General science advances thread

[ScienceRocks]

15,000 robots usher in Amazon's Cyber Monday

An army of 15,000 robots is ready to roll as Amazon's fulfillment centers prepare for the holiday sales onslaught.

To pick, pack and ship those items, the company is launching a full-scale deployment of a robotic fulfillment system it purchased in 2012 and tested in 2013.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Charles Darwin's evolution notes released by Cambridge University

Charles Darwin's notebooks in which he first jotted down his theory of evolution have been put online in one of the most significant worldwide releases of the naturalist's material.

Over 12,000 images have been digitised by the University of Cambridge.

They chart Darwin's journey from him first coining the term "natural selection" to the release of On the Origin of Species 155 years ago.

It is hoped the material will aid academic research throughout the world.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Horizontal, cableless elevators to enter testing in 2016

December 2, 2014 02:45 am

German tech company ThyssenKrupp envisions a future where self-propelled elevators can travel both horizontally and vertically along skyscrapers. Using linear motor technology similar to those seen in maglev — magnetic levitation — trains, the MULTI elevator system is billed as the first of its kind to operate without cables.

http://www.theverge.....ess-horizontal

 

[ScienceRocks]

New Cosmological Theory Goes Inflation-Free

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation is one of the greatest discoveries of modern cosmology. Astrophysicist George Smoot once likened its existence to “seeing the face of God.” In recent years, however, scientists have begun to question some of the attributes of the CMB. Peculiar patterns have emerged in the images taken by satellites such as WMAP and Planck – and they aren’t going away. Now, in a paper published in the December 1 issue of The Astronomical Journal, one scientist argues that the existence of these patterns may not only imply new physics, but also a revolution in our understanding of the entire Universe.

Let’s recap. Thanks to a blistering ambient temperature, the early Universe was blanketed in a haze for its first 380,000 years of life. During this time, photons relentlessly bombarded the protons and electrons created in the Big Bang, preventing them from combining to form stable atoms. All of this scattering also caused the photons’ energy to manifest as a diffuse glow. The CMB that cosmologists see today is the relic of this glow, now stretched to longer, microwave wavelengths due to the expansion of the Universe.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Time cloak used to hide messages in laser light

A "time cloak" that conceals events rather than objects can hide secret messages through a trick of light, making information invisible to all but the intended recipient.

Like an invisibility cloak that makes something disappear in plain sight, a time cloak makes an event disappear in time. It works by manipulating light traveling along an optical fibre.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Indonesian shell has 'earliest human engraving'
BBC News - Indonesian shell has earliest human engraving

Zig-zag patterns found on a fossilised shell in Indonesia may be the earliest engraving by a human ancestor, a study has claimed.

The engraving is at least 430,000 years old, meaning it was done by the long-extinct Homo erectus, said the study.

The oldest man-made markings previously found were about 130,000 years old.

If confirmed, experts say the publishedfindings in the journal Nature may force a rethink of how human culture developed.

One of the report's authors, Stephen Munro, told the BBC it could "rewrite human history".

"This is the first time we have found evidence for Homo erectus behaving this way," said the researcher, from Australian National University.

'No other explanation'
Hundreds of fossilised freshwater mussel shells were excavated and collected in Java by Dutch scientist Eugene Dubois in the 1890s, then stored in boxes for years in the Dutch city of Leiden.

In May 2007, Mr Munro took photos of them as part of his research for his PhD.

The engravings stood out very clearly on the digital photos when they had not been visible to the naked eye.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Polish scientists develop revolutionary graphene machine

http://www.thenews.p...raphene-machine

Researchers from the Institute of Electronic Materials Technology collaborated with engineers from the firm Seco-Wawreick to create a machine which can produce a sheet of graphene with a surface area of 50x50 cm within four hours.

According to Dr. Włodzimierz Strupiński from the Institute this is now one of the most efficient graphene producing machines in the world, and only Japan and Korea have any comparable technology.

 

[ScienceRocks]

This Software Takes Us One Step Closer To Biological Nanomachines

Scientists at MIT have developed a computer model that allows them to create three-dimensional DNA shapes of unprecedented complexity (like 20-faced icosahedrons). Their system represents a significant step forward in the field of nanoscale biological engineering.

Researchers led by MIT biological engineer Mark Bathe describe their design program in the latest issue of Nature Communications. The video up top gives a good summary of the team's achievements, but we reached out to Bathe for some clarification on the claim that the designs in the video constitute "the most complicated 3D structures ever made (from) DNA."

 

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3-D haptic shapes can be seen and felt in mid-air

New research, using ultrasound, has developed a 3-D haptic shape that can be seen and felt in mid-air.

Touch feedback technology – known as haptics – has advanced rapidly in recent years. It is now used in a range of applications including entertainment, rehabilitation and even surgical training. New research by the University of Bristol, using ultrasound, has created a virtual 3-D haptic shape that can be seen and felt in mid-air.

This breakthrough, led by Dr Ben Long and colleagues at the university's Department of Computer Science, could improve the way 3-D shapes are used and function as an important new tool in certain situations. It could enable surgeons to explore a CT scan, for example, by enabling them to actually "feel" a disease, such as a tumour.

The method uses ultrasound, focussed onto hands above the device and can be felt. By focussing complex patterns of ultrasound, the air disturbances can be seen as floating 3-D shapes. Visually, the researchers have demonstrated the ultrasound patterns by directing the device at a thin layer of oil so that the depressions in the surface can be seen as spots when lit by a lamp.

The system generates a virtual 3-D shape that can be added to 3-D displays to create a holographic effect that can be seen and felt. The research team have also shown that users can match a picture of a 3-D shape to the shape created by the system. They have already been approached by companies interested in commercialising the technology. At this early stage of development, the level of detail in the virtual objects is limited, but using a greater number of speakers at smaller sizes could improve the resolution of projections.

“Touchable holograms, immersive virtual reality that you can feel and complex touchable controls in free space, are all possible ways of using this system,” says Dr Long. “In the future, people could feel holograms of objects that would not otherwise be touchable, such as feeling the differences between materials in a CT scan or understanding the shapes of artefacts in a museum.”

The research paper is published in ACM Transactions on Graphics and is presented at this week’s SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 conference [3-6 December].

 

[ScienceRocks]

Quantum Teleportation Reaches Farthest Distance Yet
Quantum Teleportation Reaches Farthest Distance Yet

A new distance record has been set in the strange world of quantum teleportation.

In a recent experiment, the quantum state (the direction it was spinning) of a light particle instantly traveled 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) across an optical fiber, becoming the farthest successful quantum teleportation feat yet. Advances in quantum teleportation could lead to better Internet and communication security, and get scientists closer to developing quantum computers.

About five years ago, researchers could only teleport quantum information, such as which direction a particle is spinning, across a few meters. Now, they can beam that information across several miles

 

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Graphene Armor Would Be Light, Flexible and Far Stronger Than Steel

Who needs science fiction? Nature is a wealth of imaginative plot twists. Take carbon. Carbon is common. It’s the fourth most abundant element in the universe. And yet, carbon is also exceptional.

It’s the elemental keystone of terrestrial life. It stores and releases enough energy to power industrial revolutions. And flakes of the stuff, first peeled off graphite with scotch tape, might one day repel bullets and shield spacecraft.

Experimenting with the one-atom-thick sheets of carbon known as graphene, Researchers at Rice University recently wrote the material’s properties make it exceptionally good at dissipating the energy of incoming projectiles.

 

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Historic leap: Navy shipboard laser operates in Persian Gulf

Officials at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced today that the laser weapon system (LaWS)—a cutting-edge weapon that brings significant new capabilities to America's Sailors and Marines—was for the first time successfully deployed and operated aboard a naval vessel in the Persian Gulf.

The operational demonstrations, which took place from September to November aboard USS Ponce (AFSB 15), were historic not only because they showed a laser weapon working aboard a deployed U.S. Navy ship, but also because LaWS operated seamlessly with existing ship defense systems.


"Laser weapons are powerful, affordable and will play a vital role in the future of naval combat operations," said Rear Adm. Matthew L. Klunder, chief of naval research. "We ran this particular weapon, a prototype, through some extremely tough paces, and it locked on and destroyed the targets we designated with near-instantaneous lethality."


During the tests, LaWS—a collaborative effort between ONR, Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Research Laboratory, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and industry partners—hit targets mounted aboard a speeding oncoming small boat, shot a Scan Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) out of the sky, and destroyed other moving targets at sea.

Sailors worked daily with LaWS over several months since it was installed, and reported the weapon performed flawlessly, including in adverse weather conditions of high winds, heat and humidity. They noted the system exceeded expectations for both reliability and maintainability.

Data regarding accuracy, lethality and other factors from the Ponce deployment will guide the development of weapons under ONR's Solid-State Laser-Technology Maturation program. Under this program, industry teams have been selected to develop cost-effective, combat-ready laser prototypes that could be installed on vessels such as guided-missile destroyers and the Littoral Combat Ship in the early 2020s.

Researchers say the revolutionary technology breakthroughs demonstrated by LaWS will ultimately benefit not only U.S. Navy surface ships, but also airborne and ground-based weapon systems.

While laser weapons offer new levels of precision and speed for naval warfighters, they also bring increased safety for ships and crews, as lasers are not dependent on the traditional propellant and gunpowder-based ordnance found on ships. Lasers run on electricity and can be fired as long as there is power.

They also cost less to build, install and fire than traditional kinetic weapons—for example a multimillion-dollar missile.


"At less than a dollar per shot, there's no question about the value LaWS provides," said Klunder. "With affordability a serious concern for our defense budgets, this will more effectively manage resources to ensure our Sailors and Marines are never in a fair fight."

The Navy already has demonstrated the effectiveness of lasers in a variety of maritime settings. In a 2011 demonstration, a laser was used to defeat multiple small boat threats from a destroyer. In 2012, LaWS downed several unmanned aircraft in tests during naval exercises. Specific details on next steps and timeframes are being determined as the data from the current demonstrations are analyzed.

Read more at: Historic leap Navy shipboard laser operates in Persian Gulf

 

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LHC finds new baryons

Using the same massive particle accelerator that found the elusive Higgs Boson in 2012, physicists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) announced that they discovered two new "heavy-weight" subatomic particles on Wednesday.

The LHC is a 17-mile long underground “racetrack” that accelerates two opposing beams of particles to speeds of 99.9999 percent the speed of light. The particles race around the LHC on a crash course, and when they collide, the temperatures soar to more than 100,000 times hotter than the center of the sun. At heats this extreme, the particles transform into a primordial form of matter known–in not-quite-technical terms–as a “subatomic soup.”

 

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Another four US companies granted approval for commercial drone use
By Nick Lavars

December 10, 2014

In another small, but promising step toward the adoption of commercial drones in the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted exemptions to four companies that clear their unmanned aircraft systems for takeoff.

The FAA has faced mounting pressure to redraft the strict laws that ban drone use in commercial operations. In attempting to balance the safety of US airspace with the largely untapped potential of unmanned aerial vehicles, the FAA was ordered by Congress to write new laws for commercial drones by September 2015.

A congressional hearing this week revealed that this deadline is unlikely to be met, with the FAA claiming it needs until at least 2017 to safely integrate commercial drones with national airspace.

We have lift-off
In the meantime, the agency has been handing out discretionary permits to a handful of companies. The first tranche, announced back in September, granted six Hollywood studios permission to use drones in film production. These included conditions that all operators hold pilot certificates, the drone be subject to inspection before use and only be flown within line of sight.

New Mazda Miata will feature no-paint bioplastic parts
By Ben Coxworth
December 10, 2014

The sporty Mazda Miata may not be at the top of many "green car" lists, but the 2016 model will nonetheless be the first vehicle to incorporate parts made from a new bioplastic developed by the automaker. The plastic is based on plant-derived materials instead of petroleum, and doesn't need to be painted.

 

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New 'high-entropy' alloy is as light as aluminum, as strong as titanium alloys
Dec 10, 2014 by Matt Shipman

Researchers from North Carolina State University and Qatar University have developed a new "high-entropy" metal alloy that has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than any other existing metal material.

High-entropy alloys are materials that consist of five or more metals in approximately equal amounts. These alloys are currently the focus of significant attention in materials science and engineering because they can have desirable properties.

The NC State research team combined lithium, magnesium, titanium, aluminum and scandium to make a nanocrystalline high-entropy alloy that has low density, but very high strength.

"The density is comparable to aluminum, but it is stronger than titanium alloys," says Dr. Carl Koch, Kobe Steel Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at NC State and senior author of a paper on the work. "It has a combination of high strength and low density that is, as far as we can tell, unmatched by any other metallic material. The strength-to-weight ratio is comparable to some ceramics, but we think it's tougher - less brittle - than ceramics."

Read more at: New high-entropy alloy is as light as aluminum as strong as titanium alloys

 

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Laser-induced graphene electronics scalable for roll-to-roll manufacture of nanoscale electronics

Researchers at Rice University have created flexible, patterned sheets of multilayer graphene from a cheap polymer by burning it with a computer-controlled laser. The process works in air at room temperature and eliminates the need for hot furnaces and controlled environments, and it makes graphene that may be suitable for electronics or energy storage.

Under a microscope, what the researchers call laser-induced graphene (LIG) doesn’t look like a perfect chicken wire-like grid of atoms. Instead, it’s a jumble of interconnected graphene flakes with five-, six- and seven-atom rings. The paired five- and seven-atom rings are considered defects – but in this case, they’re not. They’re features.

The material can be made in detailed patterns. For show-and-tell, the Rice team patterned millimeter-sized LIG Owls (the school’s mascot), and for practical testing they fabricated microscale supercapacitors with LIG electrodes in one-step scribing.

The one-step process is scalable, said Tour, who suggested it could allow for rapid roll-to-roll manufacture of nanoscale electronics.

 

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Horned dinosaurs landed in America 110 million years ago, some rabbit-sized
Delila James | Science Recorder | December 10, 2014
Horned dinosaurs landed in America 110 million years ago some rabbit-sized Science Recorder

An itsy-bitsy dinosaur, discovered in 1997 but only recently classified, is the oldest evidence of a group of horned dinosaurs that includes Triceratops, on the North American continent. Researchers discuss the dinosaur, newly dubbed Aquilops americanus, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

When paleontologists unearthed the tiny skull 17 years ago, they did not know what they had found, according to a report by National Geographic. The fossil belonged to a group of horned dinosaurs called ceratopsians—a group known to have flourished during the Cretaceous period but whose evolutionary ancestry was uncertain.

 

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Fossils of rare, ancient animals found in Tegal
Fossils of rare ancient animals found in Tegal The Jakarta Post

The Yogyakarta Archaeology Agency has said that it has found fossils of two rare, ancient animals in Semedo, an archaeology site in Semedo village in Kedungbanteng district, Tegal regency, Central Java.

The unearthed fossils of the species -- dwarf elephant (stegodon) and giant ape -- are considered to be an extraordinary finding as the agency says those species have never been seen before.

Agency head Siswanto said the two fossils were found separately. The dwarf elephant fossil was discovered in 2013 while the giant ape fossil was found this year.

“These two findings are important because after we examined them further, we found that the dwarf elephant was an endemic fauna in Semedo. That’s why we named the species stegodon [pygmy] semedoensis,” Siswanto said. The archaeologist explained the findings in a general lecture at the University of Soedirman (Unsoed) in Purwokerto, Central Java, on Monday.

Siswanto said the naming of the species was based on a number of scientific reasons. Based on morfometria mandibular analysis, for instance, the discovered dwarf elephant species belongs to stegodontidae, an extinct family of proboscideans. Its mandibular size was below normal.

Siswanto further explained the dwarf elephant fossil was a representative finding because it had never been found in other archaeological sites. The species had also never received a scientific name before.

Results of fossil examination showed that stegodon semedoensis was a stunted animal species as shown by the small size of its teeth and lower jaw.

Siswanto said the agency was still analyzing two fossils of teeth still attached to the lower jaw of the species identified as an ancient giant ape.

“It’s a phenomenal and sensational discovery because all this time, fossils of the species could be found only in China, India and areas in Vietnam that cross border with China,” said Siswanto.

He said archaeologists had previously concluded that the habitat of the gigantophitecus species was only on China and South Asia.

“The discovery of gigantopithecus in Semedo proves that the ancient giant ape species--around 3 meters tall (between 9 and 10 feet)-- also lived in Java,” said Siswanto. (ebf)(+++)

 

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Discovery advances ferroelectrics in quest for lower power transistors
15 hours ago

The atomic structure of a ferroelectric material exhibits the so-called “negative capacitance” effect. If successfully built into transistors, it could drastically reduce the electricity needed to run computer processors and other …more

(Phys.org)—An article released today by the journal Nature Materials describes the first direct observation of a long-hypothesized but elusive phenomenon called "negative capacitance." The work describes a unique reaction of electrical charge to applied voltage in a ferroelectric material that could open the door to a radical reduction in the power consumed by transistors and the devices containing them.

Read more at: Discovery advances ferroelectrics in quest for lower power transistors

 

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New, tighter timeline confirms ancient volcanism aligned with dinosaurs' extinction
6 hours ago

A definitive geological timeline from Princeton University researchers shows that a series of massive eruptions 66 million years ago in a primeval volcanic range in western India known as the Deccan Traps played a role in the extinction event …more

A definitive geological timeline shows that a series of massive volcanic explosions 66 million years ago spewed enormous amounts of climate-altering gases into the atmosphere immediately before and during the extinction event that claimed Earth's non-avian dinosaurs, according to new research from Princeton University.

Read more at: New tighter timeline confirms ancient volcanism aligned with dinosaurs extinction