Crystalline Two-Dimensional DNA-Origami Arrays The work is by Wenyan Liu, Dr. Hong Zhong, Dr. Risheng Wang, and Prof. Nadrian C. Seeman. DNA origami gets large: A double-layer DNA-origami tile with two orthogonal domains underwent self-assembly into well-ordered 2D DNA arrays with edge dimensions of 2–3 μm (see schematic representation and AFM image). This size is …
University of Pittsburgh researchers have created a nanoscale light sensor that can be combined with near-atomic-size electronic circuitry to produce hybrid optic and electronic devices with new functionality. The team, which also involved researchers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, reports in Nature Photonics that the development overcomes one of nanotechnology’s most daunting challenges. …
Rice researchers have learned to make pristine sheets of graphene, the one-atom-thick form of carbon, from plain table sugar and other carbon-based substances. They do so in a one-step process at temperatures low enough to make graphene easy to manufacture. The lab of Rice chemist James Tour reported in the online version of the journal …
Robin Hanson is an economist who has written about the economics of technological singularities. I will summarize some of his writings and my own about achieving higher levels of economic growth. There are several projects from DARPA and Airbus which could revolutionize manufacturing. A construction revolution is possible with Contour crafting (printing buildings with concrete …
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released a report called What’s Next for Alternative Energy? BCG examines the state of seven of the most significant alternative-energy technologies—advanced biofuels, electric vehicles (EVs), concentrated solar power (CSP), solar photovoltaic (PV), onshore wind, offshore wind, and clean coal through carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). Prospects were assessed in terms of …
A mark-length write strategy for multiterabit per square inch scanned-probe memories is described that promises to increase the achievable user density by at least 50%, and potentially up to 100% or more, over conventional approaches. The new study shows how the density could be increased to 10 Tbit/in^2 or more. The viability of the write …
The Tennessee Valley Authority has taken the first step toward gaining regulatory approval to build up to six new mini-nuclear reactors on the site of the abandoned Clinch River Breeder Reactor in Oak Ridge The federal utility “is evaluating the feasibility” of erecting two of the new Babcock & Wilcox-designed “mPower reactors” by 2020. Each …
Toro’s managing director Greg Hall says Kazakhstan currently produces 18,000 tonnes of uranium but Australia could produce 30,000 tonnes of the mineral by 2020. He is calling on anti-nuclear and anti-uranium groups as well as non government organisations to embrace uranium mining. Kazatomprom has talked about uranium production targets of 26,000 tons or higher for …
A circuit of four superconducting qubits. Scientists have succeeded in entangling three of these. Yale work published in Nature NY Times reports that I.B.M. has reconstituted what had recently been a relatively low-level research effort in quantum computing. I.B.M. is responding to advances made in the past year at Yale University and the University of …
Gartner has identified seven business and IT issues that CIOs should act on during the next three years Beyond 2020, Gartner analysts forecast that two emerging trends will become $1 billion markets. First, human augmentation, a technology that focuses on creating cognitive and physical improvements as an integral part of the human body is slowly …
1. Ed Sperling (Forbes magazine) looks at the battle between Google, Facebook and Apple to create sticky user technology and experiences and generate ad revenue. Social networking is stickier than search, to use some marketing terminology. You have to sign up and commit serious time to it, which is why Google is ramping up all …