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Low-cost, transparent, flexible, light solar cells

MIT researchers develop a new approach using graphene sheets coated with nanowires
December 24, 2012

Illustration shows the layered structure of the new device, starting with a flexible layer of graphene, a one-atom-thick carbon material. A layer of polymer is bonded to that, and then a layer of zinc-oxide nano wires (shown in magenta), and finally a layer of a material that can extract energy from sunlight, such as quantum dots or a polymer-based material. (Credit: MIT)

MIT researchers have produced a new kind of photovoltaic cell based on sheets of flexible graphene coated with a layer of nanowires.

The approach could lead to low-cost, transparent and flexible solar cells that could be deployed on windows, roofs or other surfaces.

The new approach is detailed in a report published in the journal Nano Letters, co-authored by MIT postdocs Hyesung Park and… read more

Topics: Electronics | Energy | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Peel-and-stick solar panels

Decal-like application process lets you stick thin, flexible solar panels onto virtually any surface, from roofs to window panes and paper
December 24, 2012

Peel-off solar cell applied to cell phone (credit: Chi Hwan Lee et al./Scientific Reports)

Stanford University researchers have developed the world’s first peel-and-stick thin-film solar cells.

The thin-film solar cells can be applied to “paper, plastic, and window glass, helmets, cell phones, convex windows, portable electronic devices, curved roofs, clothing — virtually anything,” and without modifying any existing processes, facilities or materials, said Xiaolin Zheng, a Stanford assistant professor of mechanical engineering and senior author of a… read more

Topics: Electronics | Energy | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Monitoring air pollution on smart phones

December 24, 2012

The CitiSense sensors transmit their air quality readings to smart phones (credit: Jacobs School of Engineering - UC San Diego)

Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego have built a small fleet of experimental portable pollution sensors that allow users to monitor air quality in real time on their smart phones.

The sensors could be particularly useful to people suffering from chronic conditions, such as asthma, who need to avoid exposure to pollutants.

CitiSense is the only air-quality monitoring system capable of… read more

Topics: Electronics | Environment/Climate

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We’re all living longer, but longevity increases not benefitting everybody

December 21, 2012

Life_expectancy

Global lifespans have risen dramatically in the past 40 years, but the increased life expectancy is not benefitting body equally, say University of Toronto researchers. In particular, adult males from low- and middle-income countries are losing ground.

People are living longer on average than they were in 1970, and those extra years of life are being achieved at lower cost, the researchers, led by U of… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Pocket test measures 50 things in a drop of blood

December 21, 2012

V-chip

A new device about the size of a business card could allow health care providers to test for insulin and other blood proteins, cholesterol, and even signs of viral or bacterial infection all at the same time — with one drop of blood.

Preliminary tests of the V-chip, created by scientists at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center, were published by… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech

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Finally: a free, open-source medical journal

Are you med-Cureus?
December 21, 2012

cureus

Stanford neurosurgeon John Adler, MD, has launched Curēus, a new open-source medical journal that leverages crowdsourcing to make scientific research more readily available to the general public.

Leveraging the power of an online, crowd-sourced community platform (readers can rate material based on the article’s quality), Curēus promotes medical research by offering tools that better serve and highlight the people who create it, resulting in… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Social Networking/Web/Education

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Woman with quadriplegia feeds herself chocolate using mind-controlled robot arm

December 21, 2012

bmi-pittsburgh-sm

Reaching out to “high five” someone, grasping and moving objects of different shapes and sizes, feeding herself dark chocolate.

For Jan Scheuermann and a team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC, accomplishing these seemingly ordinary tasks demonstrated for the first time that a person with longstanding quadriplegia can maneuver a mind-controlled, human-like robot arm in seven dimensions (7D) to consistently… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Biomed/Longevity | Human Enhancement

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Research debunks the ‘IQ myth’

December 21, 2012

(credit: Adam Hampshire et al./Western University)

After conducting the largest online intelligence study on record, with more than 100,000 participants, a Canadian Western University-led research team has concluded that the notion of measuring one’s intelligence quotient or IQ by a singular, standardized test is highly misleading.

Utilizing an online study open to anyone, anywhere in the world, the researchers asked respondents to complete 12 cognitive tests tapping memory, reasoning, attention and… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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MIT researchers discover a new kind of magnetism

‘Quantum spin liquid’ could have applications in new computer memory storage
December 21, 2012

MIT physicists grew this pure crystal of herbertsmithite in their laboratory. This sample, which took 10 months to grow, is 7 mm long (just over a quarter-inch) and weighs 0.2 grams. (Credit: Tianheng Han/MIT)

MIT researchers have demonstrated experimentally the existence of a fundamentally new kind of magnetic behavior called a quantum spin liquid (QSL),adding to the two previously known states of magnetism.

Ferromagnetism — the simple magnetism of a bar magnet or compass needle — has been known for centuries. In a second type of magnetism, antiferromagnetism, the magnetic fields of the ions within a metal or alloy cancel… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Nanotech/Materials Science | Physics/Cosmology

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Mayo Clinic study unmasks regulator of healthy life span

Promising target for aging disorders and cancer
December 20, 2012

A new series of studies in mouse models by Mayo Clinic researchers uncovered that the aging process is characterized by high rates of whole-chromosome losses and gains in various organs, including heart, muscle, kidney and eye, and demonstrate that reducing these rates slows age-related tissue deterioration and promotes a healthier life span.

“We’ve known for some time that reduced levels of BubR1 are a hallmark of aging… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech

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Liquid metal creates wires that stretch 8 times their original length

December 20, 2012

Researchers from North Carolina State University have created conductive wires that can be stretched up to eight times their original length while still functioning.

The wires can be used for everything from headphones to phone chargers, and have potential uses in electronic textiles.

To make the wires, researchers start with a thin tube made of an extremely elastic polymer and then fill the tube… read more

Topics: Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science

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A new ‘network-extracted ontology’ model of the cell

Turning vast amounts of genomic data into meaningful information about the cell is the great challenge of bioinformatics, with major implications for human biology and medicine
December 20, 2012

cell_model-small

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and colleagues have proposed a new “network-extracted ontology” (NeXO) method that creates a computational model of the cell from large networks of gene and protein interactions, discovering how genes and proteins connect to form higher-level cellular machinery.

“Our method creates [an] ontology, or a specification of all the major players in the cell and… read more

Topics: Biotech

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First map of how the brain organizes everything we see

December 20, 2012

Semantic_space_small

How do we make sense of the thousands of images that flood our retinas each day? Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that the brain is wired to organize all the categories of objects and actions that we see, and they have created the first interactive map of how the brain organizes these groupings.

Continuous semantic space

The result… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Another Earth just 12 light-years away?

December 19, 2012

alpha_centauri_planet_eso

Astronomers have discovered what may be five planets orbiting Tau Ceti, the closest single star beyond our solar system whose temperature and luminosity nearly match the sun’s, Science Now reports.

If the planets are in fact there, one of them is about the right distance from the star to sport mild temperatures, oceans of liquid water, and even life, and slight changes in Tau Ceti’s… read more

Topics: Space

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Power sources for flexible, stretchable electronics

December 19, 2012

This image shows a fully stretchable supercapacitor composed of carbon nanotube macrofilms, a polyurethane membrane separator and organic electrolytes (credit: Xin Li et al./University of Delaware)

Stretchable electronics are the future of mobile electronics, leading giants such as IBM, Sony and Nokia to incorporate the technology into their products, says University of Delaware  mechanical engineering professor Bingqing Wei.

Potential stretchable applications include biomedical, wearable, portable and sensory devices, such as cyber skin for robotic devices and implantable electronics.

But rechargeable and stretchable energy storage devices, also known as supercapacitors, are urgently needed to complement… read more

Topics: Electronics | Energy | Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Nanotech/Materials Science

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