http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/september/carbon-nanotube-computer-092513.html
A team of Stanford engineers has built a basic computer using carbon nanotubes, a semiconductor material that has the potential to launch a new generation of electronic devices that run faster, while using less energy, than those made from silicon chips.
This unprecedented feat culminates years of efforts by scientists around the world to harness this promising but quirky material.
The achievement is reported today in an article on the cover of the journal Nature written by Max Shulaker and other doctoral students in electrical engineering. The research was led by Stanford professors Subhasish Mitra and H.-S. Philip Wong.
"People have been talking about a new era of carbon nanotube electronics moving beyond silicon," said Mitra, an electrical engineer and computer scientist. "But there have been few demonstrations of complete digital systems using this exciting technology. Here is the proof."
Friday, September 27, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Hot-fire tests show 3D-printed rocket parts rival traditionally manufactured parts
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/sys
>NASA engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., have put rocket engine parts to the test and compared their performance to parts made the old-fashioned way with welds and multiple parts during planned subscale acoustic tests for the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket.
>In little more than a month, Marshall engineers built two subscale injectors with a specialized 3-D printing machine and completed 11 mainstage hot-fire tests, accumulating 46 seconds of total firing time at temperatures nearing 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit while burning liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen.
>“We saw no difference in performance of the 3-D printed injectors compared to the traditionally manufactured injectors,” said Sandra Elam Greene, the propulsion engineer who oversaw the tests and inspected the components afterward. “Two separate 3-D printed injectors operated beautifully during all hot-fire tests.”
>NASA engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., have put rocket engine parts to the test and compared their performance to parts made the old-fashioned way with welds and multiple parts during planned subscale acoustic tests for the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket.
>In little more than a month, Marshall engineers built two subscale injectors with a specialized 3-D printing machine and completed 11 mainstage hot-fire tests, accumulating 46 seconds of total firing time at temperatures nearing 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit while burning liquid oxygen and gaseous hydrogen.
>“We saw no difference in performance of the 3-D printed injectors compared to the traditionally manufactured injectors,” said Sandra Elam Greene, the propulsion engineer who oversaw the tests and inspected the components afterward. “Two separate 3-D printed injectors operated beautifully during all hot-fire tests.”
Tattoo biosensor warns when athletes are about to ‘hit the wall’
http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/p
>University of California San Diego neuroengineers have developed a real-time electrochemical biosensor that can alert marathoners, competitive bikers, and other “extreme” athletes that they’re about to “bonk,” or “hit the wall.”
>The sensor can be applied to the human skin like a temporary tattoo that stays on and flexes with body movements.
>In ACS’ journal Analytical Chemistry, Joseph Wang and colleagues describe the first human tests of the sensor, which also could help soldiers and others who engage in intense exercise — and their trainers — monitor stamina and fitness.
>University of California San Diego neuroengineers have developed a real-time electrochemical biosensor that can alert marathoners, competitive bikers, and other “extreme” athletes that they’re about to “bonk,” or “hit the wall.”
>The sensor can be applied to the human skin like a temporary tattoo that stays on and flexes with body movements.
>In ACS’ journal Analytical Chemistry, Joseph Wang and colleagues describe the first human tests of the sensor, which also could help soldiers and others who engage in intense exercise — and their trainers — monitor stamina and fitness.
What if quantum entanglement worked on the macroscopic level?
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea
>Quantum entanglement works for photons, and even molecuiles, but what about larger objects?
>University of Geneva (UNIGE) researchers managed to entangle crystals in 2011, but now they have entangled two optic fibers, populated by 500 photons.
>To do this, the team first created an entanglement between two fiber optics on a microscopic level before moving it to the macroscopic level. The entangled state survived the transition to a larger-scale world and the phenomenon could even be observed with the naked eye.
>Quantum entanglement works for photons, and even molecuiles, but what about larger objects?
>University of Geneva (UNIGE) researchers managed to entangle crystals in 2011, but now they have entangled two optic fibers, populated by 500 photons.
>To do this, the team first created an entanglement between two fiber optics on a microscopic level before moving it to the macroscopic level. The entangled state survived the transition to a larger-scale world and the phenomenon could even be observed with the naked eye.
Self-organizing ‘giant surfactants’ promise chip-size-reduction breakthrough
http://www.kurzweilai.net/self-orga
>University of Akron researchers have developed nanoscale “giant surfactants” (using nanopatterning to combine functioning molecular nanoparticles with polymer surface films and liquid solutions) that could lead to smaller chips, lighter laptops, slimmer televisions, and crisper smartphone visual displays.
>Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension (or interfacial tension) between two liquids or between a liquid and a solid.
>The giant surfactants developed at UA are large, similar to macromolecules, yet they function like molecular surfactants on the nanoscale, Cheng says. These nanostructures can guide the size of electronic products.
>He points out that the current technique can only produce chip spacing of down to 22 nanometers, and cannot go down to the 10 nanometers or less necessary to create tiny, yet more powerful devices. The giant surfactants, however, can dictate smaller-scale electronic components.
>University of Akron researchers have developed nanoscale “giant surfactants” (using nanopatterning to combine functioning molecular nanoparticles with polymer surface films and liquid solutions) that could lead to smaller chips, lighter laptops, slimmer televisions, and crisper smartphone visual displays.
>Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension (or interfacial tension) between two liquids or between a liquid and a solid.
>The giant surfactants developed at UA are large, similar to macromolecules, yet they function like molecular surfactants on the nanoscale, Cheng says. These nanostructures can guide the size of electronic products.
>He points out that the current technique can only produce chip spacing of down to 22 nanometers, and cannot go down to the 10 nanometers or less necessary to create tiny, yet more powerful devices. The giant surfactants, however, can dictate smaller-scale electronic components.
A faster neuron-activity sensor for charting the brain in real time
http://blogs.princeton.edu/research
>Princeton University researchers have created “souped up” versions of the calcium-sensitive proteins that for the past decade or so have given scientists an unparalleled view and understanding of brain-cell communication.
>Reported July 18 in the journal Nature Communications, the enhanced proteins developed at Princeton respond more quickly to changes in neuron activity, and can be customized to react to different, faster rates of neuron activity. Together, these characteristics would give scientists a more precise and comprehensive view of neuron activity.
>The researchers’ work also revealed the location of a “bottleneck” in GCaMPs that occurs when calcium concentration is high, which poses a third limitation of the existing sensors, Wang said. “Now that we know where that bottleneck is, we think we can design the next generation of proteins to get around it,” Wang said. “We think if we open up that bottleneck, we can get a probe that responds to neuronal signals in one millisecond.”
>Princeton University researchers have created “souped up” versions of the calcium-sensitive proteins that for the past decade or so have given scientists an unparalleled view and understanding of brain-cell communication.
>Reported July 18 in the journal Nature Communications, the enhanced proteins developed at Princeton respond more quickly to changes in neuron activity, and can be customized to react to different, faster rates of neuron activity. Together, these characteristics would give scientists a more precise and comprehensive view of neuron activity.
>The researchers’ work also revealed the location of a “bottleneck” in GCaMPs that occurs when calcium concentration is high, which poses a third limitation of the existing sensors, Wang said. “Now that we know where that bottleneck is, we think we can design the next generation of proteins to get around it,” Wang said. “We think if we open up that bottleneck, we can get a probe that responds to neuronal signals in one millisecond.”
Salk scientist discovers novel mechanism in spinal cord injury
http://www.salk.edu/news/pressrelea
>“See-saw” molecule may offer clues to potential therapies in the long-term.
>More than 11,000 Americans suffer spinal cord injuries each year, and since over a quarter of those injuries are due to falls, the number is likely to rise as the population ages.
>The reason so many of those injuries are permanently disabling is that the human body lacks the capacity to regenerate nerve fibers. The best our bodies can do is route the surviving tissue around the injury site.
>In an open access paper published in PLOS ONE, Lee and his colleagues describe how a protein named P45 may yield insight into a possible molecular mechanism to promote rerouting for spinal cord healing and functional recovery. Because injured mice can recover more fully than human beings, Lee sought the source of the difference. He discovered that P45 had a previously unknown neuroprotective effect.
>“As a biochemist and neurobiologist, this discovery gives me hope that we can find a potential target molecule for drug treatments,” says Lee. “Nevertheless, I must caution that this is only the first step in knowing what to look for.”
>“See-saw” molecule may offer clues to potential therapies in the long-term.
>More than 11,000 Americans suffer spinal cord injuries each year, and since over a quarter of those injuries are due to falls, the number is likely to rise as the population ages.
>The reason so many of those injuries are permanently disabling is that the human body lacks the capacity to regenerate nerve fibers. The best our bodies can do is route the surviving tissue around the injury site.
>In an open access paper published in PLOS ONE, Lee and his colleagues describe how a protein named P45 may yield insight into a possible molecular mechanism to promote rerouting for spinal cord healing and functional recovery. Because injured mice can recover more fully than human beings, Lee sought the source of the difference. He discovered that P45 had a previously unknown neuroprotective effect.
>“As a biochemist and neurobiologist, this discovery gives me hope that we can find a potential target molecule for drug treatments,” says Lee. “Nevertheless, I must caution that this is only the first step in knowing what to look for.”
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