomers has just announced the detection of a rocky planet just in this range. Arxiv – Discovery and Mass Measurements of a Cold, 10-Earth Mass Planet and Its …
Bad Astonomer makes the case that the amount of cooling we’d see from Maunder Minimum of reduced sunspot activity would still be less than the global warming we’ve been experiencing since the 20th century. It might slow things down for a while, but the climate change we’re seeing now — and it’s real, folks — …
Nanoletters – Highly Ordered Square Arrays from a Templated ABC Triblock Terpolymer Square-symmetry patterns are of interest in nanolithography but are not easily obtained from self-assembly of a diblock copolymer. Instead, we demonstrate highly ordered 44 nm period square patterns formed in a thin film of polyisoprene-block-polystyrene-block-polyferrocenylsilane (PI-b-PS-b-PFS) triblock terpolymer blended with 15% PS homopolymer …