Cool your jets: NASA's quantum spaceship is doubtful - space - 06 August 2014 - New Scientist

Cool your jets: NASA's quantum spaceship is doubtful - space - 06 August 2014 - New Scientist: ...as Baez points out, this new device in question wasn't even tested in a vacuum! That's extremely important; assuming the measurements are real, the thrust seen could be due to air being warmed up and moving around.

Don't Get Too Excited About NASA's New Miracle Engine

Don't Get Too Excited About NASA's New Miracle Engine: [The researchers] hook up a gizmo with all sorts of electromagnetic fields fluctuating around, then claim to measure an extremely tiny thrust (about the weight of a single grain of sand), which occurs even for the test article that wasn't supposed to produce any thrust at all.

Fuel-Less Space Drive May Actually Work, Says NASA | Popular Science

Fuel-Less Space Drive May Actually Work, Says NASA | Popular Science: The design is seemingly based on the EmDrive, which was originally created by British scientist Roger Shawyer. The drive is supposed to convert electric power into thrust by bouncing microwaves off the walls of a closed container, and Fetta’s drive, while different, does relatively the same thing...

In a paper presented at the 50th Joint Propulsion Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, NASA apparently gave Fetta’s design their stamp of approval after testing his drive.�Granted, their tests only produced a small amount of thrust (between 30 and�50 micro-Newtons), but that’s still pretty impressive since absolutely no propellant was needed...

He notes that these experiments are pretty easy to mess up, since you basically have to recreate the vacuum of space for the results to be right. Any interference from an outside factor could affect the results...

Meet the electric life forms that live on pure energy - life - 16 July 2014 - New Scientist

Meet the electric life forms that live on pure energy - life - 16 July 2014 - New Scientist: Unlike any other living thing on Earth, electric bacteria use energy in its purest form – naked electricity in the shape of electrons harvested from rocks and metals...

First they measure the natural voltage across the sediment, before applying a slightly different one. A slightly higher voltage offers an excess of electrons; a slightly lower voltage means the electrode will readily accept electrons from anything willing to pass them off. Bugs in the sediments can either "eat" electrons from the higher voltage, or "breathe" electrons on to the lower-voltage electrode, generating a current. That current is picked up by the researchers as a signal of the type of life they have captured...

"This is huge. What it means is that there's a whole part of the microbial world that we don't know about..."

Quantum biology: Algae evolved to switch quantum coherence on and off

Quantum biology: Algae evolved to switch quantum coherence on and off: "Most cryptophytes have a light-harvesting system where quantum coherence is present. But we have found a class of cryptophytes where it is switched off because of a genetic mutation that alters the shape of a light-harvesting protein.
"This is a very exciting find. It means we will be able to uncover the role of quantum coherence in photosynthesis by comparing organisms with the two different types of proteins."

Proteins 'ring like bells'

Proteins 'ring like bells': Using modern laser spectroscopy, the scientists have been able to measure the vibrational spectrum of the enzyme lysozyme, a protein that fights off bacteria. They discovered that this enzyme rings like a bell with a frequency of a few terahertz or a million-million hertz. Most remarkably, the ringing involves the entire protein, meaning the ringing motion could be responsible for the transfer of energy across proteins.

The experiments show that the ringing motion lasts for only a picosecond or one millionth of a millionth of a second. Biochemical reactions take place on a picosecond timescale and the scientists believe that evolution has optimised enzymes to ring for just the right amount of time. Any shorter, and biochemical reactions would become inefficient as energy is drained from the system too quickly. Any longer and the enzyme would simple oscillate forever: react, unreact, react, unreact, etc...

Scientists discover how to turn light into matter after 80-year quest

Scientists discover how to turn light into matter after 80-year quest: The collider experiment that the scientists have proposed involves two key steps. First, the scientists would use an extremely powerful high-intensity laser to speed up electrons to just below the speed of light. They would then fire these electrons into a slab of gold to create a beam of photons a billion times more energetic than visible light.
The next stage of the experiment involves a tiny gold can called a hohlraum (German for 'empty room'). Scientists would fire a high-energy laser at the inner surface of this gold can, to create a thermal radiation field, generating light similar to the light emitted by stars.
They would then direct the photon beam from the first stage of the experiment through the centre of the can, causing the photons from the two sources to collide and form electrons and positrons. It would then be possible to detect the formation of the electrons and positrons when they exited the can.

Sun's fractal surprise could help fusion on Earth - space - 01 May 2014 - New Scientist

Sun's fractal surprise could help fusion on Earth - space - 01 May 2014 - New Scientist: STEREO revealed that when the movement of the wind's particles is perpendicular to the sun's magnetic field, they resemble a fluid, with sections that are smooth, interrupted by bursts of violence...

But when the particles move in parallel with the field lines, they behave very differently, with the turbulence evenly spread, like crinkly mountains that extend as far as the eye can see...

One problem with optimising their energy output is deducing what is going on inside them – inserting a probe isn't an option as it would melt...

By adding the fractal behaviour to their plasma models, fusion scientists may be able to control turbulence, which can cause plasma to escape the magnetic field containing it in the reactor...

Team models photosynthesis and finds room for improvement

Team models photosynthesis and finds room for improvement: "We've modeled the whole system, and added all the components in a cyanobacterial system one at a time to our computer simulation to see if they give us an advantage."

The team found that some of the carboxysome genes hindered, while others greatly enhanced photosynthetic efficiency in crop plants such as soybean, rice and cassava...

"And if we put in about eight components of the carboxysome system, the model says that we could get a 60 percent increase in photosynthesis," he said.

Two-laser boron fusion lights the way to radiation-free energy : Nature News & Comment

Two-laser boron fusion lights the way to radiation-free energy : Nature News: One laser created a short-lived plasma, or highly ionized gas of boron nuclei, by heating boron atoms; the other laser generated a beam of protons that smashed into the boron nuclei, releasing slow-moving helium particles but no neutrons...

The boron plasma generated by the laser lasts only about one-billionth of a second, and so the pulse of protons, which lasts one-trillionth of a second, must be precisely synchronized to slam into the boron target. The proton beam is preceded by a beam of electrons, generated by the same laser, that pushes away electrons in the boron plasma, allowing the protons more of a chance to collide with the boron nuclei and initiate fusion.

Can matter cycle through shapes eternally? : Nature News & Comment

Can matter cycle through shapes eternally? : Nature News & Comment: Wilczek's latest paper outlines another, perhaps simpler, scheme for making a time crystal. It starts with two chunks of superconductor connected by a nonsuperconductor. This device,called a Josephson junction, can create fluctuations in currents if an external voltage is applied. Wilczek argues that merely breaking the contact between the superconductors could create the type of fluctuations that characterize a time crystal.

First Atomic Level Simulation of a Whole Battery | MIT Technology Review

First Atomic Level Simulation of a Whole Battery | MIT Technology Review: The resulting simulations are small but impressive. Their nanobattery consists of 358 atoms, of which 118 make up the electrodes. The cathode is initially covered with a layer of 20 atoms with 39 positively ionised atoms dissolved in the electrolyte.

The calculation then proceeds in steps in which atoms can move and exchange charge as the system evolves. The entire simulation consists of some 10 million of these steps.

The results are remarkable because they actually reproduce the generic discharge curves of real macroscopic batteries. For example, a lower operating temperature reduces the effective capacity of the simulated battery. And most important of all, the simulation reproduces the way ordinary batteries wear out.

Self-healing solar cells mimic leaves | KurzweilAI

Self-healing solar cells mimic leaves | KurzweilAI: These biomimetic (nature-mimicking) devices are a type of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). They are composed of a hydrogel (water-based gel) core, electrodes, and inexpensive, light-sensitive organic-dye molecules that capture light and generate electric current...

“Photovoltaic cells rendered ineffective by high intensities of ultraviolet rays were regenerated by pumping fresh dye into the channels while cycling the exhausted dye out of the cell. This process restores the device’s effectiveness in producing electricity over multiple cycles.”

Spy agencies want low-energy system to solve 'interesting problems' - Computerworld

Spy agencies want low-energy system to solve 'interesting problems' - Computerworld: The goal of the government's solicitation is "to demonstrate a small-scale computer based on superconducting logic and cryogenic memory that is energy efficient, scalable, and able to solve interesting problems..."

The U.S. believes superconducting technologies can reduce power demand for one petaflop to 25 kW or even 100 petaflops for about 200 kW, including the cost of cryogenic refrigeration...


The NSA, in particular, has had a long interest in superconducting technology, but "significant technical obstacles prevented exploration of superconducting computing," the government said in its solicitation. Those innovations include cryogenic memory designs that allow operation of memory and logic in close proximity within the cold environment, as well as much faster switching speeds.

Bizarre Liquid More Stable Than Solid Crystal | LiveScience

Bizarre Liquid More Stable Than Solid Crystal | LiveScience: "When we make the bonds more flexible, the liquid phase remains stable even at extremely low temperatures," Smallenburg said. "The particles will simply never order into a crystal, unless they are compressed to high densities." �

Quantum mechanics enables 'impossible' space chemistry - physics-math - 30 June 2013 - New Scientist

 Quantum mechanics enables 'impossible' space chemistry - physics-math - 30 June 2013 - New Scientist:  Another route to methoxy is to combine a hydroxyl radical and methanol gas, both present in space. But this reaction requires hurdling a significant energy barrier – and the energy to do that simply isn't available in the cold expanse of space.

Heard and his colleagues wondered if the answer lay in quantum mechanics: a process called quantum tunnelling might give the hydroxyl radical a small chance to cheat by digging through the barrier instead of going over it, they reasoned.

So, in another attempt to replicate the production of methoxy in space, the team chilled gaseous hydroxyl and methanol to 63 kelvin – and were able to produce methoxy...

The team also found that the reaction occurred 50 times faster via quantum tunnelling than if it occurred normally at room temperature by hurdling the energy barrier.

nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) Discoveries - Energy Efficient Brain Simulator Outperforms Supercomputers - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) Discoveries - Energy Efficient Brain Simulator Outperforms Supercomputers - US National Science Foundation (NSF): Each of Neurogrid's 16 chips contains more than 65,000 silicon "neurons" whose activity can be programmed according to nearly 80 parameters, allowing the researchers to replicate the unique characteristics of different types of neurons. Soft-wired "synapses" crisscross the board, shuttling signals between every simulated neuron and the thousands of neurons it is networked with, effectively replicating the electrical chatter that constitutes communication in the brain.

'Artificial leaf' gains the ability to self-heal damage and produce energy from dirty water

'Artificial leaf' gains the ability to self-heal damage and produce energy from dirty water: The device, however, actually is a simple catalyst-coated wafer of silicon, rather than a complicated reproduction of the photosynthesis mechanism in real leaves. Dropped into a jar of water and exposed to sunlight, catalysts in the device break water down into its components, hydrogen and oxygen...


"Self-healing enables the artificial leaf to run on the impure, bacteria-contaminated water found in nature," Nocera said. "We figured out a way to tweak the conditions so that part of the catalyst falls apart, denying bacteria the smooth surface needed to form a biofilm. Then the catalyst can heal and re-assemble."

3D Printer Recycles Milk Jugs

3D Printer Recycles Milk Jugs: They cut the labels off milk jugs, washed the plastic, and shredded it. Then they ran it through a homemade device that melts and extrudes it into a long, spaghetti-like string of plastic...

The process isn’t perfect. Milk jugs are made of high-density polyethylene, or HDPE, which is not ideal for 3D printing. “HDPE is a little more challenging to print with,” Pearce says. But the disadvantages are not overwhelming. His group made its own climate-controlled chamber using a dorm-room refrigerator and an off-the-shelf teddy-bear humidifier and had good results...

The group determined that making their own filament in an insulated RecycleBot used about 1/10th the energy needed to acquire commercial 3D filament. They also calculated that they used less energy than it would take to recycle milk jugs conventionally.

UEA scientists mimic nature in �800,000 renewable energy project - University of East Anglia (UEA)

UEA scientists mimic nature in �800,000 renewable energy project - University of East Anglia (UEA): “Light absorption by the green chlorophyll pigments generates an energised electron that is directed, along chains of metal centres, to catalysts that make sugars.

“We will build a system for artificial photosynthesis by placing tiny solar-panels on microbes. These will harness sunlight and drive the production of hydrogen, from which the technologies to release energy on demand are well-advanced.

“We imagine that our photocatalysts will prove versatile and that with slight modification they will be able to harness solar energy for the manufacture of carbon-based fuels, drugs and fine chemicals.”