United Nations health agency said that more than 4,735 deaths attributable to H1N1 had been reported, and that influenza activity in the northern hemisphere was much higher than usual. WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said it was too soon to draw any conclusions from the death toll as experts needed to monitor a full year of …
Iraq is close to finalising deals at three of its largest oilfields that could nearly triple output and make it the world’s number three producer after Russia and Saudi Arabia. Two deals have been sent to Iraq’s cabinet for ratification. It is unclear when the cabinet will ratify them. There are no guarantees that the …
Caption: This is an end-on view of an alternative Mars/Earth communication relay architecture option, looking into the Ecliptic plane. Credit: Credits: ESA/University Strathclyde/University Glasgow According to the paper, “Non-Keplerian Orbits Using Low Thrust, High ISP Propulsion Systems,” an innovative solution to the Mars communication problem may be found by placing a pair of communication relay …
New Scientist reports that Technical University of Delft researchers have found that carefully focus light arriving on an exposed memory chip, the charge stored in every cell corresponds to whether that cell is in a light or dark area. The chip is in effect storing a digital image. This technique can increase the pixel resolution …
Left) Carbon dome structure on an iridium substrate, indicating the tightly bound atoms at the edge of the island (C), the weakly bound atoms at the center (B) and intermediate atoms (A). (Right) Photoelectron spectrum at 970 K showing the contributions from the edge (C), center (B), and intermediate (A) atoms in the dome structure. …
From the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist: The long-term ratio between the real price of oil and the real price of natural gas has constantly varied between 1 and 2 with the long-term average hovering at 1.6. Since January, however, that ratio has jumped to more than 4 to 1, which is unprecedented and has …
Physicists Lev Levitin and Tommaso Toffoli at Boston University in Massachusetts, have calculated a quantum speed limit on computing. In a paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, Levitin and Toffoli present an equation for the minimum sliver of time it takes for an elementary quantum operation to occur. This establishes the speed limit …
The Nuclear Energy Institute blog has an article that links to recent discussions about small nuclear reactor development and licensing by the Nuclear Regulatory commission and the Office of Nuclear Energy 7 page presentation by the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy at the Small reactor Workshop. U.S. based vendors are seeking to bring …
The magnetonanosensor has 64 sensors capable of detecting up to 64 different proteins. In the center of the chip is the well that holds the fluid of interest. The reader that measures the magnetic fields of the sensors is in the background. Thumb and fingers are courtesy of Richard Gaster, M.D./Ph.D. candidate in both bioengineering …
Joe Eck at Superconductors.ORG reports the observation of record high superconductivity near 254 Kelvin (-19C, -2F). This temperature critical (Tc) is believed accurate +/- 2 degrees, making this the first material to enter a superconductive state at temperatures commonly found in household freezers. Only a small volume of the material is achieving superconduction, so work/research …
Inventor Larry Fullerton applies signal correlation methods and coding theory to magnetism to precisely control magnetic fields. Coded magnetic structures correlate to produce stronger bonding force, programmable precision alignment, and deterministic magnetic field interaction that promise to accelerate product performance and innovation. Coded magnetic structures can be designed to deliver precise holding strength characteristics, customized …