Evidence for particles beyond the standard model of physics The Next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model seems to fit the data that has been found. We will not know for sure until about 2009 when enough data has been gathered by the new Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that start this year. Although He and colleagues showed in …
Nanoparticle integration with nerve cells and neurons Although light signals have previously been transmitted to nerve cells using silicon (whose ability to turn light into electricity is employed in solar cells and in the imaging sensors of video cameras), nanoengineered materials promise far greater efficiency and versatility. “It should be possible for us to tune …
The official recap of the Dwave demo is at the dwave blog Dwave has had over 100 respondents with ideas for applications to date, about one third of which are from Fortune 1000 companies. So if they achieve the speedup and targets that they plan to achieve they should have very solid business success. Brian …
IEEE spectrum has an article about GTI’s work on a nuclear voltaic cell consisting, basically, of a semiconductor and an amount of radioactive material. They are using liquid semiconductors. Liquids don’t suffer any structural damage, so Tsang’s nuclear battery could run on much more powerful radiation than a beta cell, and therefore generate more electricity. …
Creating high-resolution metallic interconnects is an essential part of the fabrication of microchips and other nanoscale devices. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a simple and robust electrochemical process for the direct patterning of metallic interconnects and other nanostructures. Fang said the newly created “S4 process” uses a patterned superionic material …
The Gregory Benford proposal sounds like the cheapest and safest method for climate modification. Of course society should to actually stop making the problems worse as described in Jamais article. But a problem is that most plans from environmentalist fail to recognize the scope of the problems or involve everyone suddenly becoming virtuous. Some propose …
Alberta is using its financial clout to scour the globe for scientific “superstars” who will be offered $20-million each to conduct research in the province for the next decade. Broad areas of research that will be considered include maternal, fetal and child health, mental health, system sustainability and technology, remote and rural care, injury and …
Quantum hall effect observed at room temperature using strong magnetic fields observations of graphene. The quantum Hall effect was previously believed to only be observable at temperatures close to absolute zero (equal to minus 459 degrees). But when scientists at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in the U.S. and at the High Field Magnet …
A robotic exoskeleton controlled by the wearer’s own nervous system could help users regain limb function, which is encouraging news for people with partial nervous system impairment, say University of Michigan researchers. The ankle exoskeleton developed at U-M was worn by healthy subjects to measure how the device affected ankle function. The U-M team has …
IEEE Spectrum compares different energy sources Thanks to Kirk Sorenson at Thorium Energy discussion for pointing this out. The world uses 1 cubic mile of oil per year now. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science …
Led by Professor David Leigh the team from Edinburgh have designed and built a molecule, known as a rotaxane, that can move and sort particles. It took three years of painstaking work to find a molecular form that could do this job. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger …