General science advances thread

[ScienceRocks]

Materials scientists devise window that mutes sound but allows air to pass through

5 hours ago by Bob Yirka report

(Phys.org) —A team of materials scientists in South Korea has created a type of window that mutes noise while simultaneously allowing air to move through. In their paper they've uploaded to the preprint server arXiv, the team describes their window and how it was constructed.

To prevent noise from passing from one place to another, engineers generally use types of material that are able to transfer sound in the air to another medium, which then weakens its force (attenuation). For that reason, it would seem impossible to create a medium that would allow sound carrying air to pass though, while muting the very sound its carrying. But that's what the team in Korea has accomplished.

Read more at: Materials scientists devise window that mutes sound but allows air to pass through

 

[ScienceRocks]

Synthetic spider web may be super strong material of the future

Adario Strange

Tuesday, July 9, 2013 - 5:09pm
Synthetic spider web may be super strong material of the future | DVICE

Talk of wonder materials and super metals almost always accompanies any discussion of a technologically advanced future, but we still have yet to benefit from the visions offered by such predictions. A Japanese research group has just come up with what it believes is a next generation super material that could change the way we make nearly everthing.

Western Japan-based Spiber has unveiled a kind of synthetic spider web material it calls Qmonos, named after the Japanese word for spider web (kumonosu). According to the company, the material has the tensile strength of steel while maintaining the flexibility of rubber. Although it will take another two years to bring the material into mass production, the company claims Qmonos will be able to be used for everything from clothing, medical materials, cars parts, bullet proof vests, and even space suits.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Graphene Can Reduce The Working Temperature Of Electronics By Up To 25% — Greatly Extending Their Working Life


July 10, 2013 Nathan

One simple, single layer of graphene can lower the working temperature of a processor by up to 25% — potentially extending the working life of most types of electronics significantly, according to new research from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. The new research — which may lead to considerable improvements in the lifespans of computers and other widely used electronics, while also improving energy efficiency — is the first to demonstrate that graphene can have a heat-dissipating effect when applied to silicon-based electronics.

Read more at Graphene Can Reduce The Working Temperature Of Electronics By Up To 25% -- Greatly Extending Their Working Life | CleanTechnica

 

[ScienceRocks]

New phenomenon could lead to novel types of lasers and sensors

9 hours ago by David Chandler

There are several ways to "trap" a beam of light—usually with mirrors, other reflective surfaces, or high-tech materials such as photonic crystals. But now researchers at MIT have discovered a new method to trap light that could find a wide variety of applications.

The new system, devised through computer modeling and then demonstrated experimentally, pits light waves against light waves: It sets up two waves that have the same wavelength, but exactly opposite phases—where one wave has a peak, the other has a trough—so that the waves cancel each other out. Meanwhile, light of other wavelengths (or colors) can pass through freely.

The researchers say that this phenomenon could apply to any type of wave: sound waves, radio waves, electrons (whose behavior can be described by wave equations), and even waves in water.

The discovery is reported this week in the journal Nature by professors of physics Marin Solja?i? and John Joannopoulos, associate professor of applied mathematics Steven Johnson, and graduate students Chia Wei Hsu, Bo Zhen, Jeongwon Lee and Song-Liang Chua.

Read more at: New phenomenon could lead to novel types of lasers and sensors

 

[ScienceRocks]

X-47B makes historic first carrier landing


By David Szondy

July 10, 2013

The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator put another page in the history books on Wednesday with its first unmanned arrested-wire carrier landing. The drone flew 35 minutes from Patuxent River Naval Air Station to the carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) off the coast of Virginia, where is landed at about 145 knots (167 mph, 268 km/h) with an arresting wire catching its tail hook and bringing it to a stop in 350 ft (107 m).

X-47B makes historic first carrier landing

 

[ScienceRocks]

Scientists building the world's first synthetic yeast

A UK team is building a synthetic chromosome to be inserted into the world's first synthetic yeast.

Teams worldwide are making the other parts of its genome, which will be assembled to make the yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Once complete, new strains of synthetic yeast could help make products such as vaccines, biofuels and chemicals.

The UK government has announced a grant of almost £1m towards the project, which aims to be complete by 2017.

BBC News - Scientists building the world's first synthetic yeast

 

[ScienceRocks]

Link between quantum physics and game theory found

1 hour ago

(Phys.org) —A deep link between two seemingly unconnected areas of modern science has been discovered by researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Geneva.
While research tends to become very specialized and entire communities of scientists can work on specific topics with only a little overlap between them, physicist Dr Nicolas Brunner and mathematician Professor Noah Linden worked together to uncover a deep and unexpected connection between their two fields of expertise: game theory and quantum physics.

Read more at: Link between quantum physics and game theory found

 

[ScienceRocks]

GOES-R improvements to provide stunning, continuous full-disk imagery

6 hours ago

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's next generation of GOES satellites, beginning with GOES-R, will have the ability to take full-disk images of Earth at five-minute intervals.

That means that GOES-R will be able to image everything it can see in the same length of time it takes the current GOES (short for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) series to provide one small image of a stormy region. Increased imagery over a shorter time period will provide more timely and informative data to forecasters everywhere in the Western Hemisphere.

http://phys.org/news/2013-07-goes-r-stunning-full-disk-imagery.html

NICE!!!!

 

[ScienceRocks]

Distorted GPS signals reveal hurricane wind speeds

By pinpointing locations on Earth from space, GPS systems have long shown drivers the shortest route home and guided airline pilots across oceans. Now, by figuring out how messed up GPS satellite signals get when bouncing around in a storm, researchers have found a way to do something completely different with GPS: measure and map the wind speeds of hurricanes.

Improved wind speed measurements could help meteorologists better predict the severity of storms and where they might be headed, said Stephen Katzberg, a Distinguished Research Associate at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and a leader in the development of the new GPS technique. On a global scale, experts hope to use the new measurement method to better understand how storms form and what guides their behavior.

The new technique could inexpensively provide a much more extensive view of a storm's wind speeds than currently possible, its developers say. Test flights on storm-hunting airplanes of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – nicknamed Hurricane Hunters –demonstrate that the system provides valuable information at little additional cost, according to Katzberg and his colleagues.

Read more at: Distorted GPS signals reveal hurricane wind speeds

 

[ScienceRocks]

Floating Free: New Levitation System Uses Sound Waves

Hold on to your wand, Harry Potter: Science has outdone even your best "Leviosa!" levitation spell. Researchers report that they have levitated objects with sound waves, and moved those objects around in midair, according to a new study.

Scientists have used sound waves to suspend objects in midair for decades, but the new method, described today (July 15) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, goes a step further by allowing people to manipulate suspended objects without touching them.

This levitation technique could help create ultrapure chemical mixtures, without contamination, which could be useful for making stem cells or other biological materials.

Major advance The new system is a major advance, both theoretically and in terms of its practical applications, said Yiannis Ventikos, a fluids researcher at the University College London who was not involved in the study. The new method could be an alternative to using a pipette to mix fluids in instances when contamination is an issue, he added. For instance, acoustic levitation could enable researchers to marinate stem cells in certain precise chemical mixtures, without worrying about contamination from the pipette or the well tray used. "The level of control you get is quite astounding," Ventikos said.

- See more at: Sound Waves Can Levitate and Manipulate Moving Objects | LiveScience




Sound waves can be used to levitate and move small objects

Robin Burks
http://www.dvice.com/2013-7-16/sound-waves-can-be-used-levitate-and-move-small-objects
Tuesday, July 16, 2013 - 1:19pm

It seems that levitation without contact is no longer just a cool illusion trick performed by magicians. Scientists at the Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging Technologies in Zurich, Switzerland, have successfully levitated small objects using only sound waves.

Acoustic levitation is better than magnetic levitation in that it can be used on any object, not just materials that are magnetic. The only limitation with acoustic levitation is that the object's diameter must correspond to half the wavelength of the acoustic waves. Although acoustic levitation has been performed before, this new method allows researchers to have full control over an object's movement with a precision not seen in previous studies. With this new technique, the effect is created by static waves that are held in place by a reflector that bounces the wave back upon itself. This causes interference and creates a consistent upwards pressure that can cancel out the effect of gravity on an object placed within its field.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Autonomous cars to appear on UK roads by the end of the year
Autonomous cars to appear on UK roads by the end of the year

Autonomous cars will be tested on UK roads before the end of the year, according to a government policy paper published on Tuesday. According to the BBC, trials will take place on less busy rural and suburban roads, using what the paper describes as a semi-autonomous mode which will allow a driver to take control of the vehicle if necessary. A driver will ride along during all tests for safety reasons.

The tests will be carried out by the Mobile Robotics Group at Oxford University which has adapted a Nissan Leaf for autonomous driving. The prototype uses stereo cameras and laser scanners as sensors, and is able to learn frequently driven routes. (See Gizmag's February report for more details of the prototype.)

 

[ScienceRocks]

Impossible material with world record breaking surface area made swedish researchers

A novel material with world record breaking surface area and water adsorption abilities has been synthesized by researchers from Uppsala University, Sweden. The results are published today in PLOS ONE.

The magnesium carbonate material that has been given the name Upsalite is foreseen to reduce the amount of energy needed to control environmental moisture in the electronics and drug formulation industry as well as in hockey rinks and ware houses. It can also be used for collection of toxic waste, chemicals or oil spill and in drug delivery systems, for odor control and sanitation after fire.

Read more at: Impossible material with world record breaking surface area made swedish researchers

 

[ScienceRocks]

Know when to fold 'em: Advances in self-assembly techniques
Know when to fold 'em: Advances in self-assembly techniques

Sure, flat-pack furniture is inexpensive and easy to transport, but when you open the box the first question almost everyone asks is, “Wouldn't it be great if it would assemble itself?” You could get a robot to help, but engineers at the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory are working on ways to get objects to assemble themselves ... and they might give 3D printing a run for its money at the same time.

3D printing is seen as the next big thing. That’s not surprising for a technology that offers versatile manufacturing without much capital or technical expertise. You can take a simple CAD file, switch on the printer, and out come solid objects that only a few years ago would have taken a skilled craftsman to produce. However, it does have its limitations as to what it can make, how quickly, and where it can make them.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Scientists create first shape-memory plastics able to reverse deformation
July 17, 2013 8:27 am | News | 1 Comment
Scientists create first shape-memory plastics able to reverse deformation

Until now, polymers with temperature-controlled shape memory could only change form once. Biomaterial researchers have recently developed plastics that can repeatedly change from one shape to another and then back again when temperatures fluctuate within a selected range. The material is dubbed “polymer actuators” by its creators in Germany.

Biomaterial researchers in Teltow have developed plastics that can repeatedly change from one shape to another and then back again when temperatures fluctuate within a selected range. The material, dubbed “polymer actuators” by its creators, thus overcomes a major limitation that affects similar materials. Up until now, polymers with temperature-controlled shape memory could only change form once.

The new material represents a breakthrough that will open up a wide variety of applications—from automatic blinds that function without electricity to new kinds of heat engines. Researchers from the Institute of Biomaterial Science in Teltow, part of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, have now presented the polymer actuators in the online edition of the PNAS journal.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Scientists break record for thinnest light-absorber

Stanford University scientists have created the thinnest, most efficient absorber of visible light on record. The nanosize structure, thousands of times thinner than an ordinary sheet of paper, could lower the cost and improve the efficiency of solar cells, according to the scientists. Their results are published in the current online edition of the journal Nano Letters.

"Achieving complete absorption of visible light with a minimal amount of material is highly desirable for many applications, including solar energy conversion to fuel and electricity," said Stacey Bent, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford and a member of the research team. "Our results show that it is possible for an extremely thin layer of material to absorb almost 100 percent of incident light of a specific wavelength."

Read more at: Scientists break record for thinnest light-absorber

 

[ScienceRocks]

New manufacturing method to help automakers lighten up

9 minutes ago

New federal fuel-efficiency rules are forcing auto makers to lighten up their vehicles – a task that has proved difficult given the challenge of combining high-strength steels with lighter metals.

But a new method from BYU's School of Technology may be helpful to automakers in achieving the 54.5 miles per gallon average the EPA is mandating for U.S. fleets by 2025.

Manufacturing engineering technology professor Michael Miles has found a way to successfully create an extremely strong bond between lightweight aluminum and ultra-high-strength steel. It's called friction bit joining, and it may be the breakthrough the automotive industry is looking for.

"It's all about making vehicles lighter and our process can help to combine steels and light metals in the same vehicle frame, which gives engineers more flexibility in designing an optimal structure," Miles said.

Read more at: New manufacturing method to help automakers lighten up

 

[ScienceRocks]

Researchers make droplets dance (w/ Video)

(Phys.org) —Researchers from Aalto University and Paris Tech have placed water droplets containing magnetic nanoparticles on strong water repellent surfaces and have made them align in various static and dynamic structures using periodically oscillating magnetic fields. This is the first time researchers have demonstrated reversible switching between static and dynamic self-assembly.

"We are conducting this line of research because it opens up a way to create new responsive and intelligent systems and materials," said Dr. Robin Ras of Aalto University.

Self-assembly is a process in which multiple components form organized structures or patterns without external direction. The process is very interesting both for scientists and industry, because many natural systems rely on self-assembled structures and they can further inspire technological applications.

Read more at: Researchers make droplets dance (w/ Video)

 

[ScienceRocks]

Discovery of rare decay narrows space for new physics

5 hours ago

After a quarter of a century of searching, physicists have discovered a rare particle decay that gives them an indirect way to test models of new physics.
Researchers on the CMS and LHCb collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN announced today at the EPS-HEP Conference in Stockholm, Sweden, that their findings agreed closely with the Standard Model of particle physics, ruling out several models that predict new particles.

Read more at: Discovery of rare decay narrows space for new physics

 

[ScienceRocks]

These streetlamps only light up when you need them

If a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around to hear it, does it still make a sound? It’s an age-old philosophical quandary, but it isn’t nearly as pressing as this one: If a streetlamp shines when no one is around, is it using energy? The answer, of course, is yes. And lots of it. That’s where Tvilight comes in.

We waste a lot of money on streetlights. Europe spends $13 billion powering them, which is more than 40 percent of its energy expenditures. And these release 40 million tons of CO2 each year. Think 20 million cars. Tvilight drastically changes this.

It’s a simple concept: the streetlights only light up when you need them. The rest of the time, they remain dim. By using intelligent wireless sensors, the lights can detect people, bikes and cars. The sensors detect how fast something is approaching, and the lights pop on as needed.

These streetlamps only light up when you need them | DVICE

 

[ScienceRocks]

The Exodus, by Suprine: A recumbent motorcycle powered by BMW

The Exodus recumbent motorcycle, by US company Suprine, is a 130-horsepower lay-back motorbike with a roll cage and a perspex windscreen. It's a radical design with a street-legal prototype already in action, and its remarkable form factor allows it to make a fantastic 80-plus miles per gallon on the highway, while looking like something out of a Japanese anime movie.

The Exodus, by Suprine: A recumbent motorcycle powered by BMW