November 22, 2006, 5:08 AM CT

Rensselaer Incubator Company Receives 2006 "Best of What's New" Award

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Incubator Program today announced that Celery LLC has been selected as one of the winners of the 2006 "Best of What's New" award by Popular Science. Each year, the editors of Popular Science review thousands of products in search of the top 100 tech innovations of the year, breakthrough products and technologies that represent a significant leap in their categories. Celery has developed a mail service device that allows users to send and receive e-mail without the use of a computer.

"Entrepreneurship is ingrained in the Rensselaer culture, and the founders of Celery have had an opportunity to nurture their technological venture as a means of commercializing discovery and innovation within an academic setting," said Michael Tentnowski, director of Rensselaer's Incubator Program. "It is very rewarding for them to receive this recognition from Popular Science as it demonstrates Rensselaer's extraordinary history of fostering discovery and innovation, moving ideas from the lab to the global marketplace. This award is the result of the company's combined vision, analytical capabilities, and entrepreneurial way of thinking to change the world for the better".

The winners were honored during an awards ceremony held in New York City on Nov. 6.........

Posted by: Kevin      Permalink         Source

November 22, 2006, 5:03 AM CT

How Many Cubs Does A Black Bear Have?

Litter size ranges from 1 to 4 young, averaging from 1.4 in Arkansas to 3.0 in Pennsylvania. First litters may be small, sometimes a single cub. Two or 3 cubs are typical thereafter. Five-cub litters are uncommon; extraordinary litters of 6 cubs have been reported in Manitoba and Pennsylvania. Average litter sizes in 2 Massachusetts study areas were 2.0 and 3.0. Two 5-cub litters have been reported in Massachusetts, once in the den and another in the field. Field observations are probably valid, as natural adoption of cubs is rare.

The sex ratio at birth is usually 1:1. However, the sex of cubs is related to the mother's weight and to litter size. The number of males is usually higher with heavier mothers, but lower as litter size increases. In one Minnesota study, 82% of single litters were male, while only 52% of 3-cub litters were males. One exceptional Massachusetts sow, 13 yrs old and 175 lbs., produced a litter of 5 male cubs.

During the denning period, sows may produce more than 50 lbs. of milk, metabolized from body fat. This milk is rich in fat and protein and nearly twice as high in kilocalories (per 100 ml) than either human or cow milk. Cubs may weigh up to 9 pounds by den emergence. Massachusetts cubs normally reach 13 to 20 lbs. by early July.

References: Alt 1980, Alt 1984b, Clark 1991, Elowe 1987, Hock and Larson 1966, Kolenosky and Strathearn 1987a, McDonald and Fuller 1998, Noyce and Garshelis 1994, Rowan 1947.........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink

November 22, 2006, 4:39 AM CT

NASA Nanotechnology Comes to Market

Finding affordable ways to make technology available to everyone is a common challenge. Now, NASA has done that with the process that creates "nanotubes."

A nanotube is a tiny, hollow, long, thin and strong tube with an outside diameter of a nanometer that is formed from atoms such as carbon. A hair from a person's head is around 50,000 nanometers wide. If you split a hair into 50,000 strands, that would be the width of a nanometer.

Nanotubes are really important in technology, because when they are made a certain way, a nanotube can conduct (allow movement of) electricity as well as copper does. When they are made a slightly different way, nanotubes are electrical semiconductors, which mean they can be switched between insulating from electricity to conducting electricity. Semiconductors make it possible to miniaturize electronic components. Nanotubes can be either semiconductors or conductors depending on how they are made.

Nanotubes are also stronger than steel, so long filaments can be used to create super-tough lightweight materials. To understand how strong a nanotube is, think of a hair holding up a barbell.

Eventhough the carbon nanotubes were discovered 15 years ago, their use has been limited due to the complex, dangerous, and expensive methods for their production.........

Posted by: Kevin      Permalink         Source

November 22, 2006, 4:33 AM CT

First Live HDTV Broadcast From Space

Images from the world's first high definition television (HDTV) broadcast from space flashed across the screen on Nov 15th in Times Square. On Nov. 15, 2006, NASA made history with the first live HDTV broadcasts from space, in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Discovery HD Theater and Japanese broadcast network NHK.

The two HDTV broadcasts featured Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria on the International Space Station, with Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter serving as camera operator aboard the 220-mile-high laboratory.

"HDTV provides up to six times the resolution of regular analog video," said Rodney Grubbs, NASA principal investigator. "On prior missions, we've flown HDTV cameras but had to wait until after the mission to retrieve the tapes, watch the video and share it with the science and engineering community, the media and the public. For the first time ever, this test lets us stream live HDTV from space so the public can experience what its like to be there".

Known as the Space Video Gateway, the system transmits high bandwidth digital television signals to the ground that are not only spectacular, but also valuable to scientists, engineers and managers.

NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, along with both NHK and Discovery, are cooperating in this effort though a Space Act Agreement originally signed in 2002.........

Posted by: Brooke      Permalink         Source

November 21, 2006, 8:53 PM CT

Historic Volcanic Eruption Shrunk the Mighty Nile

Volcanic eruptions in high latitudes can greatly alter climate and distant river flows, including the Nile, as per a recent study funded in part by NASA.

Scientists observed that Iceland's Laki volcanic event, a series of about ten eruptions from June 1783 through February 1784, significantly changed atmospheric circulations across much of the Northern Hemisphere. This created unusual temperature and precipitation patterns that peaked in the summer of 1783, including far below normal rainfall over much of the Nile River watershed and record low river levels.

The study provides new evidence that large volcanic eruptions north of the equator often have far different impacts on climate than those in the tropics. "While considerable research has shown that eruptions in the tropics influence climate in the Northern Hemisphere winter, this study indicates that eruptions in high-latitudes produce changes in atmospheric circulation in the Northern Hemisphere summer," said lead author Luke Oman, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. Using a sophisticated computer model developed by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, the scientists linked the Laki eruptions to a cascade of effects that rippled across much of the Northern Hemisphere, altering surface temperatures that ultimately resulted in much below normal rainfall over the Sahel of Africa and record low water levels on the Nile River for up to a year. The Sahel is a stretch of land from the Atlantic Ocean to the "Horn of Africa" that includes the Sahara Desert and savanna areas with sparse vegetation.........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink         Source

November 21, 2006, 8:39 PM CT

Ultra-Intense Laser Blast Creates True 'Black Metal'

"Black gold" is not just an expression anymore. Researchers at the University of Rochester have created a way to change the properties of almost any metal to render it, literally, black.

The process, using an incredibly intense burst of laser light, holds the promise of making everything from fuel cells to a space telescope's detectors more efficient-not to mention turning your car into the blackest black around.

"We've been surprised by the number of possible applications for this," says Chunlei Guo, assistant professor of optics at the University of Rochester. "We wanted to see what would happen to a metal's properties under different laser conditions and we stumbled on this way to completely alter the reflective properties of metals".

The key to creating black metal is an ultra-brief, ultra-intense beam of light called a femtosecond laser pulse. The laser burst lasts only a few quadrillionths of a second. To get a grasp of that kind of speed-a femtosecond is to a second what a second is to about 32 million years.

During its brief burst, Guo's laser unleashes as much power as the entire grid of North America onto a spot the size of a needle point. That intense blast forces the surface of the metal to form and nanostructures-pits, globules, and strands that both dramatically increase the area of the surface and capture radiation. Some larger structures also form in subsequent blasts.........

Posted by: Sarah      Permalink         Source

November 21, 2006, 8:32 PM CT

The Smell Of Money

It's not hard to recall the pungent scent of a handful of pocket change. Similar smells emanate from a sweat-covered dumbbell or the water emerging from an old metal pipe. Yet no one has been able to identify the exact chemical cause of these familiar odors.

Now, scientists supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) MUSES award and the UFZ Environmental Research Center in Gera number of have shown that these odor molecules come not from the penny or the pipes, but from metal-free chemicals erupting into the air when organic substances like sweat interact with the metallic objects.

The researchers--Andrea Dietrich, Dietmar Glindemann, Hans-Joachim Staerk and Peter Kuschk, all from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg--published their findings in the Oct. 20, 2006, Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

"We are the first to demonstrate that when humans describe the 'metallic' odor of iron metal, there are no iron atoms in the odors," said Dietrich. "The odors humans perceive as metallic are really a body odor produced by metals reacting with skin".

Because the makeup of byproduct molecules depends on which organic substances are reacting, the scientists believe the findings could help identify problem odors in potable water or aid doctors searching for disease markers in sweat or other body fluids.........

Posted by: Sarah      Permalink         Source

November 19, 2006, 9:26 PM CT

Insights Into Periodic Table

The periodic table of chemical elements hangs in front of chemistry classrooms and in science laboratories worldwide. Yet much was unknown about its history and evolution until now.

"The moment I discovered there was this elegant, orderly chart that encompassed chemistry, I fell in love with the periodic table," said Eric Scerri, a UCLA chemist and author of the recently published "The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance" (Oxford University Press). "It captured my imagination, and it still does. It is completely unique in science. Chemistry is the only field with one simple chart that embodies the essence of the field. This wonderful tool serves to organize the whole of chemistry".

Who discovered the periodic table of elements --the fundamental materials of which all matter is composed? There is no simple answer. The story begins with the ancient Greek philosophers. Aristotle, among others, identified four elements: earth, water, fire and air. Some elements -- such as iron, copper, gold and other metals -- have been known since antiquity.

Today, the periodic table has 116 elements, the most recent of which was added just last month -- an element that for now is known as element 118 for the number of protons in its nucleus, more than in any other element. (Two other elements are predicted from the existence of spaces in the periodic table, but have still not been synthesized.).........

Posted by: Sarah      Permalink         Source

November 19, 2006, 9:13 PM CT

A Quantum Computer Step

A University of Utah physicist took a step toward developing a superfast computer based on the weird reality of quantum physics by showing it is feasible to read data stored in the form of the magnetic "spins" of phosphorus atoms.

"Our work represents a breakthrough in the search for a nanoscopic [atomic scale] mechanism that could be used for a data readout device," says Christoph Boehme, assistant professor of physics at the University of Utah. "We have demonstrated experimentally that the nuclear spin orientation of phosphorus atoms embedded in silicon can be measured by very subtle electric currents passing through the phosphorus atoms".

The study by Boehme and colleagues in Germany would be published in the recent issue of the journal Nature Physics and released online Sunday, Nov. 19.

"We have resolved a major obstacle for building a particular kind of quantum computer, the phosphorus-and-silicon quantum computer," says Boehme. "For this concept, data readout is the biggest issue, and we have shown a new way to read data".

Boehme, who joined the University of Utah faculty earlier this year, conducted the study with Klaus Lips a former colleague at the Hahn-Meitner Institute in Berlin and with graduate students Andre Stegner and Hans Huebl and physicists Martin Stutzmann and Martin S. Brandt of the Technical University of Munich.........

Posted by: Kevin      Permalink         Source

November 19, 2006, 9:03 PM CT

Which Wasps Are Bad Losers

Wasps have more than just a sting in their tail as per new research published this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, they also carry the insect version of pepper spray in their heads, which they can release when fighting other wasps. The research not only gives us a fascinating insight into insect behaviour but could also help us to use wasps to kill crop destroying pests.

For the first time scientists, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), have recorded 'chemical exchanges' undetectable by the human nose which take place between females of a species of bethylid wasp - Goniozus legneri, when they fight over larvae on which they lay their eggs. Not only have they discovered that chemical exchanges take place, but also that it is always the losing wasp that releases the potent gas.

While the research was primarily aimed at improving the understanding of animal behaviour, lead researcher Dr Ian Hardy, from the University of Nottingham, explains that there is great potential for applied spin-offs: "Bethylid wasps kill the larvae of a number of insects that are pests of crops, such as almonds, coffee and coconut, ruining harvests and costing industry thousands of pounds. These wasps could be used as a cheap and effective biological control to kill the larvae, avoiding the use of expensive and polluting pesticides. But for successful biological control, we need a good knowledge of wasp behaviour, including how wasps from the same and different species interact. Understanding these patterns can inform us of the best combinations of species to release against a given crop pest".........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink         Source