http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/technology-blog.html Technology blog from networlddirectory, the place for information. Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:31:06 GMT en-us http://www.networlddirectory.com/images/blogs/technology-blog.jpg http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/technology-blog.html 123 87 http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/electricity-supply-sustainable-sources.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2008/electricity-supply-sustainable-sources.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:31:06 GMT Ambitious governments' environmental objectives for the electricity sector are only possible at a high price. This is one of the conclusions of researcher ir. Hans Rdel, who is to receive his PhD at TU Delft on Thursday 9 October. He recommends a combination of different modern generation technologies, CO2 capture and storage, the use of biomass and the recycling of waste heat........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/sounds-travel-farther-underwater.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/sounds-travel-farther-underwater.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:31:06 GMT It is common knowledge that the world's oceans and atmosphere are warming as humans release more and more carbon dioxide into the Earth's atmosphere. However, fewer people realize that the chemistry of the oceans is also changing-seawater is becoming more acidic as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves in the oceans. As per a paper would be published this week by marine chemists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, these changes in ocean temperature and chemistry will have an unexpected side effect-sounds will travel farther underwater........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/mit-solves-100-year-old-engineering-problem.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/mit-solves-100-year-old-engineering-problem.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:31:06 GMT As a car accelerates up and down a hill then slows to follow a hairpin turn, the airflow around it cannot keep up and detaches from the vehicle. This aerodynamic separation creates additional drag that slows the car and forces the engine to work harder. The same phenomenon affects airplanes, boats, submarines, and even your golf ball........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/from-sugar-to-gasoline.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/from-sugar-to-gasoline.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:31:06 GMT Following independent paths of investigation, two research teams are announcing this month that they have successfully converted sugar-potentially derived from agricultural waste and non-food plants-into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and a range of other valuable chemicals. Chemical engineer Randy Cortright and colleagues at Virent Energy Systems of Madison, Wisc., a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research awardee, and scientists led by NSF-supported chemical engineer James Dumesic of the University of Wisconsin at Madison are now announcing that sugars and carbohydrates can be processed like petroleum into the full suite of products that drive the fuel, pharmaceutical and chemical industries........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/slicing-solar-power-costs.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/slicing-solar-power-costs.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:31:06 GMT University of Utah engineers devised a new way to slice thin wafers of the chemical element germanium for use in the most efficient type of solar power cells. They say the new method should lower the cost of such cells by reducing the waste and breakage of the brittle semiconductor. The expensive solar cells now are used mainly on spacecraft, but with the improved wafer-slicing method, "the idea is to make germanium-based, high-efficiency solar cells for uses where cost now is a factor," especially for solar power on Earth, says Eberhard "Ebbe" Bamberg, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. "You want to do it on your roof"........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/first-beam-for-large-hadron-collider.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/first-beam-for-large-hadron-collider.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:31:06 GMT An international collaboration of researchers today sent the first beam of protons zooming at nearly the speed of light around the 17-mile-long underground circular path of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most powerful particle accelerator, located at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/scientists-grow-nanonets.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2008/scientists-grow-nanonets.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:31:06 GMT Using two abundant and relatively inexpensive elements, Boston College chemists have produced nanonets, a flexible webbing of nano-scale wires that multiplies surface area critical to improving the performance of the wires in electronics and energy applications. Scientists grew wires from titanium and silicon into a two-dimensional network of branches that resemble flat, rectangular netting, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Professor Dunwei Wang and his team report in the international edition of the German Chemical Society journal Angewandte Chemie....... ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/samsung-messager-for-texting-freaks.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/samsung-messager-for-texting-freaks.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:31:06 GMT The Samsung Messager is a perfect messaging device for all the testing freaks out there. It comes with a full QWERTY Keyboard, 2.1 inch display (176 x 220 pixels), 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Advanced Voice Recognition, Speakerphone, microSD memory slot, MP3 player, IM and Email. It also comes with some Pre Installed Applications/Games including Rabble Social Networking, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and Street Fighter II Champion ......... ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/creating-unconventional-metals.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/creating-unconventional-metals.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT The semiconductor silicon and the ferromagnet iron are the basis for much of mankind's technology, used in everything from computers to electric motors. In this week's issue of the journal Nature (August 21st) an international group of scientists, including academic and industrial scientists from the UK, USA and Lesotho, report that they have combined these elements with a small amount of another common metal, manganese, to create a new material which is neither a magnet nor an ordinary semiconductor. The paper goes on to show how a small magnetic field can be used to switch ordinary semiconducting behaviour (such as that seen in the electronic-grade silicon which is used to make transistors) back on........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/controlling-the-behavior-of-quantum-dots.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/8-2008/controlling-the-behavior-of-quantum-dots.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT Scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a collaborative center of the University of Maryland and NIST, have reported a new way to fine-tune the light coming from quantum dots by manipulating them with pairs of lasers. Their technique, published in Physical Review Letters,* could significantly improve quantum dots as a source of pairs of entangled photons, a property with important applications in quantum information technologies. The accomplishment could accelerate development of powerful advanced cryptography applications, projected to be a key 21st-century technology........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/nanosculpture-could-enable-new-types-of-heat-pumps.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/nanosculpture-could-enable-new-types-of-heat-pumps.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT A new technique for growing single-crystal nanorods and controlling their shape using biomolecules could enable the development of smaller, more powerful heat pumps and devices that harvest electricity from heat. Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered how to direct the growth of nanorods made up of two single crystals using a biomolecular surfactant. The scientists were also able to create "branched" structures by carefully controlling the temperature, time, and amount of surfactant used during synthesis........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/arctic-ice-research-is-childs-play.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/arctic-ice-research-is-childs-play.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT Several snowmobiles navigated speedily over arctic ice and snow in Alaska's outback in late June. This scene might seem ordinary except that the recently unveiled snowmobiles are unmanned, autonomous, toy-size robots called SnoMotes the first prototype network of their kind envisioned to rove treacherous areas of the Arctic and Antarctic capturing more accurate measurements that will help researchers better understand what is causing the well-documented melting of ice in those regions........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/physicists-tweak-quantum-force.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/physicists-tweak-quantum-force.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT Cymbals don't clash of their own accord - in our world, anyway. But the quantum world is bizarrely different. Two metal plates, placed almost infinitesimally close together, spontaneously attract each other. What seems like magic is known as the Casimir force, and it has been well-documented in experiments. The cause goes to the heart of quantum physics: Seemingly empty space is not actually empty but contains virtual particles linked to fluctuating electromagnetic fields. These particles push the plates from both the inside and the outside. However, only virtual particles of shorter wavelengths - in the quantum world, particles exist simultaneously as waves - can fit into the space between the plates, so that the outward pressure is slightly smaller than the inward pressure. The result is the plates are forced together........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/a-colorful-approach-to-solar-energy.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/a-colorful-approach-to-solar-energy.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT Revisiting a once-abandoned technique, engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have successfully created a sophisticated, yet affordable, method to turn ordinary glass into a high-tech solar concentrator. The technology, which uses dye-coated glass to collect and channel photons otherwise lost from a solar panel's surface, could eventually enable an office building to draw energy from its tinted windows as well as its roof........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/controlling-the-size-of-nanoclusters.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2008/controlling-the-size-of-nanoclusters.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have developed a new instrument that allows them to control the size of nanoclusters - groups of 10 to 100 atoms - with atomic precision. They created a model nanocatalyst of molybdenum sulfide, the first step in developing the next generation of materials to be used in hydrodesulfurization, a process that removes sulfur from natural gas and petroleum products to reduce pollution........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/new-nano-technique-boiling-efficiency.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/new-nano-technique-boiling-efficiency.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT Whoever penned the old adage "a watched pot never boils" surely never tried to heat up water in a pot lined with copper nanorods. A new study from scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shows that by adding an invisible layer of the nanomaterials to the bottom of a metal vessel, an order of magnitude less energy is mandatory to bring water to boil. This increase in efficiency could have a big impact on cooling computer chips, improving heat transfer systems, and reducing costs for industrial boiling applications........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/quantum-computing-breakthrough.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/quantum-computing-breakthrough.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT The odd behavior of a molecule in an experimental silicon computer chip has led to a discovery that opens the door to quantum computing in semiconductors. In a Nature Physics journal paper currently online, the scientists describe how they have created a new, hybrid molecule in which its quantum state can be intentionally manipulated - a mandatory step in the building of quantum computers........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/3-d-nanostructures-with-magnetic-materials.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/3-d-nanostructures-with-magnetic-materials.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT Materials researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a process to build complex, three-dimensional nanoscale structures of magnetic materials such as nickel or nickel-iron alloys using techniques compatible with standard semiconductor manufacturing. The process, described in a recent paper,* could enable whole new classes of sensors and microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/a-look-into-the-nanoscale.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/a-look-into-the-nanoscale.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have captured time-series snapshots of a solid as it evolves on the ultra-fast timescale. Using femtosecond X-ray free electron laser (FEL) pulses, the team, led by Anton Barty, is able to observe condensed phase dynamics such as crack formation, phase separation, rapid fluctuations in the liquid state or in biologically relevant environments........ ]]> http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/light-driven-reversible-nanoswitches.html http://www.networlddirectory.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2008/light-driven-reversible-nanoswitches.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:32:29 GMT The ability to see is based on molecules in the eye that flip from one conformation to another when exposed to visible light. Now, a new technique for attaching light-sensitive organic molecules to metal surfaces allows the molecules to be switched between two different configurations in response to exposure to different wavelengths of light. Because the configuration changes are reversible and can be controlled without direct contact, this technique could enable applications that can be controlled at the molecular scale........ ]]>