1. Large Enhancements in the Thermoelectric Power Factor of Bulk PbTe at High Temperature by Synergistic Nanostructuring Power was increased by 71% and the figure of merit increased to 1.5 Northwestern University researchers (along with colleagues from University of Michigan and the Jet Propulsion Lab) discovered that adding two metals, antimony and lead, to the …
Giant solar energy balloons floating high in the air may be a cheap way to provide electricity to areas lacking the land and infrastructure needed for traditional power systems. Solar balloons, designed by a team from the Technion Institute of Technology, could be used to harness the sun’s energy in those remote areas. However, the …
People suffering with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may find that combining two currently available medications halves their risk of death within two years as well and improves their overall health status and quality of life. The conclusion is drawn from the first human trial to compare treatment of COPD with a combination of salmeterol …
Carnival of Space 29 is up. I contributed my article on the latest in rail guns which can be used as better big gun for navy ships or eventually for space launches. Hobbyspace reports on improvements to the Spacex rocket. Merlin 1C in its Falcon 9 first stage configuration has a thrust at sea level …
A very interesting and relatively simple theory of everything (including gravity) The theory should be testable with new particle colliders. E8 polytope All fields of the standard model and gravity are unifed as an E8 principal bundleconnection. A non-compact real form of the E8 Lie algebra has G2 and F4 subalgebras which break down to …
Higher speed communication between parts of a telescope and to scientists enables larger telescopes because “more pixels generate more data, and you have to have way to move more data around.” The boost in speed makes information processing faster among the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) four science instruments as they “talk” to each other …