tagged w/ Carbon Nanotubes
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"The power plant of tomorrow is no power plant... The grid of tomorrow is no grid."
Uploaded by jjvallea99 on Dec 8, 2011"The power plant of tomorrow is no power plant... The grid of tomorrow is no... more
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There are no hospitals in space. The closest E.R. is back on Earth, and astronauts can't exactly jump in a cab to get there. So what happens if the sun burps out a massive blast of radiation while an astronaut is space-amblin' by?
The NASA Biocapsule—made of carbon nanotubes—will be able to "diagnose" and instantly treat an astronaut without him or her even knowing there's something amiss. It would be like having your own personal Dr. McCoy—implanted under your skin. It represents one of the most significant breakthroughs in the history of medicine, and yes, it'll work on Earth, too.
Out of all the amazing things we saw during our NASA visits, nothing blew our minds as much as this tiny little bundle of carbon. The Space Biosciences Division at NASA Ames creates medical technology for astronauts. They essentially provide healthcare for outer space. Dr. David Loftus is the man who invented the NASA Biocapsule and has been awarded a patent for it.
Picture this: An astronaut is going to Mars. The round-trip journey will take between two and three years. During that time, the astronaut will not have access to a doctor, and there's a lot that can go wrong with the human body in space. So, prior to launch, the astronaut is implanted with a number of NASA Biocapsules. A very small incision is made in the astronaut's skin for each Biocapsule (probably in the thigh), which is implanted subcutaneously. It's outpatient surgery that requires only local anesthetic and a stitch or two to close the wound. But after it's complete, the astronaut's body is equipped to deal with a whole host of problems on its own. More Here:There are no hospitals in space. The closest E.R. is back on Earth, and astronauts... more
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A Harvard bioengineer and an MIT aeronautical engineer have created a new device that can detect single cancer cells in a blood sample, potentially allowing doctors to quickly determine whether cancer has spread from its original site.
LINK : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110329134134.htmA Harvard bioengineer and an MIT aeronautical engineer have created a new device that... more
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Tiny they may be, but carbon nanotubes have found a remarkable range of uses, from stretchy loudspeakers to artificial photosynthesis. Now use as a fertilizer can be added to the list.
Plant biologist Mariya Khodakovskaya and nanotechnologist Alexandru Biris, both at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, planted tomato seeds in a growth medium that contained carbon nanotubes. They found that the seeds germinated sooner and seedlings grew faster than those in a non-treated medium.
Nanostructures have been reported to boost germination before, but no explanation for the phenomenon has been offered until now. The pair noticed that the nanotubes appear to penetrate the thick seed coat, which would allow water to enter the dry seeds more rapidly. This could explain how they boost germination, Khodakovskaya says.
Ken Donaldson at the University of Edinburgh in the UK warns that even if nanotubes did become cheap enough to use as a fertilizer, safety could be an issue. Last year, Donaldson found that carbon nanotubes trigger toxic effects in mice similar to those associated with asbestos fibers.Tiny they may be, but carbon nanotubes have found a remarkable range of uses, from... more
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Scienstists from MIT have worked on a solution, that uses entirely different technology to connect different transistors in computer chips, known as carbon nanotubes. These tubes are famous among scientist for their sheer strength and thoughness. They are stronger than steel (comparatively) and tougher than diamond. The tubes have very less diameter compared to traditional copper wires used in chips and as the connection count reaches millions, it generates huge difference in size.
Building block of computer chips is transistor, the processor in your PC has millions of transistor in it. Traditionally these transistors are connected via carbon wire; just like those in electronic circuits but thinner. To achieve high performance on a smaller size these wires have been shrunked over years to pack more in less space. However there is a certain limit after which the conductivity suffers and may fail entirely after that threasholdScienstists from MIT have worked on a solution, that uses entirely different... more
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Nanosciences and nanotechnologies represent a formidable challenge for the research community and industry. World-class infrastructure, new fundamental knowledge, novel equipment for characterization and manufacturing, multi-disciplinary education and training for innovative and creative engineering, and a responsible attitude to societal demands are required. This documentary film, made available by the European Commission, provides a glimpse of some of the many activities that are being carried out in Europe in these fast-growing fields of research and technological development.Nanosciences and nanotechnologies represent a formidable challenge for the research... more
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According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative, "The worldwide need for nanotechnology workers is expected to reach 2 million by 2015."According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative, "The worldwide need for... more
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Barack Obama is larger than life these days.
Except, that is, at the University of Michigan, where the president-elect has become remarkably small.
A team of researchers has created carbon nanotube images of Obama that can be seen only through electron microscopes.Barack Obama is larger than life these days.
Except, that is, at the University of... more
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Moopak
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added this
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3 years ago
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Much has been spoken about the wonders of nanotubing of late, and now a whole new material has been made with the stuff. Buckypaper works as a kind of super-tough papier mache that can be used to make anything from aeroplanes and rockets to common household appliances. The amazing stuff is aimed to be eventually developed to be 500 times stronger than steel and 10 times lighter - imagine what you could build with that!
Lets just hope it doesn't go soggy and fall apart when wet, like regular papier mache.. More scientific details of the stuff at link.Much has been spoken about the wonders of nanotubing of late, and now a whole new... more
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Carbon nanotubes are one of the surprising new carbon supermaterials, and it looks like their application in supercapacitors may have a role in replacing clunky old car battery tech. Scientists at the University of Texas at Dallas have invented a technique to make supercapacitor "paper" made from randomly tangled carbon nanotubes embedded in a polymer. Both chemical batteries and capacitors store electrical charge, in differing ways, but nanotech supercapacitors could store more energy in a smaller space, without the dangers associated with chemical systems. Potentially excellent news given the rise of the hybrid car. Better yet the new technique is "easily scalable for device fabrication on an industrial scale," so it might end up in real products sooner rather than later.Carbon nanotubes are one of the surprising new carbon supermaterials, and it looks... more
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A new lead in the fight against cancer: Nanotube 'longboats'; essentially structures which deliver toxic drugs directly into cancerous cells.
They were shown to be effective in killing cells with folic acid receptors, which are particularly numerous on cancer cells.A new lead in the fight against cancer: Nanotube 'longboats'; essentially... more
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rwylie
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added this
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3 years ago
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Chock-full of transistors, the average circuit board is a rigid and delicate thing. Such stiff circuit boards are fine for computers and other large, stationary devices. But engineers are pushing to weave electronics into the objects all around us--including our clothes--and doing that requires flexible circuits. Some circuit boards can bend, but they don't twist or stretch. Now, a Japanese team has produced a rubbery, stretchy conducting material--the first step toward building a flexible circuit.
To do it, Takao Someya, an electronics engineer at the University of Tokyo, and his team mixed tiny tubes of carbon known as nanotubes with a polymer. The nanotubes carry the electricity, and the polymer provides the flexibility. To get the technique to work, the researchers had to overcome several obstacles. For example, the nanotubes attract one another so strongly that it's difficult to keep them from clumping.
So first, Someya and colleagues made the carbon nanotubes much less mutually attractive by mixing them into a substance called an ionic liquid. The treatment turns the nanotubes into a black, pasty concoction the researchers call bucky gel. (The molecular structure of nanotubes resembles the famous geodesic domes designed by Buckminster Fuller.) Next, they mixed the bucky gel with a rubberlike substance called a fluorinated copolymer and poured the mixture onto a glass plate. Last, Someya's team coated the substance with silicone rubber and punched tiny holes all over the matrix to increase its flexibility.
The resulting material looks a bit like a woman's nylon stocking, and Someya says it can be stretched by up to 38% of its original length without loss of conductivity because enough of the nanotubes stay in contact to continue to carry electricity. That's nearly four times more elastic than any other conducting substance, he says, and about 100 times more conductive than any other known elastic material. And that's just the prototype. "We believe there is much room for further improvement in elastic conductors," he says.Chock-full of transistors, the average circuit board is a rigid and delicate thing.... more
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Wow!
Scientists may be getting closer to unraveling the secrets of photosynthesis, reports New Scientist Tech's Colin Barras. In a new study published in the journal ChemPhysChem, a team of Chinese scientists from the Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology has found that carbon nanotubes, which have been used in many nanotechnology applications including solar energy and adhesive material, can mimic a key step of the process.
The implications could be staggering should we ever be able to recreate the process in a lab. Wow!
Scientists may be getting closer to unraveling the secrets of photosynthesis,... more
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