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Issue no. 5, 2010 Published: Feb 05, 2010
Algae show a knack for quantum mechanics
Liquid glass: the spray-on scientific revelation
Spider web inspires fibres for industry
Hybrid video could lighten the search and rescue load
Scientists map changes in science and beyond
New Spider-Man device could let humans walk on walls

Algae show a knack for quantum mechanics
Algae might have mastered the science of particle physics billions of years ago. Researchers from the University of Toronto in Canada have found that the microscopic organisms have evolved a molecular structure that boosts the efficiency of photosynthesis by taking advantage of an important property of quantum mechanics. Experts say the discovery could lead to a new generation of superefficient light-sensitive devices. Scientists have long suspected that the efficiency of photosynthesis depends on quantum mechanics. But they have been unable to figure out how. One mystery concerns the function of certain proteins, known as antennas, which intercept photons and channel their energy to reaction centres, where a cell converts water and carbon dioxide to oxygen and sugar. But the reaction centres can do the job themselves, so why the extra hardware? The researchers fired ultrafast, low-power laser pulses at the molecular antennas within algal cells and then measured changes in the light energy. They found that the way the antennas reacted with the photons revealed unmistakable signs of quantum mechanics. When photons strike a molecule, they transfer energy by vibrating the molecule's electrons. But that vibration slows down rapidly if the electron is transferred to another molecule. For that reason the researchers expected that the energy from the laser could not easily be transferred from the antenna molecules to the reaction-centre molecules. Yet the experiments showed that the electron vibrations resulting from the photons striking the antennas persisted at full strength four times longer than expected due to quantum mechanics controlling the energy.
Science NOW / Nature Feb 03, 2010	back to top

Liquid glass: the spray-on scientific revelation
Liquid glass, a revolutionary invisible non-toxic spray that protects against everything from bacteria to UV radiation, could soon be used on a vast range of products. The spray, which is harmless to the environment, can be used to protect against disease, guard vineyards against fungal threats and coat the nose cones of high-speed trains. The versatile spray, which forms an easy-clean coating one millionth of a millimetre thick – 500 times thinner than a human hair – can be applied to virtually any surface to protect it against water, dirt, bacteria, heat and UV radiation. It is hoped that liquid glass, a compound of almost pure silicon dioxide, could soon replace a variety of cleaning products which are harmful to the environment, leaving our world coated in an invisible, wipe-clean sheen. The spray forms a water-resistant layer, meaning it can be cleaned using only water. Trials by food-processing companies showed that sterile surfaces covered with a film of liquid glass were equally clean after a rinse with hot water as after their usual treatment with strong bleach. The product can be sold in a solution of either alcohol or water, depending on what surface needs to be coated. The layer formed by the liquid glass is said to be flexible and breathable. The liquid glass was invented in Turkey and the patent is held by Nanopool in Germany.
Daily Telegraph Feb 01, 2010	back to top

Spider web inspires fibres for industry
Spiders may not be everybody's idea of natural beauty, but nobody can deny the artistry in the webs that they spin, especially when decorated with water baubles in the morning dew. Inspired by this spectacle, a group of researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has mimicked the structural properties of spider webs in creating a fibre for industry that can manipulate water with the same skill and efficiency. The researchers set out to look at the fine detail of spider webs and the way that the silks interact with moisture in the atmosphere. They found that the water-collecting ability of Uloborus walckenaerius – a common, non-venomous spider – is the result of a network of knots that form in the web when it gets wet. The team replicated the spider fibres using polymethyl methacrylate, a synthetic polymer that was chosen because it bonds well with water molecules. The major technical challenge was to fine-tune these fibres to function in realistic industrial conditions whereby temperatures and humidity levels are often changing. They succeeded in creating individual fibres that could trap and transport water droplets in the same way as the spider silk. One application could be 'smart catalysis', which can speed up a chemical reaction without needing a catalyst.
PhysicsWorld / Nature Feb 03, 2010	back to top

Hybrid video could lighten the search and rescue load
Could seeing with heat and light simultaneously improve search and rescue missions? Nathan Rasmussen of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, has created a hybrid video system that integrates visible and infrared footage into a single shot. Infrared is especially useful when covering large search areas as it picks up heat-signatures, which visible footage doesn't show. But its lack of geographical information makes it tricky to interpret. So Rasmussen has devised a way to calibrate the feeds from two such cameras attached to a model aircraft. To do this, he first filmed a grid of black wires on a white background using both cameras. To allow the infrared camera to 'see' the wires, a current was sent down them to heat them up. Rasmussen then created an algorithm to align the vertices of the grids, as seen by the two cameras, to compensate for the slight differences in viewing angle. When recorded in a natural setting, the warmer areas picked up by the infrared camera appear magenta on the hybrid video stream. To test whether the hybrid video would aid search and rescue teams, Rasmussen asked volunteers to watch either his hybrid stream or the two separate visible and infrared feeds. The volunteers were also played a series of beeps. While both groups were able to pick out objects in the footage, those watching the hybrid stream were more accurate in reporting the number of beeps they had heard. This suggests that the hybrid video is easier to interpret, says Rasmussen.
New Scientist Feb 02, 2010	back to top

Scientists map changes in science and beyond
How has the structure of scientific research changed over the past decade? A team of researchers from Umea University, Sweden, and the University of Washington aims to answer this question in a new study. Using new mathematical tools, the authors have revealed major shifts in the structure of scientific research in order to uncover structural changes in large, interconnected systems. To illustrate the power of their methods, the researchers mapped changes in the field of neuroscience and were able to track how the field evolved from an interdisciplinary specialty to a full fledged scholarly discipline. The analysis has resulted in some striking images, which elegantly demonstrate the change in the discipline over time. The key to understanding complex and integrated structures such as the scholarly research literature is to think of them as networks. In a network, the components of the system are represented by nodes, and the interactions between the components consist of links between the nodes. The researchers believe that these mathematical methods will go beyond analyzing science and will be applied to a number of other problems in fields ranging from biology and medicine to technology and finance.
Physorg / Public Library of Science / PLoS ONE Jan 28, 2010	back to top

New Spider-Man device could let humans walk on walls
A new high-tech suction device could allow humans to walk on walls like Spider-Man or create adhesive devices that could be turned on and off with the flick of a switch. The contraption, inspired by a beetle that can hold on to a leaf with a force 100 times its weight, uses the surface tension of water to make an adhesive bond, but it does so with a creative twist. It could be used to create sticky shoes or gloves, according to researchers from Cornell University. The device consists of a flat top plate riddled with tiny holes, each just a few hundred microns wide. A bottom plate holds water. In between is a porous layer. A 9-volt battery powers an electric field that forces water to squeeze through the tiny holes in the top layer. The surface tension of the exposed droplets makes the device grip another surface — much the way two pieces of wet glass stick together. Turn the electricity off, and the bond breaks. More work is needed to create a version of the device that would hold a human to the side of a building, however. One prototype has 1,000 holes and can hold about 30 grams, or roughly 70 paperclips. But tests showed that with more and smaller holes, a 2.5 cm square device could hold 15 pounds. Another possible use would be covering the droplets with thin membranes, making the device exert outward pressure.
Livescience / Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Feb 02, 2010	back to top