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Issue no. 28, 2007 Published: Sep 07, 2007
China launches large-scale renewable energy plan
Muscular films promise bodyparts and biomachines
Scientists generate 'hydrogen on demand'
Invention: Bio-solar cells
Antarctic pod makes way for green research
LCD displays could soon be obsolete
Magnets harnessed to clean artwork
IBM discoveries add promise for nanotech
Spider-like vessel hits New York waters

China launches large-scale renewable energy plan
China has released an ambitious plan to develop renewable energy to cut its surging carbon dioxide emissions. The 'Middle and Long-term Development Plan of Renewable Energies' promises to derive 10% of China's energy supply from renewables by 2010 and 15% by 2020. The total investment needed to meet the 2020 goal will be two trillion yuan (USD 133.3bn), according to the plan. China plans to increase its annual hydropower generating capacity from 170 million kilowatts in 2005 to 300 million kilowatts by 2020. It also seeks to increase the production of plant-based ethanol from one million tonnes to ten million tonnes, and its wind power generating capacity from 1.3 million kilowatts to 30 million kilowatts by 2020. The renewable energy plan estimates that, if its targets are met, by 2010 China will emit 600 million tonnes less carbon dioxide a year. By 2020, the annual reduction in carbon dioxide emissions will reach 1.2 billion tonnes.
SciDev Sep 05, 2007	back to top

Muscular films promise bodyparts and biomachines
Thin sheets of polymer coated with living muscle could be used to test new drugs, repair damaged body parts, or even create life-like bio-machines, according to researchers at Harvard University. They created the 'muscular thin films' by attaching muscle cells to elastic polymer sheets. By laying down striped patterns of proteins on these polymers, they were able to make the muscle cells arrange themselves into muscle fibres, similar to those in animals. When shocked with electricity, the resulting hybrid material can be made to bend, roll up, or wriggle, at a rate that can easily be controlled. The researchers first prepared sheets of the polymer polydimethyl- siloxane (PDMS) by imprinting it with a precise pattern of stripes made of the protein fibronectin. They then took muscle tissue from rats' hearts, broke the tissue down to individual cells, and seeded these cells onto the polymer. Over about four days of incubation, the muscle cells attached themselves firmly to the fibronectin on the surface. On surfaces patterned with 20-micrometre-thick stripes of fibronectin, the cells grew along these paths and organised themselves into muscle fibres. Ultimately, the team plans use human heart muscle cells and be able to repair damage to living organs and to test new drugs.
New Scientist / Science Sep 06, 2007	back to top

Scientists generate 'hydrogen on demand'
Scientists at Purdue University have developed a technique to produce 'hydrogen on demand' to act as a pollution-free energy source. The technique produces hydrogen by adding water to an alloy of aluminium and gallium. The aluminium splits water by attracting oxygen and liberating hydrogen in the process. The researchers are developing a method to create particles of the alloy that could be placed in a tank to react with water and produce 'hydrogen on demand'. The gallium is a critical component because it hinders the formation of an aluminium oxide skin normally created on aluminium's surface after bonding with oxygen, a process called oxidation. This skin usually acts as a barrier and prevents oxygen from reacting with aluminium. Reducing the skin's protective properties allows the reaction to continue until all of the aluminium is used to generate hydrogen. The gallium component can be recovered and reused. As the alloy reacts with water the aluminium turns into aluminium oxide, which can be recycled back into aluminium. The recycled aluminium would be less expensive than mining the metal, making the technology more competitive with other forms of energy production.
VNUnet UK Aug 28, 2007	back to top

Invention: Bio-solar cells
Silicon solar cells work by converting sunlight into electrical current, but are expensive to make and need to be used for many years to cover their construction costs. But researcher at MIT want to use biologically-derived molecules to harvest light instead. The plan is to isolate active light-harvesting molecules called chlorophyll from extremophile bacteria. These bacteria can withstand very high temperatures, so the resulting solar cells should be able to withstand high temperatures too. The chlorophyll is attached to peptide molecules that can stick to zinc oxide nanowires on a semiconducting substrate. The entire assembly is then coated in a transparent polymer for protection. Energy is produced as electrons in the pigment are excited to higher energy levels.
New Scientist Sep 03, 2007	back to top

Antarctic pod makes way for green research
The world's first zero-emissions Antarctic research station was unveiled on Wednesday in Brussels. The sleek, pod-like station will be powered only by renewable sources of energy - wind and solar energy. Currently assembled in the Belgian capital, the Princess Elisabeth research station will be shipped to Antarctica and reassembled in its final position on a ridge of granite in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica in December 2007. The first research teams to make use of the station will set out in November 2008. The building's pod-like structure, which can house a maximum of 20 people, evolved to maximise sustainability. Essential systems – the electronics, the battery room – are located at the core of the structure, so that the heat they generate radiates out to the rest of the building, which is so well insulated it is more likely to be too warm than too cold. The station will be powered by 380 square metres of solar panels on its outer walls and roof, and eight wind turbines. It also has two back-up diesel generators. Three quarters of the water supply will be treated and re-used.
New Scientist Sep 05, 2007	back to top

LCD displays could soon be obsolete
Liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions could soon become obsolete thanks to a new scientific breakthrough by researchers at the University of Houston. They have developed a technique that allows certain nanotech devices to be mass-produced. The researchers believe that the discovery could move the television industry away from the LCD display to the superior field emission display. Field emission displays use a large array of carbon nanotubes, the most efficient emitters known, to create a higher resolution picture than an LCD. The new 'nanopantography' fabrication technique can mass-produce an ordered array of carbon nanotubes and make field emission display fabrication viable. The method uses standard photolithography to selectively remove parts of a thin film, and etching to create arrays of ion-focusing micro-lenses (small round holes through a metal structure) on a substrate such as a silicon wafer. A beam of ions is then directed at the substrate. When the wafer is tilted, the desired pattern is replicated simultaneously in billions of many closely spaced holes over an area limited only by the size of the ion beam.
VNUnet UK Sep 05, 2007	back to top

Magnets harnessed to clean artwork
Many current art conservation techniques use specially designed gels that can be placed on isolated dirty spots of a painting. But getting the sticky gel off at the end can be tricky. Residue of gel and cleaner can remain both on and under the surface being cleaned, marring the art. Researchers at the University of Florence, Italy, have created a gel that can be removed with a magnet. The gel consists mainly of a polymer impregnated with iron nanoparticles. This gel is firm enough to be cut with scissors into 'sponges' of specific shapes required for cleaning. Such sponges can be loaded with a wide array of cleaning materials, as required for oil paintings or marble sculptures for example, and applied to the parts of the artwork that need cleaning. Once applied, the cleanser leaches onto the top surface of the artwork, where it should dissolve the dirt to be removed. As the upper surface of the gel dries during the cleaning process, an osmotic pressure gradient is set up within the gel that then pulls the cleaning solution back into the sponge and away from the surface of the painting or sculpture. Simply placing a magnet above the piece of gel then removes it from the painting's surface without damaging the art.
Nature / Langmuir Sep 03, 2007	back to top

IBM discoveries add promise for nanotech
Imagine cramming 30,000 full-length movies into a gadget the size of an iPod. Scientists at IBM said last week they had moved closer to such a feat by learning how to steer single atoms in a way that could create building blocks for ultra-tiny storage devices. Understanding and manipulating the behaviour of atoms is critical to harnessing the power of nanotechnology. One of the most basic properties that every atom has is that it behaves like a little magnet. The researchers studied this property - known as magnetic anisotropy - in individual iron atoms using a special microscope developed at IBM and managed to move the magnetic orientation around. Now they are looking for an atom that remains stable over a long time. IBM colleagues in Zurich, Switzerland, meanwhile, have stumbled on a way to manipulate molecules to switch on and off, a basic function needed in computer logic. They had been evaluating the vibration of a molecule when they noticed it had distinct switching capabilities. The discovery is especially important because the switching action did not alter the framework of the molecule.
MSNBC / Reuters Aug 30, 2007	back to top

Spider-like vessel hits New York waters
Pity the fisherman or sailor who staggers on deck in the morning and through bleary eyes sees a giant water spider, legs akimbo and buzzing ominously, coming at him. No cause for alarm, however. It is just Proteus, a Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel designed for everything from military uses to biological studies, ocean exploration and sea rescue. The spindly catamaran is so efficient that it can travel 8,000 kilometres on one load of diesel fuel. The lightweight, low-cost and modular craft is well suited to scientific and environmental purposes using technology that is itself smaller and less cumbersome. The craft rides on metal and fabric pontoons that have hinges and shock absorbers to flex with the motion of the waves, which helps it to skim over the water at a maximum speed of 30 knots (55 kmph).
MSNBC / AP Sep 06, 2007	back to top