Issue no. 36, 2010
Published: Nov 12, 2010 |
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 LHC sees its first ZZ event |
| Honeycomb windows that could harvest the Sun |
| Solar shield to protect power grids from sun storms |
| South Korea discovers rare earths deposit |
| Sterile mosquitoes success in dengue trial |
| Army-funded technology detects bacteria in water |
| EU wants tighter online privacy |
| Divers could breathe deep with liquid-filled lungs |
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| LHC sees its first ZZ event |
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva has produced its first pair of
Z bosons, according to data released by the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS)
collaboration. Seeing this first pair is an important step in the hunt
for the Higgs boson. The generation and analysis of many more such
events could provide one of the key signatures of the elusive Higgs.
Believed to provide all particles with mass, the Higgs boson is the last
missing piece of the Standard Model of particle physics. The LHC,
designed to collide protons into one another at energies of up to 14
TeV, is expected to find the elusive boson - assuming that the Higgs
does indeed exist.
Evidence for the Higgs will not come as a single observation. Instead,
physicists must accumulate data related to the energy distribution of
the particles that the Higgs decays into. One of the cleanest such decay
signatures is the transformation of the Higgs into two Z bosons -
particles that are one of the carriers of the weak nuclear force. The Z
bosons then decay into pairs of heavy charged particles known as muons,
which leave an unmistakable mark in a detector such as CMS.
Now the first such event at the LHC has been seen by CMS. The CMS data
clearly reveal the tracks of four muons. And the masses of these muons,
grouped into two pairs, result in values for the mass of the Z of just
over 92 GeV, which is very close to the known Z mass. |
| PhysicsWorld
Nov 11, 2010 |
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| Honeycomb windows that could harvest the Sun |
A materials science breakthrough could lead to a new type of window that
can harness the power of the Sun. The newly created transparent material
can efficiently capture photons to generate electricity thanks to its
honeycomb structure, which blends the properties of a semiconductor
polymer with those of a carbon-rich fullerene.
The chosen polymer, P1, is efficient at absorbing photons, which causes
electrons and holes within the material to combine into bound states
known as excitons. The role of the fullerene is to then undo this
process by dissociating the electrons and holes. Suitably placed
electrodes can then extract the charges to produce photocurrents.
According to the researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the
biggest challenge was finding a way to merge the polymer and fullerene
into a honeycomb lattice. The team achieved this by creating a flow of
micron-sized water droplets across a thin layer of the polymer/fullerene
solution. Water droplets then self-assemble into large arrays within the
solution. Once the newly formed solution has evaporated it leaves behind
a hexagonal honeycomb pattern over a large area of the polymer, which
the researchers observed using scanning probe and electron microscopy.
The team now intends to develop the work by implementing the honeycomb
into devices and carrying out a number of tests. Among the applications
that could spring from the work are optical displays and devices,
including transparent solar cells. Another possibility is to incorporate
the honeycomb films into windows. |
| PhysicsWorld / Chemistry of Materials
Nov 11, 2010 |
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| Solar shield to protect power grids from sun storms |
NASA has devised a new tool in the battle against massive eruptions from
the sun: an early warning system to protect electrical grids on Earth
from extremely powerful solar storms. The new project, called Solar
Shield, is designed to predict the severity of powerful sun storms at
specific locations on Earth to help power companies plan responses and
limit the potential damage to their equipment.
The chief target for NASA's Solar Shield are huge sun eruptions called
coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, which can shoot off billions of tons of
plasma and charged particles. The sun is currently going through a more
active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. It has been emerging
from a prolonged lull in activity and is expected to hit the peak of the
current cycle in 2013.
When the magnetic field associated with a CME encounters the Earths
magnetic field, the two merge and an enormous amount of energy is
transferred to the geomagnetosphere. This resulting current can affect
astronauts or satellites in space, as well as commercial power grids. If
the CME is strong enough, the grids can become overburdened or damaged.
The predictions from NASA's Solar Shield could potentially help avoid
the worst of the damage, researchers said. The project aims to minimize
the effects by providing both short- and long-term predictions regarding
impending CMEs. |
| MSNBC / Space.com
Nov 09, 2010 |
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| South Korea discovers rare earths deposit |
South Korea has found an undetermined amount of rare earth minerals in a
deposit in the eastern Gangwon province, Korea Resources Corp (KORES)
said. The discovery came amid lingering tension over China's controls of
its rare earth supplies, which account for 97% of global output.
The US and Japan have been calling for China to loosen its export
constraints for the minerals that are used in high-tech products from
electric cars to LCD televisions to new energy technologies.
China has sought to reassure its trade partners and said it will
maintain its exports of rare earths next year. China cut back its 2010
exports quota of rare earths by 40% from 2009 levels, which caused
prices of the minerals to soar and made it more cost effective for other
countries to start searching for their own supplies.
State-run mining firm KORES discovered veins containing rare earths
while re-developing an iron ore mine and will proceed with exploration
to determine the quantity and make up of the mineral deposit. |
| Reuters
Nov 07, 2010 |
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| Sterile mosquitoes success in dengue trial |
British scientists from a firm called Oxitec have created genetically
sterile mosquitoes to compete with normal mosquitoes in their species,
and researchers say early field trials suggest the idea could help to
halt the rapid spread of dengue fever.
The scientists ran a small trial with the Mosquito Research and Control
Unit (MRCU) in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. This found that
releasing 3 million of the genetically altered insects into a small area
managed to cut the species population by 80% in six months.
Dengue fever, a disease which causes severe flu-like symptoms and can
kill, is spread through the bite of infected female Aedes aegypti
mosquitoes. Larvae are produced but most die before they hatch and the
rest survive only a short time as mosquitoes. The World Health
Organization estimates there are 50 million cases of dengue fever a
year, of which 25,000 are fatal, and about 2.5 billion people are at
risk, mostly in Africa and southeast Asia.
Angela Harris of the Cayman MRCU, said she was very encouraged by the
results of the trial, which was conducted and monitored during April to
October this year. Oxitec says it is in talks with officials in various
countries, including Malaysia, Brazil and Panama about conducting
further and larger trials. |
| Reuters
Nov 11, 2010 |
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| Army-funded technology detects bacteria in water |
To keep soldiers in the battlefield healthy, the US Army is exploring
new ways to detect harmful bacteria in water. Current techniques for
analysing water in the field can take as long as 24 hours to complete.
But now researchers are working on an alternative technology that uses
sound waves to accelerate the process.
The researchers have created a device that quickly gathers bacterial
spores from running water using acoustical radiation force. It
broadcasts waves of ultrasound into the liquid, exerting a pressure on
the bacteria that pushes it into a collection pocket. In previous work,
the researchers used this technique to successfully separate polystyrene
beads from water.
The device can draw in 15% of the bacterial cells from the water in a
single pass. When the flow is shut off, the bacteria settle and can then
be transferred to another apparatus for identification. Compared to
existing methods, this procedure is quick. Bacillus cereus, the species
of bacteria used in this experiment, is about a micron in diameter and
harmless. But its properties are very similar to many types of bacteria
that would be harmful in drinking water. |
| PhysOrg / American Institute of Physics
Nov 10, 2010 |
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| EU wants tighter online privacy |
The EU wants companies such as Google or Facebook to give people more
control over how their online habits are tracked, requirements that
could crimp internet firms' ability to target advertising.
Companies, privacy activists and the European Commission are likely to
wrestle over the specifics of the rules, which cut to the heart of
funding models for many firms, online news sites and blogs. It also
wants users to be able to modify and delete any information that has
been collected, giving them 'a right to be forgotten'.
The strategy paper will form the basis for an overhaul of the EU's
15-year-old laws on data protection scheduled for next year. It is open
for public consultation until January, and the commission aims to
propose legislation by mid-2011. Any new laws would have to be approved
by the European Parliament and national governments.
Tracking an individual's search history to target online advertising is
a key revenue source for companies such as Yahoo and Google. Other firms
use cookies - small files placed on a user's computer - or pop-up
windows to track the websites a user has visited in the past or the
books and clothing he has bought online. The more closely ads can be
linked to a user's interests, the more likely they are to be successful.
But privacy watchdogs have raised concerns over whether this information
can be linked to an individual's name or address, what it could be used
for, and how long it can be stored. |
| PhysOrg / AP
Nov 05, 2010 |
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| Divers could breathe deep with liquid-filled lungs |
While some researchers work on ways to keep divers under for longer,
inventor Arnold Lande, a retired heart and lung surgeon formerly based
at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, has designed a
liquid breathing system that he claims will allow people to dive to
great depths without the risk of decompression sickness, or the bends.
If a diver resurfaces too quickly, inert gases like Nitrogen and Helium
can bubble into body tissues, causing terrible joint pain, seizures and
paralysis. Breathing an oxygen-carrying liquid would dispense with the
need for inert gases, says Lande, and so eliminate the threat of the
bends. The idea to use liquid breathing for deep diving was first
investigated in the 1960s, however, the human body isn't up to the task
of heaving a liquid in and out fast enough to inhale sufficient oxygen
and exhale enough CO2, so the idea was dropped.
Lande has designed a system in which the diver breathes in an oxygen-
carrying liquid called perfluorocarbon, contained in a diving helmet. To
help their lungs push the liquid in and out, the diver would wear a
cuirass ventilation device fitted around their chest. These devices wrap
around the upper body and are attached to a pump that exerts or removes
pressure on the chest to help the lungs inhale and exhale.
Gaseous oxygen would be bubbled into the liquid in the helmet to keep it
topped up. The system gets rid of CO2 directly from the blood through an
artificial gill fitted to the suit, in the form of a gas-permeable
membrane. A catheter inserted into the femoral vein in the groin takes
the blood out of the body to be filtered through the membrane. For
divers, the CO2 would be absorbed by a material such as soda lime, and
the treated blood would re-enter the body. |
| New Scientist
Nov 10, 2010 |
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