October 8, 2007, 8:53 AM CT

'Green' leather is in this season

Fashionistas after the latest in leather bags could soon have a greener selection to choose from. Researchers in India have modified the tanning process making it far more eco-friendly, reports Anne Pichon in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI.

Tanning is a complex chemical process used to transform perishable raw hides and skins into durable leather. Unfortunately, as a result, high levels of pollution are released into the water. Raghava Rao and his team at the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) in Adyar have modified the process to make it into an eco-friendly, cost-efficient method.

The scientists observed that simply reversing the order of the tanning and post-tanning steps can drastically improve the process. By also promoting non-chemical-based pre-tanning methods, they have reduced the amount chemicals released by 82% and made an energy saving of nearly 40% (Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, doi: 10.1002/jctb.1727).

As per Rao, The significance is tremendous in the context of environmental challenges being faced by the leather industry. Most importantly, no loss of the leather quality was observed when compared with conventional tanning methods......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

October 4, 2007, 9:48 PM CT

The Structure Of Microcrystals

Microcrystals take the form of tiny grains, so small that they resemble a powder. How can we determine their structure? Until today, the technique of X-ray diffraction, normally used to study crystals, was not an appropriate solution. For the first time, scientists from the ESRF and the CNRS have used X-ray diffraction to determine the structure of microcrystal grains of only one cubic micrometre in size. They gained a factor of a thousand on the size of the analysable samples thanks to new equipment created at the ESRF. This breakthrough opens up new possibilities of research to chemists, physicists and biologists.

The properties of a crystal are determined by the arrangement of its atom in space, its crystalline structure. Researchers use X-ray or neutron diffraction to study crystalline structure when the size of the crystal is more than 10 cubic micrometres. Below this limit, the solid material is considered a powder. Researchers can apply powder diffraction to analyse such a material but this technique is not easy to exploit. Moreover, powder diffraction can only be used for materials with grain sizes of less than three millionths of a cubic micrometre. Due to these limitations, a determination of the structure of new synthetic solids in powder form is not always possible because the crystals are too small......... Posted by: Sarah      Read more         Source

October 4, 2007, 9:32 PM CT

What Makes Quantum Dots Blink

In order to learn more about the origins of quantum dot blinking, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago and the California Institute of Technology have developed a method to characterize it on faster time scales than have previously been accessed.

Nanocrystals of semiconductor material, also known as quantum dots, are being intensively investigated for applications such as light-emitting diodes, solid-state lighting, lasers, and solar cells. They are also already being applied as fluorescent labels for biological imaging, providing several advantages over the molecular dyes typically used, including a wider range of emitted colors and much greater stability.

Quantum dots have great promise as light-emitting materials, because the wavelength, or color, of light that the quantum dots give off can be very widely tuned simply by changing the size of the nanoparticles. If a single dot is observed under a microscope, it can be seen to randomly switch between bright and dark states. This flickering, or blinking, behavior has been widely studied, and it has been observed that a single dot can blink off for times that can vary between microseconds and several minutes. The causes of the blinking, though, remain the subject of intense study......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

October 4, 2007, 4:57 AM CT

Earthquake Experts Turn to History for Guidance

The best seismologists in the world don't know when the next big earthquake will hit. But a Tel Aviv University geologist suggests that earthquake patterns recorded in historical documents of Middle Eastern countries indicate that the region's next significant quake is long overdue.

A major quake of magnitude seven on the Richter scale in the politically-fragile region of the Middle East could have dire consequences for precious holy sites and even world peace, says Tel Aviv University geologist Dr. Shmulik Marco. In light of this imminent danger, Marco, from the school's Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, has taken an historical approach to earthquake forecasting by using ancient records from the Vatican and other religious sources in his assessment. The past holds the key to the future, he says.

"All of us in the region should be worried," explains Marco, who dedicates his career to piecing together ancient clues.

Based on the translations of hundreds of documents -- some of the originals of which he assumes reside in Vatican vaults -- Marco has helped determine that a series of devastating earthquakes have hit the Holy Land over the last two thousand years. The major ones were recorded along the Jordan Valley in the years 31 B.C.E., 363 C.E., 749 C.E., and 1033 C.E. "So roughly," warns Marco, "we are talking about an interval of every 400 years. If we follow the patterns of nature, a major quake should be expected any time because almost a whole millennium has passed since the last strong earthquake of 1033"......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

October 4, 2007, 4:48 AM CT

Majority of Americans want local action on global warming

Nearly three-quarters of Americans are willing to pay more in taxes and other expenses to support local government-led initiatives designed to reduce global warming, as per a first-of-its kind survey conducted by GfK Public Affairs and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

City and local leaders are critical players in the effort to reduce global warming, and its clear that their constituents want action, said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of Yale Project on Climate Change, one of the sponsors of the groundbreaking survey measuring public opinion of local government-led green initiatives. The public is on board and willing to help foot the bill. All thats left to do now is act.

As per the survey, 74 percent of Americans would support local regulations requiring all newly constructed homes to be more energy efficient, even if it would increase the initial cost of a new home by roughly $7,500.

Seventy-two percent said they would support local subsidies encouraging homeowners to install electricity-generating solar panels on existing homes, even if it would cost households an extra $5 per month in increased property taxes, because of the potential savings in energy and money on utility bills.

The survey also observed that:......... Posted by: Tyler      Read more         Source

October 2, 2007, 10:23 PM CT

Light on mysterious 'dark matter'

Weve all been taught that our bodies, the Earth, and in fact all matter in the universe is composed of tiny building blocks called atoms. Now imagine if this werent the case. This mind-bending concept is at the core of the scientific research that one Florida State University professor -- and hundreds of his colleagues all over the world -- are pursuing.

Recent scientific breakthroughs have shown that most of the matter in the universe -- about four-fifths -- is not made up of atoms, but of something else, called dark matter, said Howard Baer, FSUs J.D. Kimel Professor of Physics. The evidence for dark matter is now overwhelming, and the mandatory amount of dark matter is becoming precisely known.

Baer explained that dark matter is believed to exist in the form of tiny particles that do not interact with light. Because they dont emit or reflect electromagnetic radiation the way atomic, or baryonic, matter does, these dark matter particles havent been directly observed. However, researchers have long theorized their existence based on their gravitational effects on visible matter throughout the universe.

For example, the gravitational effect of dark matter makes galaxies spin faster than one would otherwise expect, Baer said. Also, dark matters gravitational field distorts the light of objects behind it -- creating the so-called lensing effect. By measuring these sorts of phenomena, we can tell that the universe is full of some sort of stuff that we just cant see......... Posted by: Brooke      Read more         Source

October 2, 2007, 9:46 PM CT

Ancients engineered sophisticated machines

Move over, Archimedes. A researcher at Harvard University is finding that ancient Greek craftsmen were able to engineer sophisticated machines without necessarily understanding the mathematical theory behind their construction.

Recent analysis of technical treatises and literary sources dating back to the fifth century B.C. reveals that technology flourished among practitioners with limited theoretical knowledge.

Craftsmen had their own kind of knowledge that didnt have to be based on theory, explains Mark Schiefsky, professor of the classics in Harvards Faculty of Arts and Sciences. They didnt all go to Platos Academy to learn geometry, and yet they were able to construct precisely calibrated devices.

The balance, used to measure weight throughout the ancient world, best illustrates Schiefskys findings on the distinction between theoretical and practitioners knowledge. Working with a group led by Jrgen Renn, Director of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Schiefsky has observed that the steelyarda balance with unequal armswas in use as early as the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., before Archimedes and other thinkers of the Hellenistic era gave a mathematical demonstration of its theoretical foundations.

People assume that Archimedes was the first to use the steelyard because they suppose you cant create one without knowing the law of the lever. In fact, you canand people did. Craftsmen had their own set of rules for making the scale and calibrating the device, says Schiefsky......... Posted by: William      Read more         Source

October 2, 2007, 8:43 PM CT

Nanotechnology: not just for geeks

Say nanotechnology, and geeks imagine iPhones, laptops and flash drives. But more than 60 percent of the 580 products in a newly updated inventory of nanotechnology consumer products are such un-geeky items as tennis racquets, clothing, and health products.

Maintained by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at www.nanotechproject.org/consumerproducts, the updated inventory includes Head NanoTitanium Tennis Racquets, Eddie Bauer Water Shorts with Nano-Dry technology, Nano-In Foot Deodorant Powder/Spray, and Burts Bees sunscreen with natural Titanium Dioxide mineralmicronized into a nano sized particle.

Since the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies launched the worlds first online inventory of manufacturer-identified nanotech goods in March 2006, the number of items has increased 175 percentfrom 220 to 580 products. There are 356 products in the health and fitness categorythe inventorys largest categoryand 66 products in the food and beverage category. One of the largest subcategories is cosmetics with 89 products. All are available in shopping malls or over the Internet. The list includes merchandise from such well-known brands as Samsung, Chanel, Black & Decker, Wilson, L.L. Bean, Lancome and LOreal.

The nanomaterial of choice appears to be silverwhich manufacturers claim is in 139 products or nearly 25 percent of inventoryfar outstripping carbon, gold, or silica......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

October 1, 2007, 10:26 PM CT

Finger Prints at Warp Speed

Scientists at the University of Warwick have devised a means of identifying partial, distorted, scratched, smudged, or otherwise warped fingerprints in just a few seconds.

Prior techniques have tried to identify a few key features on a finger print and laboriously match them against a database of templates. The University of Warwick scientists consider the entire detailed pattern of each print and transform the topological pattern into a standard co-ordinate system. This allows the scientists to "unwarp" any finger print that has been distorted by smudging, uneven pressure, or other distortion and create a clear digital representation of the fingerprint that can then be mapped on to an "image space" of all other finger prints held on a database.

This unwarping is so effective that it also for the first time allows comparison of the position of individual sweat pores on finger print. This has not previously been possible as the hundreds of pores on an individual finger are so densely packed that the slightest distortion prevented analysts from using them to differentiate finger prints.

The "unwarping" of distorted, damaged or partial prints is not the only benefit of the new technology. The system created by the Warwick scientists is also able to give almost instantaneous results. Instead of laboriously comparing a print against each entry in a database any new print scanned by the system is unwarped and over laid onto a virtual "image space" that includes all the fingerprints available to the database. It does not matter whether it's a thousand or a million fingerprints in the database the result comes back in seconds......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

October 1, 2007, 10:21 PM CT

The dark matter of the universe has a long lifetime

New research from the Niels Bohr Institute presents new information that adds another piece of knowledge to the jigsaw puzzle of the dark mystery of the universe dark matter. The research has just been reported in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters.

The universe consists not just of visible celestial bodies, stars, planets and galaxies. It also has a mystical fellow player dark matter. The astronomers can measure that the dark matter exists in big quantities but no one knows what it is, nobody has seen it. It does not emit light and it does not reflect light. It is invisible. It is a mystery and the scientists have a number of theories.

The dark matter has caused the scientists headaches for decades since it was detected in the 1970s, and there is intense research into the phenomena. It is invisible but it has got mass, and thus it has got gravitation that can be measured. By analysing the galaxies it is possible to weigh them, and it turns out that by far the greatest matter of the collective mass of the galaxy is dark matter.

Just like stars get together in galaxies, the galaxies get together in clusters of galaxies of up to several thousand galaxies. The astrophysicist Signe Riemer-Srensen, PhD student at the Niels Bohr Institute, has analysed two clusters of galaxies that collide......... Posted by: Brooke      Read more         Source