An ultra-powerful laser can turn regular incandescent light bulbs into power-sippers, say optics researchers at the University of Rochester. The process could make a light as bright as a 100-watt bulb consume less electricity than a 60-watt bulb while remaining far cheaper and radiating a more pleasant light than a fluorescent bulb can. The laser process creates a unique array of nano- and micro-scale structures on the surface of a regular tungsten filament—the tiny wire inside a light bulb—and theses structures make the tungsten become far more effective at radiating light... [more]
Source : University of Rochester
Brighter Light Bulbs Using Less Power Super Efficient Regular Light Bulbs Made With Ultra Fast Laser
How To Grow Plastic On Trees, Cellulose Converted On HMF
Some researchers hope to turn plants into a renewable, nonpolluting replacement for crude oil. To achieve this, scientists have to learn how to convert plant biomass into a building block for plastics and fuels cheaply and efficiently. In new research, chemists have successfully converted cellulose -- the most common plant carbohydrate -- directly into the building block called HMF in one step... [more]
Source : Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
If Antarctic sheet disintegrates melting ice could cause gravity shift, northern hemisphere sea levels 'will rise
The melting of one of the world's largest ice sheets would alter the Earth's field of gravity and even its rotation in space so much that it would cause sea levels along some coasts to rise faster than the global average, scientists said yesterday. The rise in sea levels would be highest on the west and east coasts of North America where increases of 25 per cent more than the global average would cause catastrophic flooding in cities such as New York, Washington DC and San Francisco... [more] & [more]
Source : University of Colorado at Boulder & Independent
Desert rhubarb 'rheum palaestinum' the only known plant in the world able to self-irrigate
The plant, a type of rhubarb, has specially designed leaves that channel rain water to its roots. The adaptation allows the rhubarb to flourish in extreme arid conditions by collecting up to 16 times more water than other plants in the region, Simcha Lev-Yadun, Gadi Katzir and Gidi Ne'eman of the University of Haifa, Israel first noticed the desert rhubarb when studying plants in the country's mountainous desert... [more] & [more]
Source : University of Haifa & BBC
Nanofiber scaffolds seeded with patient-derived stem cells to repair joints, cartilage crafts for damaged knees
Scientists are experimenting with a combination of stem cells and novel scaffold materials designed to mimic real tissue, in hopes of permanently vanquishing the pain that accompanies this damage and perhaps preventing the onset of arthritis. The scaffolds are seeded with mesenchymal stem cells--adult stem cells derived from bone marrow, fatty tissue, and other sources, and which can be differentiated into muscle, bone, fat, and cartilage. The advantage is that you don't have to damage other tissue to get the cells... [more]
Source : Technology Review
Star Trek Warp Speed, Two Physicist Could Make it Happen With Method Based on the Alcubierre Drive to Travel Faster Than Light
By manipulating the space-time dimensions around the spaceship with a massive amount of energy, it would create a "bubble" that could push the ship faster than the speed of light. To create this bubble, the Baylor physicists believe manipulating the 11-dimension would create dark energy. Cleaver said positive dark energy is responsible for speeding up the universe as time moves on, just like it did after the Big Bang, when the universe expanded faster than the speed of light. The method is based on the Alcubierre drive, which proposes expanding the fabric of space behind a ship into a bubble and shrinking space-time in front of the ship. The ship would not actually move, rather the ship would sit in between the expanding and shrinking space-time dimensions. Since space would move around the ship, the theory does not violate Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which states that it would take an infinite amount of energy to accelerate an object faster than the speed of light... [more]
Source : Baylor University
Terminal High Altitude Area Defence THAAD system found on secondhand computer sold on eBay
Highly sensitive details of a key US missile defence system have been found on the hard drive of a computer that was disposed of in California. The computer, turned over to the FBI, contained documents from Lockheed Martin that included detailed test launch procedures, photos and personal data of employees, including their social security numbers and blueprints of facilities... [more] & [more]
Source : Guardian & Fox News
Oldest Surface on Earth 'desert pavement' in Israel's Negev Desert 1.8 million years old discovered
A new study of ancient "desert pavement" in Israel's Negev Desert finds a vast region that's been sitting there exposed, pretty much as-is, for about 1.8 million years, according to Ari Matmon and colleagues at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. t is the oldest known vast expanse of surface area. In fact it is more than four times older than the confirmed next oldest desert pavement, in Nevada... [more]
Source : Live Science
Anaconda the giant rubber 'sea snakes' to generate electricity at low cost from tidal power
Each 'anaconda', which could be more than 200 yards long and made almost entirely of a rubber tube, may be capable of producing 1MW (megawatt) of power. Groups of 50 anacondas could each generate enough electricity to power 50,000 homes at an 'excitingly low' cost, the developers Checkmate Group said... [more]
Source : Daily Mail
Morning sickness in women may lead to smarter baby high IQ child
For many expectant mothers, that queasy feeling is one of the hardest parts of pregnancy. But new research reveals that mom’s nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP), commonly known as morning sickness, may actually result in a smarter baby. Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children’s have found that morning sickness, which impacts up to 80 per cent of pregnancies, enhances children’s long-term neurodevelopment... [more]
Source : Hospital for Sick Children
Alzheimer's Cure, scientists reverse' Alzheimer's with HDAC inhibitors
The drugs target and boost the function of a newly pinpointed gene involved in the brain's memory formation. The Alzheimer's gene the drugs act upon, histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2), regulates the expression of a plethora of genes implicated in plasticity - the brain's ability to change in response to experience - and memory formation... [more] & [more] & [more]
Source : BBC & Massachusetts institute of technology & US News & World Report
Prox Dynamics Microcopter PD-100 Black Hornet 'nanocopter' developed for spies and soldiers
Weighing in at just 0.5g, the tiny servos mean the PD-100 is even smaller than a toy battery helicopter. Powered by an electric motor, the microcopter has 4in rotor blades, carries a tiny digital camera and flies at speeds of up to 20mph.
'The helicopter can be carried in a pocket and launched within seconds to give immediate situational awareness,' said Petter Muren, boss of manufacturers Prox Dynamics... [more] & [more]
Source : Daily Mail & The Register
L-theanine the substance from tea enhance concentration without energizing in drinks and supplements
Sometimes energy isn't what you need. Concentration and attention can start to fade in the face of those midafternoon doldrums and a host of distractions. Something to perk up the mind and enhance focus would do the trick. Some beverage manufacturers say they have just the solution. They're touting a new kind of drink that emphasizes focus over ferocity. The key substance is the amino acid L-theanine, which preliminary research suggests might calm the brain to enhance concentration and mental stamina... [more]
Source : Los Angeles Times
With 500mg of testosterone undecanoate in tea seed oil Chinese birth control for men in one injection
Researchers at the National Research for Family Planning in Beijing injected 1,000 healthy, fertile male patients with a testosterone-based jab over a two-year period and found only 1 per cent went on to father a child. Dr Yi-Qun Gu, one of the researchers involved in the testing, said: "For couples who cannot or prefer not to use only female-oriented contraception, options have been limited to vasectomy, condom and withdrawal. Our study shows a male hormonal contraceptive regimen may be a potential, novel and workable alternative... [more] & [more] & [more]
Source : Independent & ABC News & Guardian
Van Gogh's ear was cut off by Gauguin during an argument
A new study claims Vincent Van Gogh may have made up the story to protect painter Paul Gauguin who actually lopped it off with a sword during an argument.
Art historians say the true version of events never surfaced as the two men both kept a pact of silence... [more] & [more]
Source : Telegraph & Guardian
X-43A The experimental jet flying faster than the speed of sound
When a jet is flying faster than the speed of sound, one small mistake can tear it apart. And when the jet is so experimental that it must fly unmanned, only a computer control system can pilot it. the technology is still under development in military and commercial sectors. Scramjets could deliver missiles to mobile targets; they could also carry people halfway around the world in less than an hour... [more]
Source : Ohio State University
Self-cleaning materials, water-striding robots hydrophobic waxy made super hydrophobic with microscopic hair-like structures
Self-cleaning walls, counter tops, fabrics, even micro-robots that can walk on water -- all those things and more could be closer to reality thanks to research completed by scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and at Japan's RIKEN institute. In nature, organisms like caterpillars, water striders and the lotus achieve super hydrophobia through a two-level structure -- a hydrophobic waxy surface made super hydrophobic by the addition microscopic hair-like structures that may be covered by even smaller hairs, greatly increasing the surface area of the organism and making it impossible for water droplets to stick... [more]
Source : University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Relationship between smiling and divorce, facial expression predict divorce
A grim expression in a yearbook photo or family snapshot could mean more than just a passing bad mood. It could also signal that the subject is more likely to get divorced than someone with a big smile for the camera. This research is a dramatic example of how “thin slices” of information can predict important aspects of people’s personalities. In past studies, researchers have shown that with very limited information—less than half a minute of interaction, the viewing of a video clip or just a look at a photograph—people can make accurate predictions about others’ sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, teaching ability and personality. Matthew Hertenstein and his colleagues... [more]
Source : The Economist
Invisibility Cloak 'Carpet Cloak' From Nanostructured Silicon Blurs Line Between Magic and Science
A team led by Xiang Zhang, a principal investigator with Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division and director of UC Berkeley’s Nano-scale Science and Engineering Center, has created a “carpet cloak” from nanostructured silicon that conceals the presence of objects placed under it from optical detection. While the carpet itself can still be seen, the bulge of the object underneath it disappears from view. Shining a beam of light on the bulge shows a reflection identical to that of a beam reflected from a flat surface, meaning the object itself has essentially been rendered invisible... [more]
Source : Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Swine Flu Ancestor H3N2 Born on U.S. Factory Farms in 1998
Scientists have traced the genetic lineage of the new H1N1 swine flu to a strain that emerged in 1998 in U.S. factory farms, where it spread and mutated at an alarming rate. Experts warned then that a pocket of the virus would someday evolve to infect humans, perhaps setting off a global pandemic... [more] & [more]
Source : Wired & McClatchy
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