Jan

22

TEAM 0.5: The World’s Most Powerful Microscope

January 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Debut of TEAM 0.5, the World’s Best Microscope. ‘TEAM 0.5, the world’s most powerful transmission electron microscope — capable of producing images with half‑angstrom resolution (half a ten-billionth of a meter), less than the diameter of a single hydrogen atom — has been installed at the Department of Energy’s National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) [...]

Oct

14

Plastic Steel: Light and Transparent but Strong as Steel

October 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment

U-M research: New plastic is strong as steel, transparent. ‘By mimicking a brick-and-mortar molecular structure found in seashells, University of Michigan researchers created a composite plastic that’s as strong as steel but lighter and transparent. It’s made of layers of clay nanosheets and a water-soluble polymer that shares chemistry with white glue.
Engineering professor Nicholas Kotov [...]

Sep

28

Economist Article on Biofuels

September 28, 2007 | 1 Comment

Economist: Ethanol, schmethanol. ‘Everyone seems to think that ethanol is a good way to make cars greener. Everyone is wrong.
SOMETIMES you do things simply because you know how to. People have known how to make ethanol since the dawn of civilisation, if not before. Take some sugary liquid. Add yeast. Wait. They have also known [...]

Sep

28

Lab-on-a-Chip to Detect H5N1

September 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Made in Singapore Lab-on-a-chip Device to Transform Field Testing for Avian Flu Virus (PDF). ‘Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) and Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) have successfully developed a miniaturized device that can be used to detect the highly pathogenic avian flu (H5N1) virus. [...]

Aug

13

Measuring the Impossible

August 13, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Measuring the Impossible: A NEST PATHFINDER Initiative (PDF). ‘The progress of scientific discovery goes hand-in-hand with the developments of technologies and instrumentation for measurement and analysis. The practical challenge facing scientists nowadays is often to ‘measure the impossible’.
This initiative is about supporting interdisciplinary research and novel investigative methods that could present prospects for advancing the [...]

Aug

4

Lanthanum-Strontium-Cobalt-Ferric Oxide (LSCF) Tubes Shown to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

August 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Ceramic membrane could cut greenhouse gas emissions from power stations. ‘Greenhouse gas emissions from power stations could be cut to almost zero by controlling the combustion process with tiny tubes made from an advanced ceramic material, claims a research team led by Newcastle University today.
The material, known as LSCF, has the remarkable property of being [...]

Aug

1

Cleaning Contamined Water and Purifying Hydrogen with Aerogels

August 1, 2007 | Leave a Comment

New aerogels could clean contaminated water, purify hydrogen for fuel cells. ‘Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have identified a new technique for cleansing contaminated water and potentially purifying hydrogen for use in fuel cells, thanks to the discovery of a innovative type of porous material.
Argonne materials scientists Peter Chupas and [...]

Jul

27

Graphene Oxide Paper

July 27, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Graphene Oxide Paper Could Spawn a New Class of Materials. ‘Nearly 2,000 years ago, the discovery of paper revolutionized human communication. Now researchers at Northwestern University have fabricated a new type of paper that they hope will create a revolution of its own - and while it won’t replace your notepad, this remarkably stiff and [...]

Jul

9

How to Make Biofuels From Anything Organic

July 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Boon For Biofuels - New projects seek to create energy from a range of renewable feedstocks. ‘Chemical and biotechnology companies have announced a flurry of initiatives aimed at creating fuels and other forms of energy from a wide variety of biomass sources.
The projects seek to turn everything from algae to manure to oil seeds into [...]

Jul

9

HIFU for Prostate Cancer Treatment

July 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment

HIFU stands for High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound. Ultrasound is a form of energy that can pass through skin, muscle, fat and other soft tissues. Low-intensity ultrasound waves (used for diagnostic imaging) have no biologic effect on cells or tissues.
High-intensity ultrasound energy focused on a small target volume raises the tissue temperature high enough to destroy it. [...]

Jul

5

Orbo: Free-Energy Technology

July 5, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Orbo: Free-Energy Technology from Steorn. ‘Orbo produces free, clean and constant energy - that is our claim. By free we mean that the energy produced is done so without recourse to external source. By clean we mean that during operation the technology produces no emissions. By constant we mean that with the exception of mechanical [...]

Jul

3

Polyurethane Plastics From Canola Oil

July 3, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Polyurethane plastics from canola oil. ‘An intensive world-wide effort to develop technology for manufacturing plastics from vegetable oil, rather then petroleum, has led researchers in Canada to a process for making polyurethane (PUR) plastic sheets from canola oil. In a study scheduled for publication in the July 9 issue of ACS’s Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal, [...]

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