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Graphene photonics breakthrough promises fast-speed, low-cost communications

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Swinburne researchers have developed a high-quality continuous graphene oxide thin film that shows potential for ultrafast telecommunications. Associate Professor Baohua Jia led a team of researchers from Swinburne’s Centre for Micro-Photonics to create a micrometre thin film with record-breaking optical nonlinearity suitable for high performance integrated photonic devices used in all-optical communications, biomedicine and photonic …

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China Rolling out Global high speed rail plans and projects – From Pan-asian plan to future Africa projects and proposed China-Russia-Canada-US line

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China’s academy of engineering is talking about a global high speed rail network. There are reasons to doubt that the politics and negotiations can come together. However, China plans to have 50,000 kilometers high speed rail network built inside of China by 2020. The external line to the US via Russia and Canada would be …

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Global Competitiveness Report

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The 2012-2013 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness report has insightful information It uses 2011 data but it is useful for undertanding global competitiveness and the broad strengths and weaknesses of nations. Here are the twelve pillars of competitiveness. A country can still be competitive with some weakness in different pillars but crippling deficiencies can break …

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Stem cells and nanofibers could enable nerve regrowth and replacement

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Eurekalert – Researchers have coaxed cells to grow and myelinate along thin fibers and it has the potential for use in testing treatments for neurological diseases. They report success in developing polymer nanofiber technologies for understanding how nerves form, why they don’t reconnect after injury, and what can be done to prevent or slow damage. …

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China Huawei smartphone larger than Samsung Galaxy Note 2

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ITProPortal – China’s Huawei Ascend Mate smartphone is rumored to have a display of 6.1 inches diagonal which is bigger than the 5.5 inches of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and not far from the 7in diagonal that’s common on most small form factor tablets. The Ascend Mate specs on Chinese website MyDrivers * 10mm …

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Electronics That Fight Infection and Dissolve Away

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DARPA researchers have created electronic systems and components using ultrathin sheets of silicon and magnesium encapsulated in silk, a biocompatible material. The thickness and crystallinity of the silk determines how long the electronics take to dissolve: days, hours, or even minutes. Silicon and magnesium are naturally occurring at low levels in the human body, and …

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