::Lower Than Low Power Memory.

Researchers at Cambridge University have recently published a paper on their new type of WORM (write once read many) memory which is even more low powered than the ones that came before it. The new electron-only design of the memory is solution processed, making it low cost as well as it requires no lithography. The device, using ZnO semiconductor nanoparticles to inject electrons into a polymer which is capable of conducting. The electrons are then used to program the memory by permanently lowering the conductivity of the polymer, producing insulation. This result is far lower power densities than previously recorded, by orders of magnitude. The research team believes that it can make further improvements to the device as they continue to work.


Further Reading and Information Courtesy: My Brain, PhySorg.

::New Uses for String Theory.

Sure, trying to wrap your head around string theory -- a study in particle physics that's trying to rectify the perceived contradictions between general relativity and quantum mechanics -- can cause more cognitive pain than a colliding god particle. That hasn't stopped anyone from trying to validate its corollaries, and in the interim, researchers like Michael Duff of the Imperial College London. Mr. Duff realized a few years ago there existed some strong relations between formulas pertaining to both black holes (relativity) and four entagled qubits (quantum mechanics). So, in his words, "In a way, there's bad news and good news in our paper. The bad news is, we're not describing the theory of everything. The good news is, we're making a very exact statement which is either right or wrong. There's no in between.


Further Reading and Information Courtesy: My Brain, Wired.

::Quantum Refrigeration for Quantum Computer Cooling.

The quantum computer is still ranking pretty high up there on the vaporware charts, somewhere between Duke Nukem Forever and a Steorn in-home power generator. Eventually we'll get there, and theoretical physicists at the University of Bristol are helping with a quantum cooling system. It is effectively a means for two qubits to cool a third, with the outer two cooled by lasers and absorbing energy from the third, which is heated to its excited state. Unsurprisingly this is all rather theoretical at this point, but the team does plan to actually such a quantum refrigerator in the not too distant future. Then, we figure, they'll host the first quantum kegger.


Further Reading and Information Courtesy: My Brain, PhySorg.

::Laser Powered Copter.

Lasers have recently shown they can down a UAV–but they can also keep the drones up in the air. LaserMotive has kept a 22-gram model helicopter hovering for hours at a time on just a few watts of laser power.

LaserMotive won $900,000 from NASA last year by beaming power to a robot that climbed a 900-metre cable dangling from a full-scale helicopter. The technology could help power space elevators to lift objects thousands of kilometres into orbit. But with space elevators still at the concept stage, LaserMotive is keen to find other ways to turn a profit from its technology, says company founder Jordin Kare.

Flying times of conventional UAVs are limited by the fuel or batteries they can carry. Solar power with battery backup for night flight allows flight times lasting several days – defence firm Qinetiq, based in the UK, has flown its ultralight Zephyr for more than 82 hours. But although Swiss company Solar Impulse has demonstrated that solar power can keep even a piloted craft in the air, the uncrewed vehicles typically flown by military agencies are heavier and more rugged, and so need more power to stay in the air than they can get from the sun.

LaserMotive says that ground-based lasers can deliver the required power. At last week'sAUVSI Unmanned Systems Conference in Denver, Colorado, the firm focused light from an array of semiconductor-diode near-infrared lasers down to a 7-centimetre beam, which automatically tracked a modified radio-controlled helicopter. The aircraft carried photovoltaic cells optimised for the laser wavelength, which converted about half the laser power reaching them to generate a few watts of electricity – enough to power the rotors of the little copter.

The laser-powered helicopter can hover for 6 hours, company president Tom Nugent toldNew Scientist from the show. He thinks that limit is set only by the quality of the motor driving the rotors. "It's a little consumer-grade brush motor not meant to run this long," he says. Under laser power, the copter "flies for several hours until the motor burns out".Laser-powered future

"That little helicopter sounds like a nice demonstration," says Robert Van Burdine, a former engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, who demonstratedlaser-powered flight of a fixed-wing craft in 2003. His group manually aimed the laser, but the 300-gram radio-controlled plane with 1.5-metre wingspan had enough momentum to glide if the beam drifted off target; the helicopter would fall if the beam missed it. Although many people expressed interest at the time, he knows of no follow-up work.

LaserMotive has bigger plans for extending flight duration of military craft, says Kare. "We expect we can scale to anything anybody is interested in," including helicopters and UAVs. A craft could hover for long periods over a laser base, or fly missions and return to recharge over the laser, or fly between a series of laser bases. In the longer term, he envisions lasers powering remote ground-based sensors, delivering power to forward military bases, or supplying emergency power during disasters.


Further Reading and Information Courtesy: My Brain, NewScientist.

::MIT's Self-Assembling Solar Cells.

Plants are extremely efficient converters of light into energy, setting the bar for researchers creating photovoltaic cells. A team of MIT scientists believe they've created a synthetic chloroplast that can be broken down and reassembled repeatedly, restoring sun-damagedsolar cells.

While the leaves on a tree appear to be as static as the PV cells on a solar panel, they're not; sunlight is actually quite destructive, and to counter this effect leaves rapidly recycle their proteins as often as every 45 minutes when in direct summer sunlight. This rapid repair mechanism allows plants to take full advantage of the sun's bountiful energy without losing efficiency over time.

To recreate this unique regenerative ability, the MIT team devised a novel set of self-assembling molecules that use photons to shake electrons loose in the form of electricity. The system contains seven different compounds, including carbon nanotubes that provide structure and a means to conduct the electricity away from the cells, synthetic phospholipids that form discs that also provide structural support, and other molecules that self-assemble into "reaction centers" that actually interact with the incoming photons to release electrons.

Under certain conditions, the compounds assemble themselves into uniform structures suitable for harvesting solar energy. But in the presence of a surfactant (similar to the stuff used to disperse oil during oil spills) the structures break down into a solution of nanotubes, phospholipids, and other constituent molecules. By pushing the solution through a membrane to remove the surfactant, the elements once again assemble into working, rejuvenated solar cells undamaged by their prior exposure to the sun.

The cells are work at 40 percent efficiency, and researchers think with some tweaks they could push that efficiency much higher. And because they don't degrade over time – just give ‘em a quick shake with the surfactant and they're essentially brand new – the tech could be the next big step forward for solar technology.

Further Reading and Information Courtesy: My Brain, POPSci.

::Our Sun in 6 Billion Years.

In 6 billion years, our Sun will be nearing the end of its life and expanding outward. Much like this star, it'll have more carbon than oxygen in its atmosphere. What have scientists confused is that water vapor isn't supposed to be surrounding a dying star like this. The train of thought is that all the oxygen would be bound up in carbon monoxide which wouldn't allow it to react with hydrogen to create water.

But water has been building up for some time (since 2001) which made scientists theorize that as the star expanded outward into its solar system it would vaporize whatever icy planets and comets in their way. Which would mean the water would be cold, since those planets were far from the star's core.

But, as scientists have recently found, the water is hot. So they're floating another theory saying that ultraviolet light from nearby stars is reaching the atmosphere and causing the carbon monoxide to break apart, which would release the oxygen needed to create water. Basically it's theories abound with no concrete explanation. Astronomer Leen Decin, lead author of the study says:

"It makes us realize that the chemistry in all stars can be much more complex than we thought it was. If we don't understand what is created from these old stars, we don't know what the main ingredients of new stars and planets are made from."

At least they have 6 billion years to figure out why and how this happens before they see it with our Sun. 

Further Reading and Information Courtesy: My Brain, Wired.

::Future of Screens.

The ever-impressive Swedish interface gurus The Astonishing Tribe just posted a new video envisioning what kinds of screens we'll be using in the year 2014. They stretch fluidly and share seamlessly, and I want to use them right now.

The group thinks we're on the verge of a screen Renaissance:

Screen technology is now taking the next leap and the coming years imagination is the only thing stopping us. We will soon have dual screens, malleable screens, screens built into wifi connected mirrors, desks or backside of gadgets clothed with e-ink screens, tactile feedback, color screens with great contrast in sunlight, holographics/stereoscopic screens, color e-ink touch screens, or screens actually knowing where they are in relation to other screens thanks to ultrasonic emitters and microphones.

This video doesn't show any interfaces or products that are actually slated to come to market; rather, it's TAT's vision of where the industry is heading. I like it! And I eagerly anticipate my iPad Stretch.

Further Reading and Information Courtesy: My Brain, TAT.

::Tiny Ruler!

How do you measure items constructed on a nanoscale assembly line? Why, using a plasmon ruler that measures how much the structure's surrounding gas resonates, of course... and it just so happens that science has theoretically built a better one than ever before. Researchers at China's Wuhan University discovered that by using nanospheres "to modify surface plasmon coupling of a nanorod dimer" -- yes, that's a little over our heads, too -- they could create a linear plasmon ruler that allows one to read how far apart the particles are using a far simpler calculation and modify the range of measurement more easily too. None of this may seem important to you at the moment, but remember: nobody wants imprecisely-sized nanites crawling through their tubes.


Further Reading and Information Courtesy: My Brain, Physorg.