Directory —
Technology —
Blog Details for "science life"
science lifescience lifescientific researches,developments and events are included Articles
Special Coating Greatly Improves Solar Cell Performance
2008-02-24 15:06:00 The energy from sunlight falling on only 9 percent of California?s Mojave Desert could power all of the United States? electricity needs if the energy could be efficiently harvested, according to some estimates. Unfortunately, current-generation solar cell technologies are too expensive and inefficient for wide-scale commercial applications. A team of Northwestern University researchers has developed a new anode coating strategy that significantly enhances the efficiency of solar energy power conversion. A paper about the work, which focuses on ?engineering? organic material-electrode interfaces in bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells, is published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). This breakthrough in solar energy conversion promises to bring researchers and developers worldwide closer to the goal of producing cheaper, more manufacturable and more easily implemented solar cells. Such technology would greatly reduce our dependence on ... More About: Performance , Solar , Cell , Special , Solar cell
Nanotube wires shown to operate at speed of commercial chips
2008-02-20 21:23:00 Integrated circuits, such as the silicon chips inside all modern electronics, are only as good as their wiring, but copper conduits are approaching physical performance limitations as they get thinner. Chipmakers have hoped that carbon "nanotubes" would allow them to continue using thinner wiring as they pack more devices into chips, but no one had demonstrated nanotube wires working on a conventional silicon chip. In a paper published online today by the journal Nano Letters, electrical engineers at Stanford University and Toshiba report using nanotubes to wire a silicon chip operating at speeds comparable to those of commercially available processors and memory. "This is the first time anyone has been able to show digital signals going through nanotubes at 1 gigahertz [a billion times a second]," said H.-S. Philip Wong, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford and a co-author of the report. "There had been a lot of expectations that nanotubes could do this, but no experi... More About: Commercial , Physics , Speed , Chips
Evolving complexity out of 'junk DNA'
2008-02-13 12:01:00 Vertebrates - animals such as humans that possess a backbone - are the most anatomically and genetically complex of all organisms, but explaining how they achieved this complexity has vexed scientists since the conception of evolutionary theory. Alysha Heimberg of Dartmouth College and her colleagues showed that microRNAs, a class of tiny molecules only recently discovered residing within what has usually been considered ?junk DNA?, are hugely diverse in even the most lowly of vertebrates, but relatively few are found in the genomes of our invertebrate relatives. She explained: ?There was an explosive increase in the number of new microRNAs added to the genome of vertebrates and this is unparalleled in evolutionary history.? Co-author, Dr Philip Donoghue of Bristol University?s Department of Earth Sciences continued: ?Most of these new genes are required for the growth of organs that are unique to vertebrates, such as the liver, pancreas and brain. Therefore, the origin of vertebra... More About: Junk
NASA Know-How Helps Athletes Rocket Through Water
2008-02-13 11:57:00 When a swimsuit manufacturer wanted to create a better fabric for competitive swimmers, it sought out some unlikely experts -- aerospace engineers at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton. NASA has decades of experience in fluid dynamics and drag reduction. However, aerospace engineers usually concentrate on the element through which airplanes and spacecraft fly, not the liquid through which swimmers travel. Still, some of the science is similar. "Air and water are both what are referred to as Newtonian fluids," said Steve Wilkinson, a researcher at Langley's Fluid Physics and Control Branch. "Air has different fluid properties than water, including lower density and viscosity, but it still obeys the same physical laws of motion." That fact led Warnaco Inc. of New York, the U.S. licensee of the Speedo swimwear brand, to seek use of a NASA wind tunnel at Langley to test swimsuit fabrics that may be used by athletes in international competitions. "We evaluated the surface roughn... More About: Space , Water , Rocket , Nasa , Athletes
Human skin cells into embryonic stem cells
2008-02-12 18:56:00 UCLA stem cell scientists have reprogrammed human skin cells into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells, without using embryos or eggs. Led by scientists Kathrin Plath and William Lowry, UCLA researchers used genetic alteration to turn back the clock on human skin cells and create cells that are nearly identical to human embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to become every cell type found in the human body. Four regulator genes were used to create the cells, which are called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. The UCLA study confirms the work of researchers Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University and James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin, first reported in late November 2007. The UCLA research appears today in an early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences. The implications for disease treatment could be significant. Reprogramming adult stem cells into embryonic stem cells could generat... More About: Skin , Human , Stem Cells , Stem
Destroying native ecosystems for biofuel crops will worsen global warming
2008-02-11 19:08:00 Turning native ecosystems into "farms" for biofuel crops causes major carbon emissions that worsen the global warming that biofuels are meant to mitigate, according to a new study by the University of Minnesota and the Nature Conservancy. The work will be published in Science later this month and will be posted online Thursday, Feb. 7. The carbon lost by converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands outweighs the carbon savings from biofuels. Such conversions for corn or sugarcane (ethanol), or palms or soybeans (biodiesel) release 17 to 420 times more carbon than the annual savings from replacing fossil fuels, the researchers said. The carbon, which is stored in the original plants and soil, is released as carbon dioxide, a process that may take decades. This "carbon debt" must be paid before the biofuels produced on the land can begin to lower greenhouse gas levels and ameliorate global warming. The conversion of peatlands for palm oil plantations in Indonesia ran up... More About: Global Warming , Ecology , Biofuel , Global , Crops
Sound of quantum drums
2008-02-11 18:58:00 Forty years ago, mathematician Mark Kac asked the theoretical question, "Can one hear the shape of a drum?" If drums of different shapes always produce their own unique sound spectrum, then it should be possible to identify the shape of a specific drum merely by studying its spectrum, thus "hearing" the drum's shape (a procedure analogous to spectroscopy, the way scientists detect the composition of a faraway star by studying its light spectrum). But what if two drums of different shapes could emit exactly the same sound? If so, it would be impossible to work backward from the spectrum and uniquely surmise the physical structure of the drum, because there would be more than one correct answer to the question. It took until the 1990s for mathematicians to prove that, in fact, two drums of different shapes could produce the same sound. In other words, you can't hear the shape of a drum. That outcome, which was physically verified in one instance with vibrations on the surface of... More About: Physics , Sound , Drums , Quantum
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS LINKED TO WEIGHT GAIN
2008-02-11 18:52:00 Want to lose weight? It might help to pour that diet soda down the drain. Researchers have laboratory evidence that the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight. The findings appear in the February issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, which is published by the American Psychological Association (APA). Psychologists at Purdue University's Ingestive Behavior Research Center reported that relative to rats that ate yogurt sweetened with glucose (a simple sugar with 15 calories/teaspoon, the same as table sugar), rats given yogurt sweetened with zero-calorie saccharin later consumed more calories, gained more weight, put on more body fat, and didn't make up for it by cutting back later, all at levels of statistical significance. Authors Susan Swithers, PhD, and Terry Davidson, PhD, surmised that by breaking the connection between a sweet sensation and high-calorie food, the use of saccharin changes the body's... More About: Weight
Columbus module heads to the space station
2008-02-09 11:16:00 Europe?s Columbus laboratory has been successfully launched into space towards its eventual home on the International Space Station (ISS). The 10-tonne Columbus module took off on board the space shuttle Atlantis as it lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at about 14:50 EST (19:50 GMT) today. American and European astronauts will spend the next 11 days connecting the module to the space station, in what will be the single largest contribution by the European Space Agency (ESA) to this international effort. Columbus is a 4.5?metre?wide cylindrical space capsule that has room for 14 separate science experiments. The lab will primarily study how reduced gravity affects a range of medical and physical phenomena. ?I think it is very important for Europe to have a permanent laboratory up there,? says Martin Zell, ESA?s head of research operations in human spaceflight, microgravity and exploration. The ?700 m laboratory is a user facility, containing 10 te... More About: Heads , Space Station
MIT develops energy-efficient microchip
2008-02-05 12:10:00 Researchers at MIT and Texas Instruments have unveiled a new chip design for portable electronics that can be up to 10 times more energy-efficient than present technology. The design could lead to cell phones, implantable medical devices and sensors that last far longer when running from a battery. The innovative design will be presented Feb. 5 at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco by Joyce Kwong, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Kwong carried out the project with MIT colleagues Anantha Chandrakasan, the Joseph F. and Nancy P. Keithley Professor of Electrical Engineering, and EECS graduate students Yogesh Ramadass and Naveen Verma. Their Texas Instruments (TI) collaborators are Markus Koesler, Korbinian Huber and Hans Moormann. The team demonstrated the ultra-low-power design techniques on TI's MSP430, a widely used microcontroller. The work was conducted at the MIT Microsystems Technology ... More About: Energy , Efficient
Scientists propose test of string theory
2008-01-29 23:54:00 Ancient light absorbed by neutral hydrogen atoms could be used to test certain predictions of string theory, say cosmologists at the University of Illinois. Making the measurements, however, would require a gigantic array of radio telescopes to be built on Earth, in space or on the moon. String theory – a theory whose fundamental building blocks are tiny one-dimensional filaments called strings – is the leading contender for a “theory of everything.” Such a theory would unify all four fundamental forces of nature (the strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetism, and gravity). But finding ways to test string theory has been difficult. Now, cosmologists at the U. of I. say absorption features in the 21-centimeter spectrum of neutral hydrogen atoms could be used for such a test. “High-redshift, 21-centimeter observations provide a rare observational window in which to test string theory, constrain its parameters and show whether or not it makes sense to embed a type of i... More About: Theory , Scientists , Test , String Theory
Genes linked with Lupus are revealed, giving hope for new treatments
2008-01-25 12:02:00 Scientists have identified a number of genes involved in Lupus , a devastating autoimmune disease that affects around 50,000 people in the UK, in new research published today in the journal Nature Genetics. In an international genetic study of more than 3,000 women, researchers found evidence of an association between Lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE) and mutations in several different genes. The findings, by scientists from Imperial College London and institutions in the USA and Sweden, will enable researchers to investigate the specific pathways and precise molecular mechanisms involved in developing Lupus, potentially opening up options for new therapies. Lupus is a complex condition, mostly affecting women, which frequently causes skin rash, joint pains and malaise, and which can also lead to inflammation of the kidneys and other internal organs. The scientists discovered the strongest associations with Lupus in three genes: ITGAM, PXK, and one mutation within a gene KI... More About: Treatments , Hope , Giving , Genes
'Telepathic' genes recognize similarities in each other
2008-01-25 11:53:00 Genes have the ability to recognise similarities in each other from a distance, without any proteins or other biological molecules aiding the process, according to new research published this week in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B. This discovery could explain how similar genes find each other and group together in order to perform key processes involved in the evolution of species. This new study shows that genes – which are parts of double-stranded DNA with a double-helix structure containing a pattern of chemical bases - can recognise other genes with a similar pattern of chemical bases. This ability to seek each other out could be the key to how genes identify one another and align with each other in order to begin the process of ‘homologous recombination’ – whereby two double-helix DNA molecules come together, break open, swap a section of genetic information, and then close themselves up again. Recombination is an important process which plays a key role in evolut... More About: Recognize , Path , Genes
Light could trap and release bacteria
2008-01-25 11:50:00 Sensors that use light to trap, analyse and then release tiny objects such as bacteria or DNA are one step closer thanks to new computer simulations done by researchers in the US. The team modelled the optofluidic interactions that occur when a liquid flows through a tiny channel next to an optical waveguide. The work could lead to new “lab-on-a-chip” sensors that could be used in a wide range of areas including medicine and security. In such optofluidics sensors, the tiny objects of interest would be mixed with a fluid that would flow through tiny channels next to solid waveguides. When light is passed through the waveguides, it would create a short-range evanescent electric field in the channel that would trap tiny particles. While being held the objects could be studied using analytical probes, before being released. However, it has proved very difficult to predict exactly how objects will behave in practical optofluidic systems. Now, researchers at Cornell University have d... More About: Bacteria , Release , Light , Trap
Ice clouds put Mars in the shade
2008-01-19 12:08:00 Until now, Mars has generally been regarded as a desert world, where a visiting astronaut would be surprised to see clouds scudding across the orange sky. However, new results show that the arid planet possesses high-level clouds that are sufficiently dense to cast a shadow on the surface.The results were obtained by the OMEGA Visible and Infrared Mineralogical Mapping Spectrometer instrument on board ESA’s Mars Express. Mars is not entirely a haven for Sun worshippers. Clouds of water ice particles do occur, for example on the flanks of the giant Martian volcanoes. There have also been hints of much higher, wispy clouds made up of carbon dioxide (CO2) ice crystals. This is not too surprising, since the thin Martian atmosphere is mostly made of carbon dioxide, and temperatures on the fourth planet from the Sun often plunge well below the ‘freezing point’ of carbon dioxide. Now, a team of French scientists has shown that such clouds of dry ice do, indeed, exist. Furthermore, ...
Protein discovered that prevents HIV from spreading
2008-01-19 12:04:00 n a study that could open up the field of virology to an entirely new suite of possibilities and that paves the way for future drug research, scientists at Rockefeller University and the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center have pinned down a molecule on the surface of human cells that helps keep particles of mutant strains of HIV from spreading. Rather than floating off to infect more cells, the protein contains the virus particles by keeping them attached to the parent cell�s outer membrane, as if stuck there with glue. Two years ago, Paul Bieniasz � head of the Laboratory of Retrovirology and ADARC scientist �discovered that normal HIV-1 particles are able to extricate themselves from the sticky membranesurface using a protein called Vpu. Bieniasz has been searching for the source of the glue itself ever since. Now, in an advanced online publication in Nature, he and his colleagues report that they found it: a protein they dubbed �tetherin� for its ability to keep viruses... More About: Protein
Mammalian protein plays unexpected role in cell division, and perhaps cance
2008-01-19 12:02:00 The French Nobel laureate Jacques Monod famously said, �What�s true for E.coli is true for an elephant.� With this in mind, researchers at Rockefeller University set out to determine the function of Tel2, a protein originally found in yeast where it maintains the length of chromosome tips called telomeres. But one experiment after another informed the group that Tel2 in humans plays an altogether different role.Researchers led by Titia de Lange, head of the Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics, now reveal that mammalian Tel2 stabilizes a family of six proteins called PIKKs, enzymes that catalyze the �stop� or �go ahead� signals at certain checkpoints in the cell cycle. Without the coordinated activity of these proteins, cells either stop dividing and ultimately perish or accumulate mutations and form tumors. This research � and its surprising conclusion � appears in the December 28 issue of Cell.When de Lange and Hiroyuki Takai, a postdoc in her lab, found that ... More About: Protein , Plays , Role , Division
Computer learns dogspeak
2008-01-16 21:20:00 Computer programs may be the most accurate tool for studying acoustic communications amongst animals, according to Csaba Molnár from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary and his research team. Their paper, published in Springer’s journal Animal Cognition this week, shows that a new piece of software is able to classify dog barks according to different situations and even identify barks from individual dogs, a task humans find challenging. The aim of Molnár and colleagues’ experiments was to test a computer algorithm’s ability to identify and differentiate the acoustic features of dog barks, and classify them according to different contexts and individual dogs. The software analyzed more than 6000 barks from 14 Hungarian sheepdogs (Mudi breed) in six different situations: ‘stranger’, ‘fight’, ‘walk’, ‘alone’, ‘ball’ and ‘play’. The barks were recorded with a tape recorder before being transferred to the computer, where they were digitalized and indiv... More About: Computer
Hubble Finds Double Einstein Ring
2008-01-14 16:56:00 NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revealed a never-before-seen optical alignment in space: a pair of glowing rings, one nestled inside the other like a bull's-eye pattern. The double-ring pattern is caused by the complex bending of light from two distant galaxies strung directly behind a foreground massive galaxy, like three beads on a string.More than just a novelty, this very rare phenomenon can offer insight into dark matter, dark energy, the nature of distant galaxies, and even the curvature of the universe.The ring was found by an international team of astronomers led by Raphael Gavazzi and Tommaso Treu of the University of California, Santa Barbara. The discovery is part of the ongoing Sloan Lens Advanced Camera for Surveys (SLACS) program. The team is reporting its results at the 211th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas. A paper has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal.The phenomenon, called gravitational lensing, occurs when a massive gala... More About: Einstein , Double , Ring
Researchers Create Mathematical Model of Fruit Fly Eyes
2008-01-12 19:57:00 Many researchers have tried to create a mathematical model of how cells pack together to form tissue, but most models have many different complicated factors and no model is universal.Researchers at Northwestern University have now created a functional equation – using only two parameters – to show how cells pack together to create the eyes of Drosophila, better known as the fruit fly. They hope that the pared-down equation can be applied to different kinds of tissues, leading to advances in regenerative medicine.Sascha Hilgenfeldt, associate professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics and mechanical engineering, teamed up with Richard W. Carthew, professor of biochemistry, molecular biology, and cell biology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Science, and Sinem Erisken, a McCormick undergraduate studying biomedical engineering, to create the model. Their work was published online Jan. 11 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).The interdisci... More About: Eyes , Fruit , Model , Create
Mysterious X-ray source in nearby galaxy
2008-01-12 19:54:00 Astronomers studying a nearby galaxy have spied a rare type of star system -- one that contains a black hole that suddenly began glowing brightly with X-rays.Though this type of star system is supposed to be rare, it's the second such system discovered in that galaxy, called Centaurus A.The discovery suggests that astronomers have more to learn about the lives and deaths of massive stars in galaxies such as our own.Normally when astronomers study Centaurus A, it's the giant X-ray jets emanating from the heart of the galaxy that steal the show, explained Gregory Sivakoff, a postdoctoral researcher in astronomy at Ohio State University. The jets extend from the galaxy for 13,000 light years in different directions.But when his team studied Centaurus A with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory starting in March 2007, they saw a new X-ray source -- much smaller than the X-ray jets, but still glowing brightly. The source wasn't there during the last survey of the galaxy in 2003, but it s... More About: Source , Mysterious , Galaxy
Hybridization Partially Restores Vision in Cavefish
2008-01-08 22:57:00 Hybridizing blind cave fish from different cave populations can partially restore the vision of their offspring, biologists at New York University have found. The study suggests that genetic engineering can override, at least in part, half a million years of evolutionary change in one generation.“Evolution has many ways to accomplish the same end result, which in the case of cave fish is blindness,” said NYU Biology Professor Richard Borowsky, the study’s lead author. “For this reason, the genes that are mutated in one population that lead to blindness are different in other, independently evolved populations. Thus, when you cross them, the genetic deficiencies in one lineage are compensated for by strengths in the other, and vice-versa.”The research, supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, appears in the most recent issue of the journal Current Biology.The study examined four populations of blind cave fish, Astyanax ... More About: Vision , Cave
Mathematicians find way to improve medical scans
2008-01-07 19:43:00 Mathematicians at the University of Liverpool have found that it is possible to gain full control of sound waves which could lead to improved medical scans, for technology such as ultra sound machines.Working in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, they tested the numerical properties of a flat lens made out of ‘meta-material’ - a material that gains its properties from its structure rather than its composition. This material is thought to defy the laws of physics, allowing objects to appear exactly as they are rather than upside down as seen in a normal convex or concave lens.Dr Sebastien Guenneau, from Liverpool’s Department of Mathematical Sciences, explains: “We know that light can be controlled using ‘meta-material’ which can bend electromagnetic radiation around an area of space, making any object within it appear invisible. Now we have produced a mathematical model that proves this theory also works for sound.“This theory becomes partic... More About: Medical , Find , Improve
Helium Supplies Endangered, Threatening Science And Technology
2008-01-06 13:14:00 The element that lifts things like balloons, spirits and voice ranges is being depleted so rapidly in the world's largest reserve, outside of Amarillo, Texas, that supplies are expected to be depleted there within the next eight years.This deflates more than the Goodyear blimp and party favors. Its larger impact is on science and technology, according to Lee Sobotka, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and physics in Arts & Science s at Washington University in St. Louis."Helium 's use in science is extremely broad, but its most important use is as a coolant," said Sobotka, a specialist in nuclear chemistry and physics who collaborates with researchers at several national laboratories.Generally the larger users of helium (He), such as the national laboratories, have the infrastructure to efficiently use and recycle helium, Sobotka said. The same cannot be said of many smaller scale users.Helium plays a role in nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectroscopy, welding, fiber optics and comput... More About: Technology , Science and Technology , Supplies
Why Some Depressed Girls Can't Smell The Roses
2008-01-06 13:10:00 Can?t smell the roses? Maybe you?re depressed. Smell too much like a rose yourself? Maybe you?ve got the same problem. Scientists from Tel Aviv University recently linked depression to a biological mechanism that affects the olfactory glands. It might explain why some women, without realizing it, wear too much perfume.Scientific research that supports this theory was published this year in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism. ?Our scientific findings suggest that women who are depressed are also losing their sense of smell, and may overcompensate by using more perfume,? explains researcher Prof. Yehuda Shoenfeld, a member of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. ?We also believe that depression has biological roots and may be an immune system response to certain physiological cues.?Women who are depressed are also more likely to lose weight. With a reduced sense of smell, they are less likely to have a healthy appetite, he says.Prof. Shoenfeld draws his conclusion... More About: Girls , Roses , Psychology , Depressed
The 80m black hole
2008-01-04 15:49:00 "Total disaster"; "crazy"; "catastrophic"; "scientific vandalism"; "savage"; and "bombshell". These were some of the words used by physicists and astronomers last month to describe the potential impact of an 80m funding shortfall in the budget of the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Rumours of a deficit had been circulating for several months, and researchers' worst fears were confirmed when the government announced how much it will spend on science over the next three years On the face of it, the science budget is not at all disappointing ? it will rise by an average of just under 6% a year from 3.38bn in 2007/08 to 3.97bn in 2010/11. But the lion's share of the increases will go to the Medical Research Council, while the STFC will have to make do with an average rise of just 4.5% a year during that period. That is an above-inflation increase, but the STFC not only has to allocate research grants in particle physics and astronomy, but also has to pay for... More About: Space , Black , Hole
SETI@home ramps up to analyze more data
2008-01-02 22:08:00 The longest-running search for radio signals from alien civilizations is getting a burst of new data from an upgraded Arecibo telescope, which means the SETI @home project needs more desktop computers to help crunch the data. Since SETI@home launched eight years ago, the project based at the University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory has signed up more than 5 million interested volunteers and boasts the largest community of dedicated users of any Internet computing project: 170,000 devotees on 320,000 computers. Yet, new and more sensitive receivers on the world's largest radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and better frequency coverage are generating 500 times more data for the project than before.The SETI@home software has been upgraded to deal with this new data as the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) enters a new era and offers a new opportunity for those who want to help find other civilizations in the universe. "The next generation SETI... More About: Computer , Home , Data , Analyze
Climate pollution from aviation, Bali commitments already forgotten
2008-01-02 22:05:00 EU environment ministers have failed to seize a key opportunity to curb emissions from the aviation sector through the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), WWF said at the conclusion of the EU Environment Council in Brussels.Whilst all industrial sectors included in the ETS are required to do their share to put the EU on track to meet its Kyoto emissions reduction target, the ceiling on carbon emissions from airlines proposed by the Council today is almost 90 per cent above 1990 levels.?This is a Christmas gift to the aviation industry which should be required to do its fair share in tackling climate change. The sector?s carbon emissions are growing by four to five per cent per year, and ministers failure to grapple with this is completely at odds with the European pledge to reduce emissions by 20-30 per cent by 2020,? said Delia Villagrasa, Senior Advisor at WWF European Policy Office.?Europe took a strong stance at the Bali climate talks, but seems to have taken a backward ste... More About: Ecology , Pollution , Climate , Aviation
Instrument to make detailed measurements of sun activity
2008-01-02 21:58:00 For five years, Stanford research physicist Phil Scherrer and his team have raised a sophisticated space telescope with the attention a parent gives to a child, preparing it for the day when it flies away on a satellite to study the weather on the sun?and maybe save an astronaut from dying of radiation sickness. A couple of weeks ago, Scherrer's Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) left home. A FedEx truck carried it nonstop across the country to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, where it will be mounted next to other instruments on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. The entire satellite will be subjected to rigorous testing (sometimes known as "shake and bake") to ensure it can withstand the vibration and heat of a launch into space. A year from now, when an Atlas V missile finally lofts the HMI into geosynchronous orbit 22,500 miles above Earth, it will, with total disregard for the usual parental advice, stare directly into the sun. For several years it will ... More About: Instrument , Make , Measurements
Utra-fast fibre lasers, dopey photons? what?s next?
More articles from this author:2007-12-31 23:15:00 When lasers were developed in the 1960s, they were a solution looking for a problem to solve. Since then, they have become an essential tool in industries as diverse as nanotechnology and biomedicine. A new generation of ultra-fast fibre lasers being developed in Europe is creating even more uses for the beams of high-intensity light, while lowering production and maintenance costs and increasing efficiency. To date, many commercial ultra-fast lasers ? the kind that emit light in short pulses for laser machining or spectroscopy ? have been based on solid-state technology using bulk optical components. However, they have several drawbacks, not least their large size and high production and maintenance costs ? problems that can be solved by using optical fibre, rather than air, to carry the light. ?Fibre lasers could replace solid-state lasers for most uses, as well as open the door to new applications,? explains Mircea Guina, a researcher at the Tampere University of Technology ... More About: Lasers , Physics , Fast 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
|
