technology

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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Unlimited heat conduction in graphene

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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) in Mainz and the National University of Singapore have attested that the thermal conductivity of graphene diverges with the size of the samples. This discovery challenges the fundamental laws of heat conduction for extended materials. Davide Donadio, head of a Max Planck Research Group at …

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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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If China tracked to Japan then it will take about 22 years to catch up on nominal GDP per capita

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Japan had caught up in about 25 years from having 10% of US per capita GDP. In the 1970s, Japans GDP growth was 0-6% and mostly about 2-4%. However, the currency strengthened a lot and then moved up from 37% of nominal US gdp per capita to 100%. China has nominal GDP per capita of …

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South Korea has the best plastic surgeons with amazing before and after transformations

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South Korean plastic surgeons are among the best in the world. In fact they’re so good that people from other countries like China and Japan are actually having trouble getting back home. That’s sounds really crazy, but it’s true. When most people get a nose job or a lip job, they just look like ‘enhanced’ …

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Carnival of Space 352

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The Carnival of Space 352 is up at Everyday Spacer Universe Today – NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) literally ‘saw the light’ just days before crashing into the lunar farside last Thursday April 17. Skimming just a few kilometers above the moon’s surface, mission controllers took advantage of this unique low angle …

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Stanford creates million neuron brain emulator chips that are 100,000 times more energy efficient than a PC simulation and switching to updated fabrication will bring the cost to $400 per million neuron system

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Stanford bioengineers have developed faster, more energy-efficient microchips based on the human brain – 9,000 times faster and using significantly less power than a typical PC. This offers greater possibilities for advances in robotics and a new way of understanding the brain. For instance, a chip as fast and efficient as the human brain could …

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Nanostructured ceramic is 50% Harder than current spinel armor for Armor Windows and will make smartphone screens better than Sapphire

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The Department of Defense needs materials for armor windows that provide essential protection for both personnel and equipment while still having a high degree of transparency. To meet that need, scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have developed a method to fabricate nanocrystalline spinel that is 50% harder than the current spinel armor …

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Element 117 aka ununseptium has been created

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Atoms of a new super-heavy element — the as-yet-unnamed element 117 — have reportedly been created by scientists in Germany, moving it closer to being officially recognized as part of the standard periodic table. Researchers at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research, an accelerator laboratory located in Darmstadt, Germany, say they have created …

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Pig hearts could be transplanted into humans after baboon success

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A genetically engineered pig heart which was transplanted into a baboon has survived more than a year without being rejected, leading scientists to hope that animal parts could one day provide a limitless sources of organs. The hearts of genetically modified pigs could be transplanted into humans to solve the shortage of organ donors, scientists …

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There appear to be no economic miracle countries after China and if these countries do not make big progress then they will be trapped in being old and poor

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Various economic forecasts do not show any countries consistently strongly growing faster than a slowed 6-7% GDP growth pace from China. China had mainly 9-14% GDP growth for 40 years and it took that long to get to 25% of the US per capita GDP. The Conference Board forecasts the economies of China and India …

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