Issue no. 9, 2008
Published: Mar 28, 2008 |
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 Silent microchip 'fan' has no moving parts |
| Researchers develop bendable silicon circuit |
| Dutch design promises cheap solar cells |
| Quantum communications offers near-total security |
| Scientists eye squid beaks for artificial limbs |
| Invention: Ultrasonic tattoo eraser |
| US experts discover world's oldest voice recording |
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| Silent microchip 'fan' has no moving parts |
Researchers in the US have developed a microchip fan with no moving
parts that operates silently and generates enough wind to cool a laptop.
The solid-state fan is touted as the most powerful and energy efficient
fan of its size. The device produces three times the flow rate of a
typical small mechanical fan and is one-fourth the size.
RSD5, developed by researcher of Thorrn Micro Technologies, incorporates
a series of live wires that generate a micro-scale plasma - an ion-rich
gas that has free electrons that conduct electricity. The wires lie
within uncharged conducting plates that are contoured into
half-cylindrical shapes to partially envelop the wires. Within the
intense electric field that results, ions push neutral air molecules
from the wire to the plate, generating a so-called corona wind.
The technology has the power to cool a 25W chip with a device smaller
than one cubic-cm and can someday be integrated into silicon to make
self-cooling chips, according to the researchers. |
| VNUnet UK
Mar 19, 2008 |
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| Researchers develop bendable silicon circuit |
Researchers in the US and Singapore have developed a fully functioning
silicon integrated circuit that can be bent, stretched and folded.
Traditional circuits are made on thin, rigid silicon wafers, but
building on the concept of accordion bellows, the researchers have
transformed the technology into a stretchable form, opening the
possibility of applications in medical monitoring.
The researchers made the silicon and the circuits as small as possible -
roughly one-50th of the diameter of a human hair. They also had to
design the materials in such a way that the silicon would experience
minimal strain when the circuit is bent. The researchers then bonded the
ultrathin circuit sheet to a slab of prestretched rubber. When the
rubber snaps back to its original size and shape, it causes the circuit
to form wavy patterns of relief.
The findings could open up entirely new design opportunities for silicon
electronics. The researchers say the are focusing first on biomedical
devices, such as wearable health monitors, where integration of
electronics with the human body can have health benefits. |
| CBC / Science
Mar 27, 2008 |
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| Dutch design promises cheap solar cells |
Researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have
devised a method of substantially improving the production of relatively
inexpensive dye-sensitised solar cells.
Long touted as a cheap alternative to high-cost silicon solar cells,
dye-sensitised cells imitate the natural conversion of sunlight into
energy by plants and light-sensitive bacteria. Plants are able to
transport absorbed solar energy over long distances, typically about
15-20 nm, to a location in which it is converted into chemical energy.
This is because the chlorophyll molecules in leaves are arranged in the
best possible sequence.
The researchers attempted a partial recreation in solar cells of this
process as found in plants, focusing on what are known as dye-sensitised
cells comprising a semiconductor, such as titanium dioxide, covered with
a layer of dye. The dye absorbs energy from sunlight, which creates
excitons. These energy parcels then need to move towards to the
semiconductor. Once there, they generate electric power. |
| VNUnet UK
Mar 20, 2008 |
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| Quantum communications offers near-total security |
Scientists from the University of Vienna in Austria have successfully
hit a satellite with a stream of protons in an experiment to build a
global quantum-encrypted communications network.
The researchers used a 1.5 metre telescope to bounce single photons off
the Ajisai geodetic satellite 1400km above the earth. The project
smashed their previous record of 144km.
With the right satellite in orbit the stream could be used to send
quantum-encoded data that is virtually unbreakable using current known
technology. But, up until now, the blurring effects of the atmosphere
has made sending data in this way practically impossible.
The team managed to hit the Ajisai satellite, which is one of a number
of 'mirror ball' satellites used solely for measurement, and receive
coherent data back. The next stage would be to build satellites capable
of receiving signals and either decoding them and sending back
information, or firing them sideways to other satellites to establish a
global communications network. |
| VNUnet UK
Mar 18, 2008 |
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| Scientists eye squid beaks for artificial limbs |
The razor-sharp beaks that giant squids use to attack whales might one
day lead to improved artificial limbs for people. The deadly beak has
long posed a puzzle for scientists, wondering how a creature without any
bones can operate it without hurting itself.
Now, researchers at the University of California report that they have
an explanation. The beak, made of hard chitin and other materials,
changes density gradually from the hard tip to a softer, more flexible
base where it attaches to the muscle around the squid's mouth, the
researchers found. That means the tough beak can chomp away at fish for
dinner, but the hard material does not press or rub directly against the
squid's softer tissues.
Such graduated materials could have broad applications in biomedical
materials. A future prosthesis could mimic the chemistry of the beak, so
that it matches the elasticity of cartilage on one side and, on the
other side a material which is very stiff and abrasion resistant could
be created, the researchers think. |
| MSNBC / AP / Science
Mar 27, 2008 |
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| Invention: Ultrasonic tattoo eraser |
Humans have been tattooing their skin for more than 8000 years and
probably regretting it for just as long. The ink used is a suspension of
coloured particles in a liquid. India ink, for example, contains carbon
particles suspended in water. After the ink is introduced into the skin
using a needle the water diffuses into the surrounding tissue, leaving
colour particles embedded in the skin.
However, removing the tattoo later is difficult. Current techniques
include abrasion, surgical removal and laser treatment but all carry
various risks, such as infection and the possibility of severe scarring.
Now researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, US have come up with a
tattoo-erasing method they say is non-invasive.
It relies on a process called cavitation in which sound waves reduce the
pressure of a liquid to the point where tiny bubbles of gas form. When
the pressure is raised, the bubble collapses violently, generating huge
pressures, albeit on a tiny scale. The researcher say ultrasound can be
used to make this happen beneath the surface of tattooed skin so that
the collapsing bubbles destroy pigment particles without damaging
tissue. The result is a technique that should safely, economically, and
efficiently remove at least significant portions of the tissue markings. |
| New Scientist
Mar 17, 2008 |
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| US experts discover world's oldest voice recording |
US audio historians have discovered and played back a French inventor's
historic 1860 recording of a folk song - the oldest-known audio
recording - made 17 years before Thomas Edison invented the phonograph.
Lasting 10 seconds, the recording is of a person singing 'Au clair de la
lune, Pierrot répondit', according to First Sounds, a group of audio
historians, recording engineers, sound archivists and others dedicated
to preserving humankind's earliest sound recordings.
It was made on April 9, 1860, by Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de
Martinville on a device called the phonautograph that scratched sound
waves onto a sheet of paper blackened by the smoke of an oil lamp, audio
historian David Giovannoni. Experts working with the First Sounds group
then transformed the paper tracings into sound. The recording is posted
on the web at http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/ |
| EJC MediaNews / Reuters
Mar 28, 2008 |
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