UNU-MERIT: I&T Weekly

	Search \| Sitemap \| Intranet \| PhD Intranet

Subscribe to I&T Weekly A free e-zine about Innovation & Technology developments

text html Please type the above code:
	RSS feed

Previous Issues I&T Weekly

>> back to archive

Previous issues of I&T Weekly:

2013: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

2012: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37]

2011: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44]

2010: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42]

2009: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42]

2008: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41]

2007: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]

2006: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44]

2005: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]

2004: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43]

2003: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47]

2002: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47]

2001: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

Issue no. 12, 2010 Published: Apr 09, 2010
Ice mission blasts off
Hewlett Packard outlines computer memory of the future
Laser 'punch' could bump up fusion power
Nanosatellite sets sail to tackle space junk
Hitachi claims battery life breakthrough
Avatars can't hide your lying eyes

Ice mission blasts off
A satellite that will monitor changes in land- and sea-ice levels launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday. The CryoSat-2 satellite, built by the European Space Agency (ESA), will be used to discover the extent to which the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are contributing to global sea-level rises and will also measure tiny variations in the thickness of ice floating in the polar oceans. Around 90% of the thickness of floating sea-ice lies below sea level. This part of an ice floe is known as the 'draft'. The aim of CryoSat-2 is to measure the thickness of the remaining 10% of the floe that is above sea level, known as the 'freeboard'. Knowing the depth of the freeboard then allows researchers to work out the total sea-ice thickness and estimate the floe's mass. CryoSat-2 will orbit the Earth around its poles 720 km above sea level and measure the depth of the freeboard using its main instrument - the Synthetic Aperture Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL). SIRAL sends bursts of microwave pulses towards Earth. The returning echoes are then used to construct a 3D map. Over the next three years, CryoSat-2 will measure changes in the thickness of sea-ice to an accuracy of a few centimetres to detect whether the ice is thinning or getting thicker. CryoSat-2 will use the same technique to measure changes to the thicknesses of huge land-ice sheets such as those in the Antarctic and Greenland.
Physics World Apr 08, 2010	back to top

Hewlett Packard outlines computer memory of the future
The fundamental building blocks of all computing devices could be about to undergo a dramatic change that would allow faster, more efficient machines. Researchers at Hewlett Packard have shown off working devices built using memristors - often described as electronics' missing link. HP says it has now shown that memristors can be used to crunch data, meaning they could be used to build advanced chips. That means they could begin to replace transistors. And, crucially, the unique properties of memristors would allow future chips to both store and process data in the same device. Today, these functions are done on separate devices, meaning data must be transferred between the two, slowing down the computation and wasting energy. Despite being proposed, it took almost forty years for a working memristor to be built. The tiny devices are the 'fourth' basic building block of circuits, after capacitors, resistors and inductors. The devices get their name from their ability to 'remember' the amount of charge that has flowed through them after the power has been switched off. This means they are suited for building computer memory and storage; an application that the researchers believe could be on the market within three years. Memristors could also help with a problem that continues to challenge the chip industry, continuing to pack more and more computational power into smaller and smaller spaces.
BBC News / Nature Apr 08, 2010	back to top

Laser 'punch' could bump up fusion power
Nuclear fusion - creating energy by fusing together light atomic nuclei - could begin at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California this year. To kick-start the reaction, the plan is to focus 192 high-power laser beams onto a tiny hollow metal cylinder that contains a small spherical fuel pellet of deuterium and tritium. The lasers would heat the cylinder to several million degrees, encouraging it to emit high-power X-rays into the pellet. The X-rays would compress the fuel to 1/1000th of its original volume, raising its temperature and kick-starting a fusion reaction that spews out helium-4 and neutrons. The hope is that the reaction would release more energy than was injected into the system. Yet some of the neutrons from this reaction will produce radioactive isotopes by interacting with the walls of the reactor. Now researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia propose using the mechanical punch of a laser to trigger fusion instead. They suggest using a 'flat-faced' laser pulse; ordinary pulses are pointed. The pulse would strike the surface of the fuel rather than penetrating it. As the pulse hits the fuel, a layer of plasma would be created from ionised gas. This would generate a thermonuclear shock wave that ripples through the fuel, promoting compression. Apart from being a more efficient method for electricity generation, fewer radioactive isotopes would form, because the method may allow the use of a different fuel that has fewer by-products.
New Scientist / Energy & Environmental Science Apr 01, 2010	back to top

Nanosatellite sets sail to tackle space junk
The first spacecraft designed to do away with itself has been unveiled. It will try out an idea that could stop space getting clogged up with junk orbiting the Earth. The debris of abandoned spacecraft and satellites is building up in low Earth orbit, presenting an increasing threat of collision to working spacecraft. The diminutive CubeSail craft, measuring 30 by 10 by 10 centimetres and weighing just 3 kilograms, has been designed at the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, UK. It has a solar sail that it can use for propulsion, but it can also use the sail as an 'orbital brake' to help it de-orbit to a fiery death in the atmosphere. After it has completed its experiment, the solar sail will be turned away from the sun and its efficiency as an orbital brake will be tested. The sail should increase the drag from rarefied molecules of the Earth's atmosphere and send the craft to de-orbit much faster. The process could take just a couple of years instead of decades. If CubeSail works, future satellites could be fitted with similar sails that would be deployed when their useful life ends and they become space junk.
New Scientist Mar 26, 2010	back to top

Hitachi claims battery life breakthrough
Hitachi has achieved a breakthrough in the design of lithium-ion batteries that it claims will lower production costs and extend lifespans to up to 10 years. Researchers at the company have come up with a new design of cathode which combines manganese and cobalt with other substances. The electrolyte in the battery has been improved to lengthen the life of the unit, and Hitachi is researching other changes to electrolytes to further extend the potential lifetime. However, Hitachi said that laptop and phone users will not be the first to see the improvements, as the company is concentrating its efforts initially on industrial-grade batteries and storage. The new technology was developed in association with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation set up by the Japanese government to invest in power research.
VNUnet UK Apr 07, 2010	back to top

Avatars can't hide your lying eyes
Are you being lied to online? Spotting when someone is telling the truth could soon become easier, thanks to avatars that can mimic our real-world eye movements. Most virtual worlds are populated by avatars with static or pre-programmed gazes. One way to make interactions feel more realistic is to reproduce a person's eye movement on their avatar, say researchers at University College London. Now they have found this makes it easier to spot whether an avatar is telling the truth. The researchers asked volunteers personal questions and told them to lie in some of their answers. During the interviews, the volunteers wore eye-tracking glasses that recorded their blink rate, direction and length of gaze, and pupil dilation. A second group then watched a selection of clips of avatars as they delivered the first group's answers. Some avatars had eye movements that mirrored those of the original volunteers, while others had no eye movement at all. On average, the participants were able to identify 88% of truths correctly when the avatars had eye movement, but only 70% without. Spotting lies was harder, but eye movement helped: 48% accuracy compared with 39 per cent without. Enhancing expressive features such as eye movement could eventually make avatar-mediated communication feel more trustworthy than online video, because only relevant visual cues need to be displayed, according to the researchers.
New Scientist Apr 08, 2010	back to top