General science advances thread

Sodium-air batteries could replace lithium-air as the battery of the future
By James Plafke on March 1, 2013 at 3:35 pm

Sodium-air batteries could replace lithium-air as the battery of the future | ExtremeTech
The world of tech hardware moves and reshapes itself as fast as it ever has nowadays. Pocket computers exponentially increase in power seemingly every few months, while our laptops can now fold completely in half and masquerade as a tablet. However, as far as hardware ever reaches, batteries always seem so stagnant. Now, though, promising research into sodium-air batteries could lead toward the battery revolution we’ve all been waiting for.

Aside from, for example, standard AA or AAA batteries, lithium-ion batteries are the go-to power source for our most prized mobile devices. They are rechargeable, and last an acceptable amount of time before cutting out right in the middle of an important phone call. Though our smartphones and tablets have an acceptable lifetime, sometimes you accept what you’re given rather than what you actually want. An iPhone 5 can last around 8 hours of 3G, LTE data use or talk time, or for 10 hours of video playback, or 40 hours of audio playback. When you’re using some combination of all those features — as anyone with a smartphone and a long commute is fully aware — the phone’s battery life is woefully short. Because of the way a lithium-ion battery generates power — through chemical reactions — the amount of power generated has a ceiling. This means that at some point, a lithium-ion battery will be giving literally the maximum amount of power it can. A ceiling means that, eventually, our devices will require more power than the battery can give.

This type of battery, rather than the usual suffix of -ion, carries the self-explanatory suffix of -air. Scientists theorize that, in part due to not requiring a catalyst in the battery, a higher yield of energy can be generated. Whereas a lithium-ion battery has a capacity of around 200Wh/kg, a lithium-air battery could reach all the way up to 3460Wh/kg.
 
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New Discovery Challenges Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, Advancing Quantum Mechanics

New Discovery Challenges Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, Advancing Quantum Mechanics : Physics : Science World Report

(Photo : Jonathan Leach) Heisenberg’s famous Uncertainty Principle may not be as uncertain as once thought. Weak measurement: as light goes through a birefringent crystal the horizontally and vertically polarized components of light spread out in space, but an overlap between the two components remains when they emerge. In a “strong” measurement the two components would be fully separated.

Heisenberg's famous Uncertainty Principle may not be as uncertain as once thought. Researchers have applied a recently developed technique to directly measure the polarization of light, which overcomes some important challenges of the principle and is also applicable to qubits, the building blocks of the quantum information theory.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Photonics, used a direct measurement technique that was first developed in 2011 by scientists at the National Research Council, Canada. It was first created in order to measure the wavefunction, which is a way of determining the state of a quantum system.
 
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Superomniphobic surface sees off non-Newtonian fluids

Superomniphobic surface sees off non-Newtonian fluids | Chemistry World


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A material that is equally good at repelling water, oil, concentrated acid and alkali solutions, and non-Newtonian fluids like polymer solutions has been created by chemists in the US. This chemical resistance combined with the simple, scalable production process makes it promising for protective and self-cleaning surface applications.


Anish Tuteja from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor explains that while a lot of effort has been directed towards creating ‘self-cleaning’superomniphobic surfaces that repel both oily and water-based liquids, less attention has been paid to non-Newtonian fluids.
 
Wirelessly Charged Lithium Battery Can Be Stretched, Folded, and Twisted



Singularity Hub has faithfully followed flexible displays over the last few years—but now researchers are hard at work fabricating flexible components to match. In a recent paper, Yonggang Huang and John A. Rogers of Northwestern University and the University of Illinois demonstrated a lithium-ion battery embedded in a rubber substrate that can be stretched, folded, twisted, and charged wirelessly.

Lithium-ion batteries are the power source of choice in mobile devices from laptops to cell phones these days. Making them flexible and pairing them with flexible displays like OLEDs and (yet to be invented) CPUs may lead to fully flexible devices.
Wirelessly Charged Lithium Battery Can Be Stretched, Folded, and Twisted | Singularity Hub
 
Indestructible self-healing circuits

Imagine that the chips in your smart phone or computer could repair and defend themselves on the fly, recovering in microseconds from less-than-ideal battery power or total transistor failure. It might sound like the stuff of science fiction, but a team of engineers, for the first time ever, has developed just such a system.



The team, from the High-Speed Integrated Circuits laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), has demonstrated this self-healing capability in tiny power amplifiers. The amplifiers are so small, in fact, that 76 of the chips – including everything they need to self-heal – could fit on a single penny. In perhaps the most dramatic of their experiments, the team destroyed various parts of their chips by zapping them multiple times with a high-power laser, and then observed as the chips automatically developed a work-around in less than a second.

Ali Hajimiri, Professor of Electrical Engineering: "It was incredible the first time the system kicked in and healed itself. It felt like we were witnessing the next step in the evolution of integrated circuits. We had literally just blasted half the amplifier
Indestructible self-healing circuits
 
Teenage girl creates sustainable, renewable algae biofuel under her bed
By James Plafke on March 19, 2013 at 2:55 pm

In what is essentially a fancy science fair sponsored by Intel, over 1,700 high school seniors enter projects each year in order to not only be crowned the country’s youngest mad scientists, but have a chance to win $100,000. This year, Sara Volz claimed that crown and a $100,000 four-year scholarship, thanks to her efficient algae-based biofuel lab — that she created under her bed.
Teenage girl creates sustainable, renewable algae biofuel under her bed | ExtremeTech
 
Scientist develops a multi-purpose wonder material to tackle environmental challenges

Science fiction? Hardly, and there's more - It can also desalinate water, be used as flexible water filtration membranes, help recover energy from desalination waste brine, be made into flexible solar cells and can also double the lifespan of lithium ion batteries. With its superior bacteria-killing capabilities, it can also be used to develop a new type of antibacterial bandage. Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), led by Associate Professor Darren Sun have succeeded in developing a single, revolutionary nanomaterial that can do all the above and at very low cost compared to existing technology. This breakthrough which has taken Prof Sun five years to develop is dubbed the Multi-use Titanium Dioxide (TiO2). It is formed by turning titanium dioxide crystals into patented nanofibres, which can then be easily fabricated into patented flexible filter membranes which include a combination of carbon, copper, zinc or tin, depending on the specific end product needed

Read more at: Scientist develops a multi-purpose wonder material to tackle environmental challenges
 
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New Solar-Energy Device is 100 Times More Efficient Than Previous Design


March 20, 2013 by Staff

New Solar-Energy Device is 100 Times More Efficient Than Previous Design | SciTech Daily
A
100x More Efficient Solar Energy Chip
Part of a 2-inch-diameter gallium-arsenide wafer used as a base for photon-enhanced thermionic emission chips. (Credit: Brad Plummer / SLAC)

Based on the photon-enhanced thermionic emission (PETE) process, a new solar-energy device is about 100 times more efficient than its previous design.

Scientists working at the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) have improved an innovative solar-energy device to be about 100 times more efficient than its previous design in converting the sun’s light and heat into electricity.

“This is a major step toward making practical devices based on our technique for harnessing both the light and heat energy provided by the sun,” said Nicholas Melosh, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford and a researcher with SIMES, a joint SLAC/Stanford institute.

The new device is based on the photon-enhanced thermionic emission (PETE) process first demonstrated in 2010 by a group led by Melosh and SIMES colleague Zhi-Xun Shen, who is SLAC’s advisor for science and technology. In a report last week in Nature Communications, the group described how they improved the device’s efficiency from a few hundredths of a percent to nearly 2 percent, and said they expect to achieve at least another 10-fold gain in the future.
 
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Engineers develop nanofoams for better body armor, layers of protection for buildings

(Nanowerk News) “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 at UC San Diego. “They will appear to be less rigid but will actually be more resistant than ordinary foams.”
Read more: Engineers develop nanofoams for better body armor, layers of protection for buildings
 
Television brings odor to the watching experience

Travis Andrews

Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 12:09pm

You know how when you’re watching television, there’s always that nagging awareness in the back of your head that you’re watching television, most likely because you can’t smell what’s on the screen? Yeah, me neither. Still, folks have been trying to engage our senses of smell in the world of televised entertainment since the ‘80s.

Back in the day, this was achieved by a scratch-and-sniff card that coincided with parts of the film in question. Deciding scratch-and-sniffs are a little outdated, researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology created a television that takes care of the olfactory component of TV-watching for you.

The TV set comes with a fan mounted on each corner that push forward various scents and odors. And because of their placement, it’ll feel like the smells are coming right out of your screen, erasing all suspension-of-disbelief difficulties (until someone eats something, and you realize you can’t taste it).

While I wouldn't expect these to start showing up in homes across suburban America, they're out there.
Television brings odor to the watching experience | DVICE
 
A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough that has the potential to bring a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel source to the world.

Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel production could revolutionize alternative energy market

"Our new process could help end our dependence on fossil fuels," said Y.H. Percival Zhang, an associate professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering. "Hydrogen is one of the most important biofuels of the future."



Zhang and his team have succeeded in using xylose, the most abundant simple plant sugar, to produce a large quantity of hydrogen that previously was attainable only in theory. Zhang's method can be performed using any source of biomass.



Mielenz said Zhang's process could find its way to the marketplace as quickly as three years if the technology is available. Zhang said when it does become commercially available, it has the possibility of making an enormous impact.



The energy stored in xylose splits water molecules, yielding high-purity hydrogen that can be directly utilized by proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. Even more appealing, this reaction occurs at low temperatures, generating hydrogen energy that is greater than the chemical energy stored in xylose and the polyphosphate. This results in an energy efficiency of more than 100 percent -- a net energy gain. That means that low-temperature waste heat can be used to produce high-quality chemical energy hydrogen for the first time. Other processes that convert sugar into biofuels such as ethanol and butanol always have energy efficiencies of less than 100 percent, resulting in an energy penalty.



The commercial market for hydrogen gas is now around $100 billion for hydrogen produced from natural gas, which is expensive to manufacture and generates a large amount of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Industry most often uses hydrogen to manufacture ammonia for fertilizers and to refine petrochemicals, but an inexpensive, plentiful green hydrogen source can rapidly change that market.



"It really doesn't make sense to use non-renewable natural resources to produce hydrogen," Zhang said. "We think this discovery is a game-changer in the world of alternative energy."
 
Bladeless wind turbine works without any moving parts

Megan Wollerton

Wednesday, April 3, 2013 - 4:56pm

Bladeless wind turbine works without any moving parts | DVICE
.

It may look like some sort of massive garlic press, but this is actually a model of a wind turbine without blades. In fact, it has no moving parts at all. Designed by Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo, the electrostatic wind energy converter (EWICON) prototype is currently on display at Delft University of Technology.

How does it work? In brief, it uses "particle movement" to generate energy, which is explained more fully in the video below. One major factor that has negatively influenced windmill installation in the United States is noise — a bladeless energy generator would pretty much negate these complaints. The EWICON also doesn't require as much maintenance as traditional windmills. Just imagine how this could be used in urban environments.

For more specifics, the video below explains the process very well
 
What about 3 d printer? Can you explain it? In my opinion Engineers and designers have been utilising 3D printers for more than a ten years, but mostly to make prototypes quickly and cheaply before they embark on the expensive enterprise of tooling up a manufacturer to produce the genuine thing.
 
Television brings odor to the watching experience

Travis Andrews

Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 12:09pm

You know how when you’re watching television, there’s always that nagging awareness in the back of your head that you’re watching television, most likely because you can’t smell what’s on the screen? Yeah, me neither. Still, folks have been trying to engage our senses of smell in the world of televised entertainment since the ‘80s.

Back in the day, this was achieved by a scratch-and-sniff card that coincided with parts of the film in question. Deciding scratch-and-sniffs are a little outdated, researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology created a television that takes care of the olfactory component of TV-watching for you.

The TV set comes with a fan mounted on each corner that push forward various scents and odors. And because of their placement, it’ll feel like the smells are coming right out of your screen, erasing all suspension-of-disbelief difficulties (until someone eats something, and you realize you can’t taste it).

While I wouldn't expect these to start showing up in homes across suburban America, they're out there.
Television brings odor to the watching experience | DVICE

I don't think i would want a television that brings me the odors from Dirty Jobs
 
Solar Panels Now Make More Electricity Than They Use


And by 2020, the solar industry will have completely "paid back" the energy it took to produce the world's panels.


Solar panels make energy, but they take energy to make, too. And, until about 2010 or so, the solar panel industry used more electricity than it produced, according to a new analysis. Now, the industry is set to "pay back" the energy it used by 2020.

The study looked at what went into building and installing solar panels all over the world, including everything from home installations to solar farms, says Michael Dale, a climate and energy researcher at Stanford University, in a Stanford-produced video. He and a senior scientist, Sally Benson, thought that because the solar panel industry was growing so quickly, it might actually be using more electricity than it produced. Instead, they found an industry at a crux.

"I think that this paper shows that actually the industry is making positive strides and it's even in spite of its fantastically fast growth rates, it's still producing, or it's just about to start producing, a net energy benefit to society," Dale said

Solar Panels Now Make More Electricity Than They Use | Popular Science
 
Two million-year-old creature had mix of ape, human traits

Two million-year-old creature had mix of ape, human traits | Reuters

JOHANNESBURG | Fri Apr 12, 2013 1:57pm EDT

(Reuters) - A 2 million-year-old ancestor of man had a mixture of ape and human-like features that allowed it to hike vast distances on two legs with as much ease as it could scurry up trees, according to research published on Friday.

Discovered in cave near Johannesburg in 2008, the fossils of a species named "Australopithecus sediba" have given researchers clues about the evolution of man and which traits in our ancestors fell by the wayside.

Standing about 1.3 meters (4 ft) tall, sediba had a narrow rib cage similar to apes but a flexible spine more similar to that of a human. Its long arms and powerful torso helped in climbing, according to the research published in the journal Science.
 
Large Solar flare pushing northern lights south on Saturday evening 4/13

Dazzling Northern Lights Anticipated Saturday Night - AccuWeather.com
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The flare is also expected to cause vibrant northern lights from the Arctic as far south as New York, the Dakotas, Washington and Michigan, with a smaller possibility of it going into Pennsylvania and Iowa, even Kansas. The lights are currently estimated for 8 p.m. EDT Saturday arrival, with a possible deviation of up to seven hours. If the radiation hits much after dark settles on the East Coast the lights may be missed and will instead only be visible for the West.
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'Most energy-efficient' LED light revealed


BBC News - 'Most energy-efficient' LED light revealed by Philips
Lighting company Philips has developed an LED lamp that it describes as "the world's most energy-efficient".

It said the prototype tube lighting LED is twice as efficient as those currently used in offices and industry around the world but offers the same amount of light.

Being able to halve the amount of energy used could bring huge cost and energy savings.

Lighting accounts for more than 19% of global electricity consumption.
 
New lithium-ion battery design that’s 2,000 times more powerful, recharges 1,000 times faster
By Sebastian Anthony on April 17, 2013 at 7:41 am

New lithium-ion battery design that?s 2,000 times more powerful, recharges 1,000 times faster | ExtremeTech
University of Illinois, 3D porous microstructure lithium-ion battery

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a new lithium-ion battery technology that is 2,000 times more powerful than comparable batteries. According to the researchers, this is not simply an evolutionary step in battery tech, “It’s a new enabling technology… it breaks the normal paradigms of energy sources. It’s allowing us to do different, new things.”
 

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