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|  | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #150 on Jun 25, 2012, 1:59pm » | |
Scientists Twist Light to Send Data: Beams of Light Can Be Twisted and Combined to Transmit Data Dramatically Faster
![[image]](http://imageshack.us/a/img577/567/120625133349large.jpg "[image]")
Artist's abstraction. Researchers have developed a system of transmitting data using twisted beams of light at ultra-high speeds -- up to 2.56 terabits per second. (Credit: © kentoh / Fotolia)
ScienceDaily (June 25, 2012) — A multi-national team led by USC with researchers hailing from the U.S., China, Pakistan and Israel has developed a system of transmitting data using twisted beams of light at ultra-high speeds -- up to 2.56 terabits per second.
To put that in perspective, broadband cable (which you probably used to download this) supports up to about 30 megabits per second. The twisted-light system transmits more than 85,000 times more data per second.
Their work might be used to build high-speed satellite communication links, short free-space terrestrial links, or potentially be adapted for use in the fiber optic cables that are used by some Internet service providers.
"You're able to do things with light that you can't do with electricity," said Alan Willner, electrical engineering professor at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the corresponding author of an article about the research that was published in Nature Photonics on June 24. "That's the beauty of light; it's a bunch of photons that can be manipulated in many different ways at very high speed."
Willner and his colleagues used beam-twisting "phase holograms" to manipulate eight beams of light so that each one twisted in a DNA-like helical shape as it propagated in free space. Each of the beams had its own individual twist and can be encoded with "1" and "0" data bits, making each an independent data stream -- much like separate channels on your radio.
Their demonstration transmitted the data over open space in a lab, attempting to simulate the sort of communications that might occur between satellites in space. Among the next steps for the research field will be to advance how it could be adapted for use in fiber optics, like those frequently used to transmit data over the Internet.
The team's work builds on research done by Leslie Allen, Anton Zeilinger, Miles Padgett and their colleagues at several European universities.
"We didn't invent the twisting of light, but we took the concept and ramped it up to a terabit-per-second," Willner said. His team included Jian Wang, Jeng-Yuan Yang, Irfan M. Fazal, Nisar Ahmed, Yan Yan, Hao Huang, Yongxiong Ren and Yang Yue from USC; Samuel Dolinar from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and Moshe Tur from Tel Aviv University.
Wang, the lead author, left USC after completing this research and is now a professor at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China.
This research was funded by the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the InPho (Information in a Photon) program.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Southern California, via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Jian Wang, Jeng-Yuan Yang, Irfan M. Fazal, Nisar Ahmed, Yan Yan, Hao Huang, Yongxiong Ren, Yang Yue, Samuel Dolinar, Moshe Tur, Alan E. Willner. Terabit free-space data transmission employing orbital angular momentum multiplexing. Nature Photonics, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2012.138
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120625133349.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #151 on Jul 10, 2012, 10:20am » | |
Pilotless plane will be reality in a generation
By Daniel Piotrowski
news.com.au
July 10, 2012 11:27AM
HOW would you feel about flying on a plane without a pilot on board?
Experts say that could be a reality in a generation, as "drone" technology made famous by the US military becomes more widespread and advanced in the civilian world.
"In around a 10-year timeframe, you could see freight aircraft that could be autonomously flown," Associate Professor Duncan Campbell, the director of the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA) at the Queensland University of Technology, told news.com.au.
And you could possibly be flown to your holiday destination by a pilotless plane within the next two decades, Dr Campbell said. This is, of course, only if people didn't have a problem with it, as they likely would.
Unmanned civilian planes would likely be flown remotely by controllers on the ground, although they would be armed with their own autopilot. "There'll still always be a human in the loop, although it might be more like a mission commander on the ground rather than a pilot," he said.
He said unmanned freight flights would be slowly phased in over low-populated areas so they wouldn't be a risk to people.
Drones have been deployed in huge numbers by the US military to spy on and kill terrorist targets in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They were used to monitor Osama Bin Laden's compound before a SEAL team killed him in May last year.
But they also increasingly have civilian uses. Global spending on the unmanned aerial vehicle industry is projected to be worth US $5.34 billion by 2017, according to a recent report.
Aussie miners, electricity companies and the Defence Force are already using unmanned aircraft mostly to conduct surveillance.
The US are using drones for border security, and some police there are using them for law enforcement activities.
The technologies could also help in disaster situations like cyclones or floods in the future. Researchers from ARCAA, Insitu Pacific, the CSIRO and Boeing's local research and technology arm have joined together in a $7 million project to develop technologies that would allow drones to be launched as 'eyes in the sky' in search and rescue missions.
Current regulations for unmanned aircraft mean that's impractical at the moment, Dr Campbell says. That's likely to change in the years to come as the authority on what flies in our skies, CASA, reviews regulations.
Dr Campbell says the team is on the verge of getting over some of the technological challenges in the way.
"We're just on the verge of being able to do these things [with drones]," Dr Campbell said. "The recent project is about getting over these final thresholds."
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-te....6#ixzz20EWgKeFq
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #152 on Jul 17, 2012, 3:51am » | |
Record-Breaking Laser Shot: National Ignition Facility Fires Off 192 Laser Beams Delivering More Than 500 Trillion Watts
![[image]](http://imageshack.us/a/img859/877/120716134508.jpg "[image]")
The preamplifiers of the National Ignition Facility are the first step in increasing the energy of laser beams as they make their way toward the target chamber. NIF recently achieved a 500 terawatt shot - 1,000 times more power than the United States uses at any instant in time. (Credit: Damien Jemison/LLNL)
ScienceDaily (July 16, 2012) — Fifteen years of work by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) team paid off on July 5 with a historic record-breaking laser shot. The NIF laser system of 192 beams delivered more than 500 trillion watts (terawatts or TW) of peak power and 1.85 megajoules (MJ) of ultraviolet laser light to its target. Five hundred terawatts is 1,000 times more power than the United States uses at any instant in time, and 1.85 megajoules of energy is about 100 times what any other laser regularly produces today.
The shot validated NIF's most challenging laser performance specifications set in the late 1990s when scientists were planning the world's most energetic laser facility. Combining extreme levels of energy and peak power on a target in the NIF is a critical requirement for achieving one of physics' grand challenges -- igniting hydrogen fusion fuel in the laboratory and producing more energy than that supplied to the target.
In the historic test, NIF's 192 lasers fired within a few trillionths of a second of each other onto a 2-millimeter-diameter target. The total energy matched the amount requested by shot managers to within better than 1 percent. Additionally, the beam-to-beam uniformity was within 1 percent, making NIF not only the highest energy laser of its kind but the most precise and reproducible. "NIF is becoming everything scientists planned when it was conceived over two decades ago," NIF Director Edward Moses said. "It is fully operational, and scientists are taking important steps toward achieving ignition and providing experimental access to user communities for national security, basic science and the quest for clean fusion energy."
The user community agrees. "The 500 TW shot is an extraordinary accomplishment by the NIF Team, creating unprecedented conditions in the laboratory that hitherto only existed deep in stellar interiors," said Dr. Richard Petrasso, senior research scientist and division head of high energy density physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "For scientists across the nation and the world who, like ourselves, are actively pursuing fundamental science under extreme conditions and the goal of laboratory fusion ignition, this is a remarkable and exciting achievement."
"Already the most incredibly tightly controlled and most energetic laser in the world, it is remarkable that NIF has achieved the 500 TW milestone -- quite a significant achievement," said Dr. Raymond Jeanloz, professor of astronomy and earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley. "This breakthrough will give us incredible new opportunities in studying materials at extreme conditions."
NIF is operating routinely at unprecedented performance levels. The July 5 shot was the third experiment in which total energy exceeded 1.8 MJ on the target. On July 3 scientists achieved the highest energy laser shot ever fired, with more than 1.89 MJ delivered to the target at a peak power of 423 TW. A shot on March 15 set the stage for the July 5 experiment by delivering 1.8 MJ for the first time with a peak power of 411 TW.
Original concerns about achieving these levels of extreme laser performance on NIF centered in part on the quality of optics existing in the late 1990s that could not withstand this intense laser light. Lawrence Livermore researchers worked closely with their industrial partners to improve manufacturing methods and drastically reduce the number of defects. Livermore scientists also developed in-house procedures to remove and mitigate small amounts of damage resulting from repeated laser firings.
NIF is influencing the design of new giant laser facilities being built or planned in the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Japan and China.
Located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, NIF is funded by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the application of nuclear science to the nation's national security enterprise.
NIF is the latest, and arguably the most sophisticated, addition to a number of critical stockpile stewardship facilities. It is the only facility with the potential to duplicate the actual phenomena that occur in the heart of a modern nuclear device -- a goal that is critical to sustaining confidence that a return to underground nuclear testing remains unnecessary. NIF also is providing unique experimental opportunities for scientists to enhance our understanding of the universe by creating the same extreme states of matter that exist in the centers of planets, stars and other celestial objects. Additionally, experiments at NIF are laying the groundwork to revolutionize energy production with fusion energy to provide abundant and sustainable clean energy.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120716134508.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #153 on Jul 17, 2012, 3:54am » | |
Getting Amped: Instrument for Exploring the Cosmos and the Quantum World Created
![[image]](http://imageshack.us/a/img442/6686/120713161947.jpg "[image]")
The new amplifier consists of a superconducting material (niobium titanium nitride) coiled into a double spiral 16 millimeters in diameter. (Credit: Peter Day)
ScienceDaily (July 13, 2012) — Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have developed a new type of amplifier for boosting electrical signals. The device can be used for everything from studying stars, galaxies, and black holes to exploring the quantum world and developing quantum computers.
"This amplifier will redefine what it is possible to measure," says Jonas Zmuidzinas, Caltech's Merle Kingsley Professor of Physics, the chief technologist at JPL, and a member of the research team.
An amplifier is a device that increases the strength of a weak signal. "Amplifiers play a basic role in a wide range of scientific measurements and in electronics in general," says Peter Day, a visiting associate in physics at Caltech and a principal scientist at JPL. "For many tasks, current amplifiers are good enough. But for the most demanding applications, the shortcomings of the available technologies limit us."
Conventional transistor amplifiers -- like the ones that power your car speakers -- work for a large span of frequencies. They can also boost signals ranging from the faint to the strong, and this so-called dynamic range enables your speakers to play both the quiet and loud parts of a song. But when an extremely sensitive amplifier is needed -- for example, to boost the faint, high-frequency radio waves from distant galaxies -- transistor amplifiers tend to introduce too much noise, resulting in a signal that is more powerful but less clear.
One type of highly sensitive amplifier is a parametric amplifier, which boosts a weak input signal by using a strong signal called the pump signal. As both signals travel through the instrument, the pump signal injects energy into the weak signal, therefore amplifying it.
About 50 years ago, Amnon Yariv, Caltech's Martin and Eileen Summerfield Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering, showed that this type of amplifier produces as little noise as possible: the only noise it must produce is the unavoidable noise caused by the jiggling of atoms and waves according to the laws of quantum mechanics. The problem with many parametric amplifiers and sensitive devices like it, however, is that they can only amplify a narrow frequency range and often have a poor dynamic range.
But the Caltech and JPL researchers say their new amplifier, which is a type of parametric amplifier, combines only the best features of other amplifiers. It operates over a frequency range more than ten times wider than other comparably sensitive amplifiers, can amplify strong signals without distortion, and introduces nearly the lowest amount of unavoidable noise. In principle, the researchers say, design improvements should be able to reduce that noise to the absolute minimum. Versions of the amplifier can be designed to work at frequencies ranging from a few gigahertz to a terahertz (1,000 GHz). For comparison, a gigahertz is about 10 times greater than commercial FM radio signals in the U.S., which range from about 88 to 108 megahertz (1 GHz is 1,000 MHz).
"Our new amplifier has it all," Zmuidzinas says. "You get to have your cake and eat it too."
The team recently described the new instrument in the journal Nature Physics.
One of the key features of the new parametric amplifier is that it incorporates superconductors -- materials that allow an electric current to flow with zero resistance when lowered to certain temperatures. For their amplifier, the researchers are using titanium nitride (TiN) and niobium titanium nitride (NbTiN), which have just the right properties to allow the pump signal to amplify the weak signal.
Although the amplifier has a host of potential applications, the reason the researchers built the device was to help them study the universe. The team built the instrument to boost microwave signals, but the new design can be used to build amplifiers that help astronomers observe in a wide range of wavelengths, from radio waves to X rays.
For instance, the team says, the instrument can directly amplify radio signals from faint sources like distant galaxies, black holes, or other exotic cosmic objects. Boosting signals in millimeter to submillimeter wavelengths (between radio and infrared) will allow astronomers to study the cosmic microwave background -- the afterglow of the big bang -- and to peer behind the dusty clouds of galaxies to study the births of stars, or probe primeval galaxies. The team has already begun working to produce such devices for Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) near Bishop, California, about 250 miles north of Los Angeles.
These amplifiers, Zmuidzinas says, could be incorporated into telescope arrays like the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy at OVRO, of which Caltech is a consortium member, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile.
Instead of directly amplifying an astronomical signal, the instrument can be used to boost the electronic signal from a light detector in an optical, ultraviolet, or even X-ray telescope, making it easier for astronomers to tease out faint objects.
Because the instrument is so sensitive and introduces minimal noise, it can also be used to explore the quantum world. For example, Keith Schwab, a professor of applied physics at Caltech, is planning to use the amplifier to measure the behavior of tiny mechanical devices that operate at the boundary between classical physics and the strange world of quantum mechanics. The amplifier could also be used in the development quantum computers -- which are still beyond our technological reach but should be able to solve some of science's hardest problems much more quickly than any regular computer.
"It's hard to predict what all of the applications are going to end up being, but a nearly perfect amplifier is a pretty handy thing to have in your bag of tricks," Zmuidzinas says. And by creating their new device, the researchers have shown that it is indeed possible to build an essentially perfect amplifier. "Our instrument still has a few rough edges that need polishing before we would call it perfect, but we think our results so far show that we can get there."
This research was supported by NASA, the Keck Institute for Space Studies, and the JPL Research and Technology Development program.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by California Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Marcus Woo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Byeong Ho Eom, Peter K. Day, Henry G. LeDuc, Jonas Zmuidzinas. A wideband, low-noise superconducting amplifier with high dynamic range. Nature Physics, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nphys2356
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120713161947.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #154 on Jul 20, 2012, 12:27pm » | |
Sea odyssey opens ocean floor to new discoveries
July 21, 2012
William Broad
A recovery operation almost five kilometres under water has retrieved $37 million worth of silver, writes William Broad.
![[image]](http://www.coinweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Gairsoppa.jpg "[image]")
IT DOESN'T glisten, but it does have a story to tell.
Forty-eight tonnes of silver bullion that spent more than 70 years at the bottom of the North Atlantic have been hauled to the surface and returned to its rightful owner, the British government, says the company that recovered it. Much more will be on its way soon.
The silver was recovered from the SS Gairsoppa, which was carrying the riches to England from India in 1941 when a Nazi torpedo struck. The ship went down about 480 kilometres south-west of Ireland in waters 4.6 kilometres deep - lower than the resting place of the Titanic.
On Wednesday, a maritime recovery company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, said it had succeeded in removing about 43 per cent of the insured silver aboard the rusting hulk and 20 per cent of the total silver that its research indicates might be on board. The company said it planned to return quickly to the site for another round of recovery.
Greg Stemm, the chief executive of Odyssey, said it was the heaviest and deepest cargo of precious metal ever lifted from a shipwreck. The haul, he said, demonstrates that marine technologies have improved to the point that no sunken ship is too deep and no cargo too large for retrieval.
''People have been worried about the technology,'' Mr Stemm said. ''This shows that we have it under control. We can pick up large amounts of silver.''
Mike Penning, a minister at the British Department for Transport, which hired Odyssey, said he welcomed the company's ''hard work in the salvage operation'' and its successful ''recovery of the valuable cargo''.
Riches found in the deep sea often lie undisturbed because lifting them is too difficult. In 1995, treasure hunters located a lost submarine carrying two tonnes of gold. It remains on the bottom.
But Odyssey is under contract to the British government, which took possession of the recovered silver on Wednesday. A total of 1203 silver bars were loaded onto three large trucks in Bristol and taken to an undisclosed location for secure storage and processing.
Mr Stemm said the old bars exhibited none of the shimmering patina usually associated with fresh silver. ''It's been underwater so long, it could be mistaken for iron,'' he said.
Odyssey invested its own money in finding the ship and will split the profits, the company getting 80 per cent of the silver's value and the British government 20 per cent. The company disclosed the shipwreck's discovery last year.
At Wednesday's market value, the 48 tonnes of silver recovered so far would fetch about $US38 million ($36.5 million). Odyssey says the Gairsoppa held up to 240 tonnes of silver, which could fetch as much as $US190 million at today's rates.
The technologies speeding such endeavours include new generations of tethered robots, lights and claws that can withstand the crushing pressures of the deep, as well as powerful computers that co-ordinate the distant but delicate action.
Mr Stemm said one of the less conspicuous advances centred on the composition of the long cables lowered from the recovery ship to the assembly point on the bottom next to a shipwreck. Long steel cables, he said, can break under their own immense weight. His company now uses a kind of plastic cable called Dyneema that is as strong as steel but weightless in seawater.
''It's like working in outer space,'' he said of viewing the undersea operations from the recovery ship. ''It's very neat.''
The Gairsoppa, a vessel of the British Indian Steam Navigation Company, was named for a spectacular waterfall near India's western coast. In December 1940, it sailed from Calcutta laden with tea, iron and tonnes of silver. In Freetown, Sierra Leone, the ship joined a convoy headed to Britain and the contested waters of the North Atlantic.
The steamship, 125 metres long, had 83 crewmen and two gunners on board, according to Lloyd's of London, which compiles information about cargos lost in war.
High winds and a heavy swell forced the Gairsoppa to slow. As the weather deteriorated, the captain judged that the wallowing ship had insufficient coal to make it to Liverpool and broke from the convoy for Galway, in western Ireland.
On February 17, 1941, a German U-boat attacked. A single torpedo ripped through the Gairsoppa's hull and exploded, causing the forward mast to topple and the antenna to snap, cutting off the ship from the world. The U-boat opened fire as the Gairsoppa sank.
All 85 men died save one - the second officer, who survived 13 days in a lifeboat.
In recent years, the famous cargo began to beckon as technological strides made it easier to find lost vessels. At least one company tried and failed to find the shipwreck.
In early 2010, Odyssey won an exclusive contract from Britain's Department for Transport to salvage the silver. Last northern summer, it hired a Russian ship and performed a preliminary survey in international waters, finding what it considered solid clues.
Later, the company took its main ship, the Odyssey Explorer, to investigate the area. Its tethered robot took 3½ hours to descend 4.6 kilometres through dark waters to the muddy seabed. Then came a eureka moment, when the robot found a gaping hole where the torpedo had struck.
The project's success has elated Odyssey about the possibilities for other shipwrecks.
''There are billions of dollars worth of cargos that have been considered unrecoverable,'' Mr Stemm said. ''This opens up the entire ocean floor.''
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/sea-odyssey-....l#ixzz21BVYXctb
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #155 on Jul 20, 2012, 1:51pm » | |
18 July 2012 Last updated at 07:26 GMT
Graphene transistors in high-performance demonstration
By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News
The hope for the "miracle material" graphene to fulfil its promise in electronics has received a boost - by changing the recipe when cooking it.
Graphene, one-atom-thick sheets of carbon, can carry electric charges far faster than currently used materials.
But it has proven difficult to make it behave as a semiconductor like silicon, or to attach "contacts" to the sheets.
A study in Nature Communications solves those problems by cooking up graphene from a material called silicon carbide: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v3/n7/full/ncomms1955.html
Graphene was discovered in 2004 by two University of Manchester scientists - winning them the 2010 Nobel prize in physics.
It has been the focus of intense research efforts to exploit its phenomenal mechanical strength and favourable electronic properties.
Because sheets of it are so thin and it conducts electric charges so well, it is already being used as a crystal-clear "electrode" for solar cells, and will soon find its way into consumer products including smartphones and televisions.
The greatest hope, however, is that it can be used in semiconductor applications, working with or replacing the industry's standard material of silicon.
To make faster computer chips, the industry has been working relentlessly to shrink the individual transistors - and is heading for a physical limit to just how small they can go.
Since charges zip through graphene hundreds of times faster than in silicon, a jump in speed could be made with no decrease in size - but efforts to integrate graphene into chips have been difficult.
One-chip wonder
One problem is that while pure graphene is a particularly good conductor, it is a terrible semiconductor - the kind of material needed to make transistors. While a number of different transistors have been produced using graphene, they have required modifications to it that degrade its electrical performance.
Another issue is the fact that adding metal contacts to graphene - to shuttle electric charges into and out of it - is tricky, and often results in damage.
To tackle both issues, researchers at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany have enlisted the help of a somewhat lesser-known material called silicon carbide - a simple crystal made of silicon and carbon.
In 2009, several members of the same team reported in Nature Materials that when wafers of the material were baked, silicon atoms were driven out of the crystal's topmost layer, leaving behind just carbon in the form of graphene: http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v8/n3/full/nmat2382.html
In the new work, the team joined Swedish research institute Acreo AB, using a high-energy beam of charged atoms to etch "channels" into thin silicon carbide wafers defining where different transistor parts would be.
The team's crucial step was to allow a bit of hydrogen gas in during this process. This affected how the top graphene layer was chemically joined to the underlying silicon carbide: either making a given region conducting or semiconducting, depending on the etched channels.
The way the hydrogen atoms fit themselves into the interface changes the nature of the chemical bonds between the two layers.
Quentin Ramasse, a researcher at the SuperStem Laboratory in Daresbury, UK - whose work recently showed that holes in graphene "heal themselves" - called the work "really impressive": http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18782151
"That's really what they've nailed: controlling that last little bit of bonding to make one type of contact or another," Dr Ramasse told BBC News.
"That's what the hold-up has been, being able to tailor that contact to suit whatever you want to use it for, and have it all in the one chip."
"You read everywhere that graphene is magical for this reason and that, and it's good to be reminded that you can put it in real devices and make it scalable and actually use it for technological applications," he said. "That's a very good step forward."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18868848
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #156 on Jul 23, 2012, 11:14am » | |
23 July 2012 Last updated at 09:59 GMT
Artificial jellyfish created from heart cells
![[image]](http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/jellyfish-poptop1.jpg?w=558&h=9999&crop=0 "[image]")
Artificial jellyfish - The researchers shocked the muscle cells into contracting using an electric current
Scientists in the US have created a free swimming artificial jellyfish.
The team members built the replica using silicone as a base on which to grow heart muscle cells that were harvested from rats.
They used an electric current to shock the Medusoid into swimming with synchronised contractions that mimic those of real jellyfish.
The advance, by researchers at Caltech and Harvard University, is reported in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
The finding serves as a proof of concept for reverse engineering a variety of muscular organs and simple life forms.
Because jellyfish use a muscle to pump their way through the water, the way they function - on a very basic level - is similar to that of a human heart.
"I started looking at marine organisms that pump to survive," said Kevin Kit Parker, a professor of bioengineering and applied physics at Harvard.
"Then I saw a jellyfish at the New England Aquarium, and I immediately noted both similarities and differences between how the jellyfish pumps and the human heart.
"The similarities help reveal what you need to do to design a bio-inspired pump."
Mechanical movement
The work also points to a broader definition of "synthetic life" in an emerging field of science that has until now focused on replicating life's building blocks, say the researchers.
Prof Parker said he wanted to challenge the traditional view of synthetic biology which is "focused on genetic manipulations of cells". Instead of building just a cell, he sought to "build a beast".
The two groups at Caltech and Harvard worked for years to understand the key factors that contribute to jellyfish propulsion, including the arrangement of their muscles, how their bodies contract and recoil, and how fluid dynamics helps or hinders their movements.
![[image]](http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/61746000/jpg/_61746770_61746769.jpg "[image]")
The swimming behaviour of the Medusoid closely mimics that of the real thing
Once these functions were well understood, the researchers began to reverse engineer them.
They used silicone to fashion a jellyfish-shaped body with eight arm-like appendages.
Next, they printed a pattern made of protein onto the "body" that resembled the muscle architecture of the real animal.
They grew the heart muscle cells on top, with the protein pattern serving as a road map for the growth and organisation of the rat tissue. This allowed them to turn the cells into a coherent swimming muscle.
When the researchers set the Medusoid free in a container of electrically conducting fluid, they shocked the Medusoid into swimming with synchronised contractions. The muscle cells even started to contract a bit on their own before the electrical current was applied.
"I was surprised that with relatively few components - a silicone base and cells that we arranged - we were able to reproduce some pretty complex swimming and feeding behaviours that you see in biological jellyfish," said John Dabiri, professor of aeronautics and bioengineering at Caltech.
"I'm pleasantly surprised at how close we are getting to matching the natural biological performance, but also that we're seeing ways in which we can probably improve on that natural performance. The process of evolution missed a lot of good solutions."
Lead author Janna Nawroth from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena commented that the field of tissue engineering was "still a very qualitative art".
She said researchers tried to copy a tissue or organ "based on what they think is important or what they see as the major components without necessarily understanding if those components are relevant to the desired function or without analysing first how different materials could be used".
The team aims to carry out further work on the artificial jellyfish. They want to make adjustments that will allow it to turn and move in a particular direction.
They also plan to incorporate a simple "brain" so it can respond to its environment and replicate more advanced behaviours like moving towards a light source and seeking energy or food.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18953034
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #157 on Jul 24, 2012, 6:34pm » | |
Hypersonic Inflatable Heat Shield Successfully Tested
![[image]](http://images.sciencedaily.com/2012/07/120723171852-large.jpg?1343098286 "[image]")
A large inflatable heat shield developed by NASA's Space Technology Program has successfully survived a trip through Earth's atmosphere while travelling at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph. (Credit: Image courtesy of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2012) — A large inflatable heat shield developed by NASA's Space Technology Program has successfully survived a trip through Earth's atmosphere while travelling at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph.
The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) was launched by sounding rocket at 7:01 a.m. July 23 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The purpose of the IRVE-3 test was to show that a space capsule can use an inflatable outer shell to slow and protect itself as it enters an atmosphere at hypersonic speed during planetary entry and descent, or as it returns to Earth with cargo from the International Space Station.
"It's great to see the initial results indicate we had a successful test of the hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator," said James Reuther, deputy director of NASA's Space Technology Program. "This demonstration flight goes a long way toward showing the value of these technologies to serve as atmospheric entry heat shields for future space."
IRVE-3, a cone of uninflated high-tech rings covered by a thermal blanket of layers of heat resistant materials, launched from a three-stage Black Brant rocket for its suborbital flight. About 6 minutes into the flight, as planned, the 680-pound inflatable aeroshell, or heat shield, and its payload separated from the launch vehicle's 22-inch-diameter nose cone about 280 miles over the Atlantic Ocean.
An inflation system pumped nitrogen into the IRVE-3 aeroshell until it expanded to a mushroom shape almost 10 feet in diameter. Then the aeroshell plummeted at hypersonic speeds through Earth's atmosphere. Engineers in the Wallops control room watched as four onboard cameras confirmed the inflatable shield held its shape despite the force and high heat of reentry. Onboard instruments provided temperature and pressure data. Researchers will study that information to help develop future inflatable heat shield designs.
After its flight, IRVE-3 fell into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina. From launch to splashdown, the flight lasted about 20 minutes. A high-speed U.S. Navy Stiletto boat is in the area with a crew that will attempt to retrieve IRVE-3. The Stiletto is a maritime demonstration craft operated by the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock, Combatant Craft Division, and is based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Ft Story, Va.
"A team of NASA engineers and technicians spent the last three years preparing for the IRVE-3 flight," said Lesa Roe, director of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. "We are pushing the boundaries with this flight. We look forward to future test launches of even bigger inflatable aeroshells."
This test was a follow-on to the successful IRVE-2, which showed an inflatable heat shield could survive intact after coming through Earth's atmosphere. IRVE-3 was the same size as IRVE-2, but had a heavier payload and was subjected to a much higher re-entry heat, more like what a heat shield might encounter in space.
IRVE-3 is part of the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) Project within the Game Changing Development Program, part of NASA's Space Technology Program. Langley developed and manages the IRVE-3 and HIAD programs.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120723171852.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #158 on Jul 27, 2012, 10:03am » | |
27 July 2012 Last updated at 07:44 GMT
Coating heals itself after damage
![[image]](http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/61823000/jpg/_61823846_t7420108-water_repellent_surface.jpg "[image]")
"Hydrophobic" surfaces repel water and grime but can be limited by short lifetimes
Scientists have taken a new approach to creating coatings that heal themselves when they are damaged.
The research could potentially have applications in scratch-resistant phones and "self-cleaning" cars.
"Functional" coatings that, for example, repel water and dirt have previously been dogged by relatively short lifetimes.
But the journal Advanced Materials reports that researchers have worked out how to increase their longevity.
A major stumblingblock when applying these layers is that the smallest scratch can remove them, eradicating their special properties. It damages the nano-sized molecular groups that repel water and dirt, for example.
But this problem could be overcome by making a coating with self-healing properties. Such self-healing materials mimic living organisms that can repair their tissues.
Now, Prof Bert de With of the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and his colleagues have discovered a nano-structure solution to the problem.
Affordable healing
Functional molecules - for example "hydrophobic" molecules that repel water and dirt - can be coated onto the surfaces of products.
Prof de With and his team found that by attaching these molecules on the end of polymer "stalks" and mixing these throughout the coating, any that are removed by scratches are replaced by a new, self-orientating layer.
The result is that any coating, such as an antibacterial layer, would be "self-repairing" after small amounts of damage, as the molecular chains just below the damaged layer re-cover the surface.
The researchers were keen to stress that their work could prolong the life of functional surfaces and plan to develop the technology with industry partners.
Also, the new polymer enables a surface to repair damage automatically, without the application of any other materials, meaning that the new surfaces should be affordable.
The scientists hope that the new coating technology should be available in industry within the next six to eight years.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18998638
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #159 on Aug 7, 2012, 1:52am » | |
Seeing Through Walls: Laser System Reconstructs Objects Hidden from Sight
![[image]](http://images.sciencedaily.com/2012/08/120806130848-large.jpg?1344276349 "[image]")
A 3D version of a spade (left) is first rendered in 2D from the thermal infrared energy emitted by the object. The different colors represent areas of higher and lower temperature as measured by the sensor. The image on right is the optically reconstructed object. The gray ground plane was added to provide context. (Credit: Optics Express)
ScienceDaily (Aug. 6, 2012) — Inspired by the erratic behavior of photons zooming around and bouncing off objects and walls inside a room, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, the University of Wisconsin, and Rice University combined these bouncing photons with advanced optics to enable them to "see" what's hidden around the corner.
This technique, described in a paper published August 6 in the Optical Society's open-access journal Optics Express, may one day prove invaluable in disaster recovery situations, as well as in noninvasive biomedical imaging applications.
"Imagine photons as particles bouncing right off the walls and down a corridor and around a corner -- the ones that hit an object are reflected back. When this happens, we can use the data about the time they take to move around and bounce back to get information about geometry," explains Otkrist Gupta, an MIT graduate student and lead author of the new Optics Express paper.
Using advanced optics in the form of an ultrafast laser and a 2-D streak camera, both of which operate on the order of trillions of cycles per second, the team exploited being able to capture billions of images per second to demonstrate the technology's ability to "see" objects by analyzing the light moving around a corner or through water bottle.
Streak cameras differ from other cameras in that the image it forms is determined by the time profile of the incoming photons. "This type of imaging provides us with a very good idea of how long each of the photons takes to bounce and come back. If there's something around the corner, the photons come back sooner and arrive earlier in time" says Gupta. "We're actually capturing and counting photons. Each image we shoot has three or fewer photons in it. And we take lots of images very quickly to create 'streak' images, which help us determine the distance traveled by the photons in centimeters. Once we collect that data, we can infer the basic geometry of the hidden object(s) and a 3-D picture emerges."
There are many potential applications for this technology. Among the more simple and obvious are disaster recovery situations. "Say you have a house collapsing and need to know if anyone is inside, our technology would be useful. It's ideal for use in nearly any disaster-type situation, especially fires, in which you need to find out what's going on inside and around corners -- but don't want to risk sending someone inside because of dangerous or hazardous conditions. You could use this technology to greatly reduce risking rescue workers' lives," Gupta points out.
It's also quite possible that the technology could be used as a form of noninvasive biomedical imaging to "see" what's going on beneath a patient's skin. That's what the researchers plan to investigate now.
Gupta expects that it will likely be at least another five to 10 years before the technology becomes commercially available -- based on the typical timeframe research and development (R&D) demonstrations take to reach a product launch.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Optical Society of America, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Otkrist Gupta, Thomas Willwacher, Andreas Velten, Ashok Veeraraghavan, Ramesh Raskar. Reconstruction of hidden 3D shapes using diffuse reflections. Optics Express, 2012; 20 (17): 19096 DOI: 10.1364/OE.20.019096
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120806130848.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #160 on Aug 7, 2012, 1:55am » | |
Extreme Plasma Theories Put to the Test
![[image]](http://images.sciencedaily.com/2012/08/120806171319-large.jpg?1344299504 "[image]")
The peaks on this chart represent key energy signatures produced in a dense ultrahot plasma, which for the first time allow detailed measurements of the effects of this plasma environment. (Credit: Sam Vinko, University of Oxford)
ScienceDaily (Aug. 6, 2012) — The first controlled studies of extremely hot, dense matter have overthrown the widely accepted 50-year-old model used to explain how ions influence each other's behavior in a dense plasma. The results should benefit a wide range of fields, from research aimed at tapping nuclear fusion as an energy source to understanding the inner workings of stars.
The study also demonstrates the unique capabilities of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. While researchers have created extremely hot and dense plasmas before, LCLS allows them to measure the detailed properties of these states and test a fundamental class of plasma physics for the first time ever.
Plasma is sometimes referred to as the fourth state of matter -- alongside solid, liquid and gas -- and in this case it was hundreds of times hotter than the surface of the sun (2 million kelvins or 3.6 million degrees Fahrenheit). These measurements, reported by an international team of researchers and published this week in Physical Review Letters, contradict the prevailing model that scientists have used for a half-century to understand the conditions inside plasmas.
"We don't think this could have been done elsewhere," said Justin Wark, leader of a group at Oxford University that participated in the study. "Having an X-ray laser is key."
The international research team, which made the plasma by targeting super-thin aluminum with X-rays at LCLS, reported its initial results in January. Now, in a second study based on a new analysis of data from the same experiment, the group tackled another question: How are atoms in such a hot, dense plasma affected by their environment?
The researchers were able to pinpoint how much energy it takes to knock electrons from highly charged atoms in a dense plasma. "That's a question no one's been able to test properly before," said Orlando Ciricosta of Oxford University and lead author of the study, which included scientists from three DOE national laboratories.
The LCLS offers a unique test bed for these studies: It provides a very controlled environment for measuring extreme phenomena, a laser beam with finely tuned energies and a way to precisely measure the properties of a plasma at a specific solid density.
The new analysis gives insight into the sorts of plasmas scientists need to create in some experimental approaches to fusion, the process that powers stars, in which the cores of super-condensed atoms combine and release massive amounts of energy. The research may lead to improved modeling for certain aspects of fusion, as it gives detailed information about the process where tightly packed atoms begin to lose their autonomy as the orbits of their associated electrons overlap.
Scientists use complicated algorithms that may include millions of lines of code to simulate the behavior of superheated matter and build better models of how fusion works.
"Even very sophisticated computer codes used to simulate dense plasmas usually employ an old model from 1966 to simulate the effects of the plasma environment," Ciricosta said. "Our work at the LCLS has shown that this widely used model does not fit the data. In an extraordinary twist of fate, it turns out that an even earlier approach from 1963 does a far better job."
Wark said he expects the findings will have "significant impact" in the plasma physics community, as the 1963 model can be easily applied to improve existing simulations in a range of fields. However, the complete physics is still far from clear, and he cautioned that more testing and refinement may be necessary.
"We're not going to claim any current model works under all conditions and works for everything," he said. "We would really like people to go and revisit this problem, to see if they can come up with something even more sophisticated."
Wark's team included researchers from Oxford; SLAC; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; University of California -- Berkeley; the International Atomic Energy Agency in Austria; the Plasma Physics Department at AWE in the United Kingdom; the Institute of Physics ASCR in the Czech Republic; and DESY and the Friedrich-Schiller University in Germany.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
O. Ciricosta et al. Direct Measurements of the Ionization Potential Depression in a Dense Plasma. Physical Review Letters, 2012 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.065002
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120806171319.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #161 on Aug 14, 2012, 3:11am » | |
Supersonic jet capable of reaching 7242 km/h could revolutionise air travel
news.com.au
August 14, 2012 4:50PM
![[image]](http://spaceindustrynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/scramjet.jpg "[image]")
An artist's impression of the X-51A WaveRider mid flight. Picture: US Air Force/Wikicommons
![[image]](http://d2n4wb9orp1vta.cloudfront.net/resources/images/cdn/cms/0710_HPC_News4.jpg "[image]")
The X-51A WaveRider is capable of travelling at five times the speed of sound. Picture: US Air Force/Wikicommons
THUNDERBIRDS are go… at five times the speed of sound.
This hypersonic X-51A WaveRider jet may look like something out of a fictional TV show but could drastically cut journey times in the future.
The aircraft, which belongs to the US military can accelerate to a top speed of 7242 km/h in seconds and is capable of travelling from the New York to London in under an hour.
Due to be tested over the Pacific Ocean yesterday, the craft will be dropped from a B52 Bomber attached to its wing.
Lasting 300 seconds, the aircraft was dropped from a height of 50,000ft with a rocket booster lifting it to 70,000ft.
Funded by both NASA and the US Military it is estimated the Waverider programs cost around $132million, MailOnline reported.
If the project gets off the ground, the jet would be capable of travelling at five times the speed of sound.
![[image]](http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2012/08/Waverider1-660x372.jpeg "[image]")
The actual vehicle.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/super....1#ixzz23VPcuXpm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #162 on Aug 14, 2012, 3:16am » | |
Science explains perfect sandcastle
AFP
August 03, 2012 4:45AM
![[image]](http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2012/08/03/1226441/912616-brazil-weather-cold.jpg "[image]")
The trick to a perfect sandcastle is using 99 per cent sand and 1 per cent water. Picture: AFP
WHAT'S the recipe for the perfect sandcastle?
A delicate balance of 99 per cent sand and one per cent water, say physicists who have given new meaning to mixing work and play.
For their contribution to science, researchers in Amsterdam and Paris spent hours building beach sand columns in their laboratories to come up with a complicated mathematical formula for a stable and long-lasting sandcastle.
Not too much water, they concluded - just enough to form small "bridges" between grains of sand, making them stick together.
![[image]](http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2012/08/03/1226442/057288-sand-castles.jpg "[image]")
Picture: Nicole Cleary
"If this optimum concentration is used, sandcastles reaching five metres in height can be built," said a statement on the report that elevates a popular childhood pastime into the pages of the journal, Nature Scientific Reports.
The formula also sets out the desired height-to-base-diametre ratio and sand compacting force.
The findings are of interest for civil engineering and soil mechanics, fields which deal with structural stability, wrote the scientists.
"In addition, it explains the maximum height of, and provides us with a recipe to construct the perfect sandcastle."
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/technol....f-1226441914229
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #163 on Aug 14, 2012, 1:37pm » | |
Researchers Seek Help Cracking Gauss Mystery Payload
By Kim Zetter
08.14.12 9:00 AM
![[image]](http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2012/08/Gauss.jpg "[image]")
A string pair from the Gauss malware. Image courtesy of Kaspersky Lab
Researchers at Kaspersky Lab in Russia are asking the public for help in cracking an encrypted warhead that gets delivered to infected machines by the Gauss malware toolkit.
The warhead gets decrypted by the malware using a key composed of configuration data from the system it’s targeting. But without knowing what systems it’s targeting or the configuration on that system, the researchers have been unable to reproduce the key to crack the encryption.
“We are asking anyone interested in cryptology, numerology and mathematics to join us in solving the mystery and extracting the hidden payload,” the researchers write in a blog post published Tuesday.
The payload is delivered to machines via an infected USB stick that uses the .lnk exploit to execute the malicious activity. In addition to the encrypted payload, infected USB sticks deliver two other files that also contain encrypted sections that Kaspersky has been unable to crack.
“The code that decrypts the sections is very complex compared to any regular routine we usually find in malware,” Kaspersky writes. Kaspersky believes one of these sections may contain data that helps crack the payload.
Last week, Kaspersky disclosed that it had found a newly uncovered espionage tool, apparently designed by the same people behind the state-sponsored Flame malware, that has infected at least 2,500 machines so far, primarily in Lebanon.
The spyware, dubbed Gauss after a name found in one of its main files, has a module that targets bank accounts in order to capture login credentials for accounts at several banks in Lebanon and also targets customers of Citibank and PayPal.
But the most intriguing part of the malware is the mysterious payload, designated resource “100,” which Kaspersky fears could be designed to cause some sort of destruction against critical infrastructure.
“The [encrypted] resource section is big enough to contain a Stuxnet-like SCADA targeted attack code and all the precautions used by the authors indicate that the target is indeed high profile,” Kaspersky writes in its blog post.
The payload appears to be highly targeted against machines that have a specific configuration — a configuration used to generate a key that unlocks the encryption. That specific configuration is currently unknown, but Roel Schouwenberg, a senior researcher with Kaspersky, says it has to do with programs, paths and files that are on the system.
Once it finds a system with the programs and files it’s looking for, the malware uses that data to perform 10,000 iterations of an MD5 hash to generate a 128-bit RC4 key, which is then used to decrypt the payload and launch it.
“We have tried millions of combinations of known names in %PROGRAMFILES% and Path, without success,” Kaspersky writes in its post. “[T]he attackers are looking for a very specific program with the name written in an extended character set, such as Arabic or Hebrew, or one that starts with a special symbol such as “~”.”
Kaspersky has published the first 32 bytes of each of the encrypted sections in the Gauss malware as well as hashes in the hope that cryptographers will be able to help them. Anyone who wants to help, can contact the researchers to obtain more data: theflame@kaspersky.com.
Crowdsourcing has worked for Kaspersky before. Earlier this year, the company asked the public for help in identifying a mysterious programming language that had been used in another nation-state-sponsored malware called DuQu. Within two weeks, they had identified the language with help from the public.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/08/gauss-mystery-payload/
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: New Millenium Technology VIII
« Reply #164 on Aug 15, 2012, 8:51pm » | |
3D printed meats may soon be on the menu
August 16, 2012 - 10:03AM
Zoe Fox
A start-up wants to create 3D printed meat to fill the human craving for animal protein without continuing to take an environmental toll on the planet.
According to Cnet, billionaire Peter Thiel is directing between $US250,000 to $US350,000 from his philanthropic foundation toward Missouri-based Modern Meadow to create the bio-printed meat.
The company hopes to use the same technologies developed to create medical-grade tissues to bring food to the world’s dinner tables (or barbecues).
“If you look at the resource intensity of everything that goes into a hamburger, it is an environmental train wreck,” says Modern Meadow co-founder Andras Forgacs.
Don’t get excited too fast — it will be a while before you can enjoy a 3D-printed steak on your dinner table. Modern Meadow wrote in its submission to the US Department of Agriculture’s small business grant program that its short-term goal is to create a slab of meat that’s one inch long.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tec....#ixzz23facLUgb
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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