Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University researchers have developed efficient solar cells using natural substrates derived from plants such as trees.
By fabricating them on cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates, the solar cells can be quickly recycled in water at the end of their lifecycle.
The technology is published in the open-access journal Scientific Reports.
The researchers report that the organic solar cells reach a… read more
Nanofoams that could be used to make better body armor, prevent traumatic brain injury and blast-related lung injuries in soldiers, and protect buildings from impacts and blasts are being developed by University of California, San Diego engineers.
“We are developing nanofoams that help disperse the force of an impact over a wider area,” said Yu Qiao, a professor of structural engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering… read more
Wearable machines that enhance human muscle power are poised to leave the realm of science fiction and help factory workers hoist heavier tools, lighten soldiers’ loads and enable spinal patients to walk, The Daily Item reports.
Lockheed Martin and Parker Hannifin are joining a handful of startups in finding uses and customers for bionic suits inspired by novelist Robert Heinlein’s 1959 “Starship Troopers” and Stan Lee’s Iron… read more
Invisibility cloaks put forward by scientists have been fairly bulky contraptions.
Now University of Texas at Austin researchers have developed a cloak that is just microns thick and can hide 3D objects from microwaves in their natural environment, in all directions and from all of the observers’ positions.
The trick: a new, ultrathin layer called a “metascreen,” made by attaching strips of 66-micron-thick copper tape… read more
Stem-cell therapy for damaged hearts is a brilliant idea whose time has not yet come. The problem: no way to ensure against faulty initial placement of the stem cells.
Stanford’s Sam Gambhir, PhD, MD, who heads Stanford medical school’s Department of Radiology may have found a way around it.
“You can use ultrasound to… read more
A study by physicists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has shown how nanotubes can store information in the form of vibrations.
Using quantum mechanical phenomena, computers could be much more powerful than their classical digital predecessors.
Up to now, researchers have experimented primarily with electrically charged particles. But because nanomechanical devices are not charged, they are much less sensitive to electrical interference.… read more
Around 20 Stanford courses will be taught entirely or partially online this spring.
Some courses have been taught before, others are brand new; some are entirely for public consumption, while others are reserved for on-campus students.
The offerings have expanded beyond computer science and engineering to political science, the humanities, and public health, among many other fields.
MOOCs for everyone
Among the… read more
A single nanowire can concentrate sunlight up to 15 times the normal intensity, scientists from the Nano-Science Center at the Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have shown.
The nanowires concentrate the Sun’s rays into a very small area by up to a factor of 15. Because the diameter of a nanowire crystal is smaller than the wavelength of the… read more
MIT researchers have boosted solar cell performance with quantum dots by embedding them in a forest of nanowires.
Photovoltaics (PVs) based on tiny colloidal quantum dots have several potential advantages over other approaches to making solar cells: They can be manufactured in a room-temperature process, saving energy and avoiding complications associated with high-temperature processing of silicon and other PV materials.
They can be made… read more
Life expectancy is an average, and it fluctuates with age as the risks we face change throughout our lifetimes. Both those facts make it a frequently misunderstood statistic, The New York Times reports.
High infant-mortality rates depress the figure substantially. This can lead contemporary observers to the false conclusion that most humans died quite young, even in the not-so-distant past.
Before the Upper Paleolithic, early humans really… read more
UC San Francisco scientists have discovered how memory recall is linked to decision-making in rats, showing that activity in the hippocampus occurs when rats in a maze are playing out memories that help them decide which way to turn.
The more they play out these memories, the more likely they are to find their way correctly to the end of the maze.
The researchers implanted electrodes directly on… read more
Banks should learn to work with, rather than against, the new role of money in a peer-to-peer landscape, says media theorist and author Douglas Rushkoff writes on Mashable, based on the arguments of his new book, Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now.
But many libertarians* would rather bypass, not work with banks.
The hype has never been hotter for the Internet’s crypto-currency Bitcoin, Salon… read more
Academic researchers and scientists at companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard have been working to develop quantum computers.
Now, Lockheed Martin — which bought an early version of such a computer from the Canadian company D-Wave Systems two years ago — is confident enough in the technology to… read more
Researchers have deciphered the molecular structures of two of the brain’s crucial lock-and-key mechanisms, Nature News reports.
The two molecules are receptors for the natural neurotransmitter serotonin — which regulates activities such as sleep, appetite and mood — and could provide targets for future drugs to combat depression, migraines or obesity. They could also help in understanding how the physical structures of the brain produce consciousness.… read more
Under a resolution Pearce introduced on Thursday, Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) wants to create a “virtual Congress,” where lawmakers would leverage videoconferencing and other remote work technology to to hold hearings, debate and vote on legislation virtually from their home district offices, The Hill reports.
Pearce says the resolution would eradicate the need for members to jet back and forth from their districts to Washington each weekend. This… read more