tagged w/ Silicon
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Harry Potter may no longer be the only one with a cloak of invisibility . . . well, sort of. Researchers at Stanford and UPenn have created a new device that detects light, and is invisible.
The device is made up of silicon nanowires covered in gold. ScienceDaily reports that by adjusting the ratio of metal to silicon, the nanophysics create an effect where light is reflected and the two materials essentially cancel one another out—creating the effect of invisibility!
Confusing, I know, but apparently coating something in reflective metal really can make it less visible. The Silicon detects light and in response creates an electrical current—this project simply cloaked this process to make it invisible. So they basically designed the device so that the light from the metal and the electrical currents across the semiconductor cancel one another out.
The uses for this are mainly technical, but I wonder how far this would really go—could we make devices large enough to cover a body? Where would you go if you could be invisible? It’s almost too exciting to think a superhuman power might be within our grasp!
Photo credit: All rights reserved by Shamus O'ReillyHarry Potter may no longer be the only one with a cloak of invisibility . . . well,... more
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30-year-old Sheyla Hershey expected to get attention from her chest after a surgery in June increased her bust to a world record setting 38KKK, but she didn’t anticipate it would be because her implants were threatening her life.
The 5′3″ native Brazilian who lives in Houston, has undergone 30 plastic surgery procedures costing more than $40,000. Most of these operations have been to increase her bust, but she has also had work done on her nose, lips, and butt.
Because Texas limits the amount of silicone that may be inserted into a human body, Hershey was forced to received her latest implant upgrade in Brazil, which implanted a gallon of silicon into Hershey’s chest. A month after the surgery, Hershey reported...
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2010/07/14/the-world%E2%80%99s-largest-breasts-may-cost-sheyla-hershey-her-life-pictures/30-year-old Sheyla Hershey expected to get attention from her chest after a surgery in... more
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Scientists Successfully Embed Silicon Chips Inside Human Cells
The success paves the way for intracellular processors that could monitor and control on the cellular level
By Jeremy Hsu
Human cells might play host to thousands of transistors.
Scientists have already created mini-cyborgs out of living cells and semiconductor materials, but now biological cells can also contain tiny silicon chips. Those silicon chips could become future intracellular sensors that monitor microscopic activities, deliver drugs to target cells or even repair cell structures, according to Nanowerk.
Experiments found that living human cells can ingest or receive injections of silicon chips and continue functioning as usual for the most part. More than 90 percent of chip-containing HeLa cells -- the first immortal human cell line derived from a poor, cancer-stricken woman – still survived a week after receiving their silicon loads.
Other studies have tested nanoparticles inside living cells. But silicon chips allow for much easier integration of electronics and mechanical parts, say scientists at the Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona in Spain.
The study published in the aptly-named journal Small opens the doors for possibly putting microprocessors and other silicon-based devices inside cells. That could lead to promising developments for both micro-computing and medicine.
It may also represent a small step toward fulfilling several of the Pentagon's wishes set forth by DARPA, including engineering immortal controllable synthetic beings with genetic kill-switches. Maybe those mad science dreamers need to think smaller than cyborg beetles.Scientists Successfully Embed Silicon Chips Inside Human Cells
The success paves the... more
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Silicon chips that are allowed to make mistakes could help ensure computers continue to get more powerful, say US researchers.As components shrink, chip makers struggle to get more performance out of them while meeting power needs.
link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10134655.stmSilicon chips that are allowed to make mistakes could help ensure computers continue... more
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DNA might soon replace silicon as the perfect computing material. DNA can build itself up from scratch and become anything it wants and self assemble. We can only shrink silicon so much.
So if computer chips were made of DNA, the cost of producing the biological circuits would be much cheaper. The idea is more science fiction than a reality at this point.DNA might soon replace silicon as the perfect computing material. DNA can build itself... more
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An attack on a widely used web security system could soon help make silicon chips more powerful and reliable.Many websites use cryptographic systems to scramble key data, such as credit card numbers, when customers pay.
link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8637845.stmAn attack on a widely used web security system could soon help make silicon chips more... more
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Josefina, José to Us
Silicon Valley Debug, Commentary, Melissa Vargas, Posted: Mar 30, 2010
They say that family is not the one you share blood with, but the one who would give their last drop to save your life. I agree. Josefina Esquerra Aviles was not a blood relative, but that wouldn’t have made us any closer than we were. Josefina or, as I called her, José, met my grandmother for the first time in the San Diego jail in 1986. They became the best of friends. When my grandma got out, José promised to look for her when she got out. They were inseparable ever since.
Josefina or, as I called her, José My grandparents got divorced, so my grandma was a single mother of six children, including my mom. Thanks to José, my aunts and uncles and, most importantly, my mother, had the father figure they lacked growing up. Josefina and my grandma raised the six of them in Tijuana in Baja California. Josefina loved them as if they were her own. From doctor’s appointments, parties, days at the park, to my first day of school, José never left my side. For as long as I can remember, she was the one who stood by me day and night, rain or shine. José attended my school events, she potty trained me and scolded me when I would act out. José was the one who taught me right from wrong, she taught me blue and red, yes and no, hot and cold. José taught me to love but not hate. She taught me to like those who disliked me, and to even love those who said they hated me, because those were the ones who were in desperate need of it.
read the rest at
www.NewAmericaMedia.org
www.SiliconValleyDebug.orgJosefina, José to Us
Silicon Valley Debug, Commentary, Melissa Vargas, Posted:... more
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The use of germanium instead of silicon as basic material of transistors would enable faster chips containing smaller transistors. However, a number of problems still have to be solved.
Link:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100217093936.htmThe use of germanium instead of silicon as basic material of transistors would enable... more
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If you downed one too many while watching the Super Bowl, here's at least one reason to hold your head high: Drinking beer can be good for your health.
But seriously, a new analysis of 100 commercial beers shows the hoppy beverage is a significant source of dietary silicon, a key ingredient for bone health.
Though past research has suggested beer is chockfull of silicon, little was known about how silicon levels varied with the type of beer and malting process used. So a pair of researchers took one for the team and ran chemical analyses on beer's raw ingredients. They also picked up 100 commercial beers from the grocery store and measured the silicon content.
The silicon content of the beers ranged from 6.4 mg/L to 56.5 mg/L, with an average of 30 mg/L. Two beers are the equivalent of just under a half liter, so a person could get 30 mg of the nutrient from two beers. And while there is no official recommendation for daily silicon uptake, the researchers say, in the United States, individuals consume between 20 and 50 mg of silicon each day.
However, other studies show that consuming more than one or two alcoholic beverages a day may be, overall, bad for health.
The take-home message for the casual drinker: "Choose the beer you enjoy. Drink it in moderation," lead researcher Charles Bamforth of the University of California, Davis, told LiveScience. "It is contributing silicon (and more) to your good health."
READ MORE AT LINKIf you downed one too many while watching the Super Bowl, here's at least one... more
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Researchers at Ghent University in Belgium have etched a tiny world map - on a scale of 1 trillion - on to a optical silicon chip. They reduced the earth’s 25,000-mile circumference at the equator down to 40 micrometers or about half the width of a human hair to fit it on the chip.
The map is put in a corner of a chip designed for a project at the University’s Photonics Research Group.
The idea is to successfully demonstrate scale reduction so complex optical functions can be included in a single chip. Such a chip could find applications in telecommunications, high-speed computing, biotechnology and health care.
The world map was defined on a silicon photonics test chip using 200mm processing. The smallest features resolved on the map are about 100 nanometer. The fabrication consisted of a 30-step process and involved creation of four different layers with differing thicknesses, each of which had to be created separately.
Photonics involves generation, modulation, transmission and processing of light. Silicon photonics technology is an emerging area of research that integrates optical circuits onto a small chip. Light can be manipulated on a submicrometer scale in tiny strips of silicon called photonic wires. These silicon photonic circuits can pack a million times more components when compared to the glass-based photonics available currently, say the researchers.
The circuits developed on this chip carrying the world map were used to demonstrate photonic wires with the lowest propagation losses.Researchers at Ghent University in Belgium have etched a tiny world map - on a scale... more
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One way to squeeze more power out of sunlight is to ensure that it always hits a solar panel at the ideal angle. This means either tracking the sun and maneuvering a panel to face it, or using complex optics to redirect the sun's rays to hit the panel's surface from above.
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24012/One way to squeeze more power out of sunlight is to ensure that it always hits a solar... more
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It’s so interesting what goes on behind the scenes of a magazines. There is a whole other side to just editorial. There is the advertising and promotions aspect too. You might have read a great article, but it could have been an ad! Read this piece and see how clever our beauty blogger writer about Mystic Tan and Billy Jealousy and how you would be totally fooled if you didn’t know they were ads. Really good tips on self-tanning and razors and again, you will have NO idea they are ads. Clever, eh?It’s so interesting what goes on behind the scenes of a magazines. There is a... more
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Researchers have built the world's smallest transistor - one atom thick and 10 atoms wide - out of a material that could one day replace silicon.
The transistor, essentially an on/off switch, has been made using graphene, a two-dimensional material first discovered only four years ago.
Graphene is a single layer of graphite, which is found in the humble pencil.
The transistor is the key building block of microchips and the basis for almost all electronics.
Graphene has been hailed as a super material because it has many potential applications. It is a flat molecule, with only the thickness of an atom, and both very stable and robust.
The researchers are also looking at its use in display technology - because it is transparent.
Many researchers believe that producing circuits smaller than 10 nanometres in silicon will be too difficult because they start to leak electricity at that size.
That current silicon roadmap is expected to end in 2020, making the race to find alternative materials potentially very lucrative. Researchers have built the world's smallest transistor - one atom thick and 10... more
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