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Issue no. 19, 2007 Published: Jun 08, 2007
Scientists produce wireless electricity
Solar shield could be quick fix for global warming
US looks to overhaul its patent system
European X-ray laser gets the go ahead
Talking paper made by scientists
Mini heat harvesters could be new energy source
Sound software should bring peace to the workplace
Big particles are secret to crack-free paint
Boffins build bionic baby

Scientists produce wireless electricity
Plugs and cables could become obsolete after MIT scientists devised a way of recharging electrical devices ranging from laptop computers to lights from a distance. The team made a 60-watt lightbulb glow using electricity sent wirelessly between copper coils set two metres apart. Scientists have known for years that electricity can be transferred without wires, but had struggled to find a practical and efficient way of making it work. The MIT researchers used the concept of resonance. Energy can be efficiently transferred between objects that resonate at the same frequency, so they used two copper coils, one transmitting and the other receiving power. The breakthrough has been dubbed WiTricity. The researchers believe they are between three and five years away from developing a system which could recharge laptops, mobile phones and other devices wirelessly. It could also mean some gadgets would no longer need batteries, eliminating the potential for pollution caused by discarded cells.
The Independent / Science Jun 08, 2007	back to top

Solar shield could be quick fix for global warming
A solar shield that reflects some of the Sun's radiation back into space would cool the climate within a decade and could be a quick-fix solution to climate change, researchers say. Because of their rapid effect, however, they should be deployed only as a last resort when 'dangerous' climate change is imminent, they warn. Ken Caldeira at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, in California, US, and Damon Matthews at Concordia University, Canada, used computer models to simulate the effects that a solar shield would have on the Earth's climate if greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise along a 'business as usual' scenario. The computer models simulated a gradually deployed shield that would compensate for the greenhouse effect of rising CO2 concentrations. By the time CO2 levels are double those of pre-industrial times - predicted to be at the end of the 21st century - the shield would need to block 8% of the Sun's radiation. The researchers found that a sulphur shield could act very quickly, lowering temperatures to around early 20th-century levels within a decade of being deployed. However, a sulphate shield would need to be continuously replenished, and the models show that failing to do so would mean the Earth's climate would suddenly be hit with the full warming effect of the CO2 that has accumulated in the meantime.
New Scientist / Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jun 05, 2007	back to top

US looks to overhaul its patent system
The Bush administration wants to overhaul the US patent system by requiring better information from inventors and allowing public scrutiny of applications as concerns mount that the current system is hampering innovation rather than encouraging it. The goal is to improve the quality of patents, which should curb the rising wave of disputes and lawsuits. The legal wrangling is often over broad descriptions of ideas or activities, so-called business methods, or software that contains only incremental changes over prior work. One important change will be a legal clarification of what is required of patent applicants. The legislation should require the applicants to conduct a thorough search of related patents and technical journals, and then explain why the patent being sought represents a significant innovation beyond previous ideas in the field. The patent office is experimenting with the concept of opening the examination process to outsiders, inviting public peer reviews. Next week the patent office will begin a pilot project for open reviews of software patents. The patents will be posted on a website, and members of the public with software expertise will be allowed to send the patent office technical references relevant to the patent claims.
International Herald Tribune Jun 06, 2007	back to top

European X-ray laser gets the go ahead
The building of a powerful new X-ray free-electron laser has been given final approval by the German government now that sufficient funding has been secured. The billion-Euro machine, known as XFEL, will be situated in Hamburg, Germany and will enable researchers to observe chemical and physical processes at the atomic level as they occur in real time. Construction of the facility is set to start in early 2008 with an aim to commence data collection in 2013. Normal lasers can generate extremely intense, ultrashort pulses of light, but the wavelength of the radiation is too long to pinpoint the location of atoms. A free-electron laser can generate radiation at shorter wavelengths by accelerating bunches of electrons and passing them through a periodic magnet called an undulator. This forces the electrons to continually change direction and so emit synchrotron radiation in the 'hard' X-ray portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. XFEL, which has strong connections to the DESY research centre in Hamburg, is an international project that is three-quarters funded by Germany with the remaining money from other European countries and China. It will accelerate electron bunches using 3.4 km of superconducting magnets to energies of 20 GeV, generating laser pulses billions of times brighter than the beams in today's synchrotron devices.
PhysicsWeb Jun 05, 2007	back to top

Talking paper made by scientists
Digital paper that can speak to you has been created by scientists from Mid Sweden University. They have constructed an interactive paper billboard that emits recorded sound in response to a user's touch. The prototype display uses conductive inks, which are sensitive to pressure, and printed speakers. The team envisages that the technology could be used by advertisers, and in the future, it might even be employed for product packaging. The key to the billboard's capabilities is a layer of digital paper that is embedded with electronics. This is printed with conductive inks, which, when applied with pressure, relay information to a micro-computer that contains recorded audio files. Sound then streams out from printed speakers, which are formed from more layers of conductive inks that sit over an empty cavity to form a diaphragm. This functional layer is sandwiched between a thick sheet of extra-strong cardboard and another sheet of paper that is printed with the billboard's design.
EJC Medianews / BBC News Jun 06, 2007	back to top

Mini heat harvesters could be new energy source
New ways of turning heat into sound waves - and then into electricity - may be the next step toward a practical new source of energy. Scientists have known for decades that they can turn heat into sound using simple devices called acoustic heat engines. But this week a team of University of Utah researchers announced they have succeeded in miniaturising and optimising the devices, which then turn the sound into usable electricity. The advance could open the door to super-efficient power plants, cars, computers, and a new generation of solar cells. Acoustic heat engines usually use a copper plate to conduct heat to a high-surface-area material like glass wool, which then heats the surrounding air. The movement of the hot air generates a single frequency sound wave. And this in turns vibrates a piezoelectric electrode, producing voltage. Most engines are large or inefficient, though, making them undesirable for interfacing with computers or other small applications. To improve their prospects, the team built smaller engines ranging from 11 to 18 centimetres long. At 40% efficient, the engines rival gasoline and diesel engines at energy conversion. The researchers have also built the smallest known acoustic heat engines, which at 1.8mm long could produce 1W of electricity per cubic centimetre when clustered together. The clusters could be used as the 'cells' in a new type of solar panel.
New Scientist Jun 06, 2007	back to top

Sound software should bring peace to the workplace
Open-plan offices are social, collaborative environments. They can also be noisy, filled by a cacophony of workers' chatter. But a new piece of software might help turn down the volume. Cambridge Sound Management of Massachusetts has developed the Open Office Privacy Calculator, which lets architects plan an office's acoustics. The software calculates how the materials used to construct an office, as well as structural factors such as desk partitions and ceiling height, affect how sound travels. Each company can then set a desired volume for its offices - choosing to embrace loud-mouthed colleagues or muffle them, for instance - and the software suggests which design tweaks and noise cancellation systems best achieve it.
New Scientist Jun 03, 2007	back to top

Big particles are secret to crack-free paint
The frustrating cracks that appear on newly painted surfaces could soon be a thing of the past. Physicists at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai in India have calculated how the properties of pain affect its ability to stay smooth while drying, which could help manufacturers to develop more effective crack-free paints. Paints are usually made by dispersing tiny particles, some of which are pigment, in a solvent such as water. As paint dries, its elastic 'skin' - known as the meniscus - contracts and inflicts stress on the bulk particles, which deform as a result. But beyond a certain stress the particles can deform no more, and the paint must instead alleviate stress by cracking. Not all paints crack, however. Because a meniscus can only contract so much - and therefore can only exert a maximum stress - particles with a sufficiently high stress limit will avoid being fully deformed, and no cracks will form. The researchers realized that the stress limit is directly related to how drying paint tries to balance the potential energy of the meniscus and the potential energy of the bulk particles. Certain particle properties - such as their size, 'shear modulus' or strength, and how tightly they are packed together - affect this balance, and from this they calculated how thick a paint can be applied without cracks forming.
PhysicsWeb / Phys. Rev. Lett. Jun 01, 2007	back to top

Boffins build bionic baby
Boffins at the Japan Science and Technology Agency in Osaka have created a child-sized android with flexible joints and soft skin. The 1.3 metre, 33kg robot is designed to emulate the physical abilities of a one or two year-old toddler. The Child-robot with Biometric Body (CB2) has around 200 optical, auditory and tactile sensors, along with 51 compressed air actuators inside its body which enable it to make complex movements smoothly. A putty-like silicone skin covers the body, allowing the robot to react to its surroundings by blinking and altering its facial expressions. It can turn over and stand up with assistance, much like a small child. The sensors allow it to react to input like touch and sound, and the CB2 will even try to grab objects dangled in front of it. The CB2 can speak, although it has a very limited vocabulary. The researchers hope that the robot will help scientists learn more about childhood development. They hope that the design will allow for more realistic looking robots in the future which may be better integrated in future society, and are currently working on software that will enable the CB2 to walk and talk like a three year-old.
VNUnet UK Jun 06, 2007	back to top