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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 24, 2012 2:22 PM
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For the first time, researchers have designed an electrochemical cell that can desalinate seawater. They think that its cost and efficiency eventually could improve on standard techniques of purifying seawater. Worldwide demand for freshwater is skyrocketing as the population increases. Many of today’s desalination plants use reverse osmosis or evaporation, both of which require enormous amounts of energy to supply heaters or high-pressure pumps. To find cheaper, room-temperature, energy-efficient solutions, many researchers are looking to nanomaterials and electrochemistry.
50 new tech tools you should knowCNN InternationalA new 3.0 update also offers LinkedIn integration for connecting with just one click. A must-have for conference-goers and business trippers.
Via Anise Smith
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 22, 2012 11:28 PM
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Scientists have created a brain implant that not only allows monkeys to control a computer with their thoughts, it also allows them to “feel” the virtual objects. The new, two-way, brain-machine-brain interface represents a major breakthrough in the field of neuroprosthetics. Bolstered by the results, the scientists plan to test the technology on a quadriplegic in just three years.
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Rescooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
from GOSSIP, NEWS & SPORT!
February 22, 2012 12:24 PM
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Physicists at the University of New South Wales have created a transistor composed of a single atom, which is an amazing feat of nanoengineering, and could provide a better foundation for scalable quantum computing.
Via Jimi Paradise
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 17, 2012 4:53 PM
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For years, biologists have been amazed by the power of gecko feet, which let these 5-ounce lizards produce an adhesive force roughly equivalent to carrying nine pounds up a wall without slipping. Now, a team of polymer scientists and a biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered exactly how the gecko does it, leading them to invent "Geckskin," a device that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall. Doctoral candidate Michael Bartlett in Alfred Crosby's polymer science and engineering lab at UMass Amherst is the lead author of their article describing the discovery in the current online issue of Advanced Materials ("Looking Beyond Fibrillar Features to Scale Gecko-Like Adhesion").
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Rescooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
from innovation and diversity
February 17, 2012 12:30 PM
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In the future, implantable computerized dispensaries will replace trips to the pharmacy or doctor’s office, automatically leaching drugs into the blood from medical devices embedded in our bodies. These small wireless chips promise to reduce pain and inconvenience, and they’ll ensure that patients get exactly the amount of drugs they need, all at the push of a button. http://tinyurl.com/73tkcj2
Via Jacek Rajewski
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 15, 2012 9:03 PM
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This is the first time scientists have been able to see an atom's internal structure directly. Since the early 1980s, researchers have been able to map out a material's atomic structure in a mathematical sense, using imaging techniques. Quantum mechanics states that an electron doesn't exist as a single point, but spreads around the nucleus in a cloud known as an orbital. The soft blue spheres and split clouds seen in the images show two arrangements of the electrons in their orbitals in a carbon atom. The structures verify illustrations seen in thousands of chemistry books because they match established quantum mechanical predictions.
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 15, 2012 3:39 PM
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The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) is to decode the genomes from 25 000 cancer samples and create a resource of freely available data that will help cancer researchers around the world. "The International Cancer Genome Consortium initiative will profoundly alter our understanding of the development of human cancer, across the spectrum of tumour types," said Sir Paul Nurse, cancer scientist and 2001 Nobel Laureate for Physiology or Medicine.
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Rescooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
from Singularity Scoops
February 15, 2012 1:02 PM
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In a testament to just how fast the coming cyberization of mankind has progressed, a new report published by the Daily Mail entitled, “Hitler would have loved The Singularity: Mind-blowing benefits of merging human brains and computers,” reaffirms...
Via Frederic Emam-Zade Gerardino
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Rescooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
from Tracking the Future
February 14, 2012 12:02 PM
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IBM has been shipping computers for more than 65 years, and it is finally on the verge of creating a true electronic brain. Big Blue is announcing today that it, along with four universities and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), have created the basic design of an experimental computer chip that emulates the way the brain processes information.
Via Szabolcs Kósa
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 11, 2012 12:42 PM
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Spray-on liquid glass is transparent, non-toxic, and can protect virtually any surface against almost any damage from hazards such as water, UV radiation, dirt, heat, and bacterial infections.
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 11, 2012 12:13 PM
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Children’s Hospital Boston recently announced a $25,000 competition for the development of an interpretation and communication system that can deliver genomic information from the lab to physicians and patients. As the cost of genome sequencing continues to fall and may break the $1,000 barrier soon, the issue is no longer about acquiring genetic data but about what all the data means. Scientists around the world have been making progress interpreting the molecular language of DNA but, as the Human Genome Project revealed, the human genome contains at least 25,000 genes, so research can be slow going. Furthermore, what information is obtained and published in journals has a hard time finding its way into practices for physicians to understand and apply toward patient care.
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 9, 2012 11:10 AM
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Cancer Research UK scientists have mapped the first 3D structure of c-Cbl, a key protein that protects against the development of cancer. c-Cbl controls cell growth , which when unregulated causes cells to divide excessively and can lead to cancer. The protein is defective in some leukemia patients. Discovering that c-Cbl can switch between two shapes may help scientists find ways to prevent faulty c-Cbl from triggering cancer.
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 24, 2012 2:14 PM
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The “miracle material” graphene is the world’s thinnest known coating for protecting metals against corrosion. In the study, Dhiraj Prasai and colleagues point out that rusting and other corrosion of metals is a serious global problem, and intense efforts are underway to find new ways to slow or prevent it. Corrosion results from contact of the metal’s surface with air, water or other substances. One major approach involves coating metals with materials that shield the metal surface, but currently used materials have limitations. The scientists decided to evaluate graphene as a new coating. Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms, many layers of which are in lead pencils and charcoal, and is the thinnest, strongest known material. That’s why it is called the miracle material. In graphene, the carbon atoms are arranged like a chicken-wire fence in a layer so thin that is transparent, and an ounce would cover 28 football fields. Videos about Graphene: http://tinyurl.com/74eelyy
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Rescooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
from Curation, Gamification, Augmented Reality, connect.me, Singularity, 3D Printer, Technology, Apple, Microsoft, Science, wii, ps3, xbox
February 23, 2012 12:50 PM
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Augmented Reality promises the change our world. Here are 11 of the most useful Augmented Reality Apps for iPhone and Android Smartphones.
Via ABroaderView
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 22, 2012 9:32 PM
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A new phenomenon might make computing devices faster, smaller and much more energy-efficient. Moving so-called skyrmions needs 100,000 times smaller currents than existing technologies and the number of atoms needed for a data bit could be reduced significantly. Now a team of physicists from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and the University of Cologne developed a simple electronic method for moving and reading these skyrmion data bits.
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 17, 2012 5:00 PM
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It may look like an ordinary USB memory stick, but a little gadget that can sequence DNA while plugged into your laptop could have far-reaching effects on medicine and genetic research. The UK firm Oxford Nanopore built the device, called MinION, and claims it can sequence simple genomes – like those of some viruses and bacteria – in a matter of seconds. More complex genomes would take longer, but MinION could also be useful for obtaining quick results in sequencing DNA from cells in a biopsy to look for cancer, for example, or to determine the genetic identity of bone fragments at an archaeological dig. The company demonstrated today at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference in Marco Island, Florida, that MinION has sequenced a simple virus called Phi X, which contains 5000 genetic base pairs.
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Rescooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
from innovation and diversity
February 17, 2012 4:47 PM
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The afternoon of May 6, 2010 was among the strangest in economic history. Starting at 2:42 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones stock index fell 600 points in just 6 minutes. Its nadir represented the deepest single-day decline in that ...
Via Jacek Rajewski
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 15, 2012 9:11 PM
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Researchers have set a new record for the rate of data transfer using a single laser: 26 terabits per second. At those speeds, the contents of nearly 1,000 high-definition DVDs could be sent down an optical fibre in a second. The trick is to use what is known as a "fast Fourier transform" to unpick more than 300 separate colours of light in a laser beam, each encoded with its own string of information.
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 15, 2012 8:37 PM
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The breakthrough technology announced by IBM researchers has been long sought: a way to use pulses of light in waveguides instead of electrons in wires for chip connections. Electrons generate heat, which limits has fast chips can work and requires a lot of power for cooling. Light has no such limitations. The new technology could accelerate the performance of supercomputers a thousand times, taking us from the current 2.6 petaflops (10E15 or quadrillion operations per second) Chinese Tianhe-1A supercomputer to an exaflop (10E18 or a quintillion operations per second) supercomputer in just 8 years (“flops” stands for “floating point operations per second”).
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Rescooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
from Singularity Scoops
February 15, 2012 1:03 PM
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Since the first information in December, we have learned more about Google’s glasses, says 9to5 Google. It looks something like Oakley Thumps, but with a camera and voice input/output, according to a tipster.
Via Frederic Emam-Zade Gerardino
France's FRAC Center is hosting an exhibition featuring flying robots.
Via Amanda Stoel
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 14, 2012 11:40 AM
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A method of creating energy storage devices using a carbon nanotube "ink" has been shown to work on ordinary fabrics. Ordinary cotton and polyester fabrics have been turned into batteries that retain their flexibility.
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Scooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
February 11, 2012 12:35 PM
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Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego scientists have developed a “microrocket” that can propel itself through acidic environments, such as the human stomach, without any external energy source, opening new medical and industrial applications.
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Rescooped by
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
from Singularity Scoops
February 9, 2012 6:20 PM
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Chinese manufacturers make about 50 million solar panels a year --- over half the world's supply in 2010 --- and include four of the world's top five.
Via Frederic Emam-Zade Gerardino
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