01. Developing biosecurity tool to detect genetically engineered organisms in the wild 02. Scientists develop polariton nano-laser operating at room temperature 03. Counter-intuitive climate change solution 04. New lidar instruments peer skyward for clues on weather and climate 05. Six Paths to the Nonsurgical Future of Brain-Machine Interfaces 06. Plumbene, graphene’s latest cousin, realized on the ‘nano water cube’ 07. Producing electricity at estuaries using light and osmosis 08. Researchers create washable sensor that can be woven into materials 09. UN chief concerned nuclear ‘coffin’ leaking in Pacific 10. Creating high-capacity long-life batteries And others… 12 irreplaceable innovations made possible […]
UN chief concerned nuclear ‘coffin’ leaking in Pacific
AFP (French press agency) May 16, 2019 Marchalls island nation was ground zero for 67 American nuclear weapons tests from 1946-58 at Bikini and Enewetak atolls, when it was under US administration. The tests included the 1954 “Bravo” hydrogen bomb. The “coffin” is a concrete dome, built in the late 1970s on Runit island. Radioactive soil and ash from the explosions were tipped into a crater and capped with a concrete dome 45 centimetres (18 inches) thick, it was only envisaged as a temporary fix and the bottom of the crater was never lined. Cracks have developed in the concrete […]
Six Paths to the Nonsurgical Future of Brain-Machine Interfaces
DARPA May 20, 2019 Under the Next-Generation Nonsurgical Neurotechnology (N3) program funded by DARPA a team of researchers (Battelle Memorial Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Rice University, industry) is developing high-resolution, bidirectional brain-machine interfaces for use by able-bodied service members. These wearable interfaces could ultimately enable diverse national security applications such as control of active cyber defense systems and swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles, or teaming with computer systems to multitask during complex missions. Throughout the program, the research will benefit from insights provided by independent legal and ethical experts […]
Scientists develop polariton nano-laser operating at room temperature
Phys.org May 20, 2019 Progress toward room temperature polariton nanolasers has been limited by the thermal instability of excitons and the inherently low-quality factors of nanocavities. An international team of researchers (South Korea, University of Pennsylvania) has produced a quantum well on the sidewall of a nanostructure semiconductor and succeeded in maintaining thermally stable excitons even at room temperature. The quantum well structure contributed to the formation of more efficient and stable exciton-polariton states than before by strengthening the coupling of exciton and light inside the nanostructure semiconductor. Their polariton nano-lasers are stable at room temperature and operate at only […]
Researchers create washable sensor that can be woven into materials
Science Daily May 16, 2019 Researchers in Canada have developed a low‐cost, tunable, and stretchable sensor fabric based on spandex yarns coated with graphene nanoplatelets through a dip‐coating process. It is wrapped into a stretchable silicone rubber sheath to protect the conductive layer against harsh conditions, which allows for fabricating washable wearable sensors. The covering sheath is tailored to achieve high stretchability beyond the sensing limit of 104%. Adjustable sensitivity is attained by manipulating spandex yarn immersion times. The testing indicates that further improvements in its accuracy could be achieved by fine-tuning the sensor’s material blend and improving its electrical […]
Producing electricity at estuaries using light and osmosis
Eurekalert May 23, 2019 Researchers in Switzerland are working on a method to capture an energy source that’s constantly available at river estuaries: osmotic power, also known as blue energy. Blue energy relies on the chemical potential difference between solutions of high and low ionic concentrations, potentially providing an independent energy source at estuaries around the world. Single nanopores in molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2)-based membranes have shown record-high power outputs in alkaline conditions. By increasing the surface charge of MoS 2 membranes by light, we can double the osmotic power generated by a single nanopore at a neutral pH. The […]
Plumbene, graphene’s latest cousin, realized on the ‘nano water cube’
EurekAlert May 23, 2019 Plumbene is a lead-based 2D honeycomb material that has the largest spin-orbit interaction, due to lead’s orbital electron structure and therefore the largest energy band gap, potentially making it a robust 2D topological insulator in which the Quantum Spin Hall Effect might occur even above room temperature. An international team of researchers (Japan, France) created plumbene by annealing an ultrathin lead (Pb) film on palladium Pd(111). The resulting surface material has the signature honeycomb structure of a 2D monolayer. Beneath the plumbene, a palladium-lead (Pd-Pb) alloy thin film forms with a bubble structure. Atomic‐scale STM images […]
New lidar instruments peer skyward for clues on weather and climate
Phys.org May 21, 2019 There is a critical need for vertical measurement profiles of humidity, aerosols, and temperature in the lower troposphere to provide needed coverage for improved weather and climate forecasting across the U.S. There has been a gap in the instrumentation to meet this vision for research and monitoring without relying on aircraft-based devices. A team of researchers in the US (Montana State University, NCAR) has developed diode-based micro-pulse DIAL (MPD) technology as an economical route to a profiler that could make accurate measurements and fulfill desired specifications for continuous, unattended operation and eye safety. The technology will […]
These Mind-Boggling Images Are a Reminder of How Far Technology Has Come
Science Alert May 18, 2019 Sometimes, while waiting for quantum computers to become a thing, or complaining that your stupid laptop keeps dying on 5 percent battery, it’s easy to forget just how far technology has come over the past 50 years…read more.
Measles and the canonical path to elimination
Science Magazine May 10, 2019 All World Health Organization regions have set measles elimination goals. A team of researchers in the US (Johns Hopkins University, Pennsylvania State University, NIH) found that as countries progress toward these goals, they undergo predictable changes in the size and frequency of measles outbreaks. A country’s position on this “canonical path” is driven by both measles control activities and demographic factors, which combine to change the effective size of the measles-susceptible population, thereby driving the country through theoretically established dynamic regimes. The position on the path to elimination provides critical information for guiding vaccination efforts. […]