Cool Science Story Of The Day [Continuing Thread]

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by IROC

... We pulled our target module off this morning. It was reading about 31,000 rads/hr on contact. If you were able to walk up next to it, you'd receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than a minute....

Our families are worried that my wife works with plutonium. Bah... Pu is pretty much miracle whip compared to your stuff!

Radiation effects on materials are cool, at least to this materials-guy.

[M.D. Holloway]

Yahoo!

Here is sump'n cool as well!

[john70t]

Say Hello to the Future of Technology - Imgur
" It’s one atom thick and has phenomenal electron mobility – roughly 100 times greater than silicon.

This is because the graphene-based supercapacitor charges 100,000 times faster than regular batteries.

Unlike the average battery, which is made of lithium, a graphene-based supercapacitor can be charged and recharged one million times.

graphene is completely BIODEGRADABLE and safe for the environment because it is carbon based"

[Hawkeye's-911T]

BBC News - Dead star eats water-rich asteroid

[RWebb]

Euro-peons more diverse than was thought...

BBC News - European origins laid bare by DNA

[M.D. Holloway]

New Rogue Planet Found, Closest to our Solar System

planet or starship?

[masraum]

My wife is getting her masters, and is taking a class on epigenetics this semester. Very interesting stuff.

Epigenetics: How our experiences affect our offspring - The Week

This is a BBC show (also on NOVA/PBS, I believe), "The Ghost in Your Genes", that you may find interesting. It's 49min long.
The Ghost In Your Genes - BBC documentary - YouTube

In the show it discusses how the offspring, sometimes multiple generations-on can show the effects of the experiences of their ancestors.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by john70t

Say Hello to the Future of Technology - Imgur
" It’s one atom thick and has phenomenal electron mobility – roughly 100 times greater than silicon.

This is because the graphene-based supercapacitor charges 100,000 times faster than regular batteries.

Unlike the average battery, which is made of lithium, a graphene-based supercapacitor can be charged and recharged one million times.

graphene is completely BIODEGRADABLE and safe for the environment because it is carbon based"

That performance sort of makes sense based just on the length scales involved. Atom-scale things happen WAY faster than mm-scale things. Sure, it charges fast and has high power density but it's still so darn small (thin, low volume). It'll be world-changing if they can scale it up to a useful size.

Weren't we promised some "super batteries" one of these days just a few years ago? Traditional lead-acid chemistry but scaled down so that there were many more thin electrolyte layers to provide fast charging and high power density? (note that that's a similar strategy to the graphene above - shorten the length scale and things get better)

Anyway, materials science is cool - and is our ticket out of many of today's problems!

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by john70t

" It’s one atom thick and has phenomenal electron mobility – roughly 100 times greater than silicon.

Likely irrelevant. Plain old copper, one of the more metallic metals, has way more electron mobility than silicon, a semiconductor. That's kind of the reason we use Cu as we do and Si as we do.

I haven't studied graphene, but maybe it has some really cool anisotropy to its conductive and dielectric properties. I'd expect so as it's so sheet-like, like graphite. That opens up some areas to exploit.

These nanomaterials, that have inherently beneficial properties and mechanisms built into their very structure, will be the next revolution.

Compare the computer chip to a primitive computer built of discrete components. The chip is millions (billions?) of features fabricated simultaneously in a few dozen processing steps. The computer built of discrete components is assembled piece by piece, one at a time. Look at the performance difference (due to shortened length scales) and the tremendous manufacturing efficiency provided by building the whole thing at once on a chip.

Today for a battery or a power storage capacitor we put some electrodes/conductors around some electrolytes/dielectrics. Done on an "engineering" scale this is just begging for improvement like the computer chip was. One day we'll just let the materials figure it out themselves...

[Flieger]

Originally Posted by mjohnson

Likely irrelevant. Plain old copper, one of the more metallic metals, has way more electron mobility than silicon, a semiconductor. That's kind of the reason we use Cu as we do and Si as we do.

I haven't studied graphene, but maybe it has some really cool anisotropy to its conductive and dielectric properties. I'd expect so as it's so sheet-like, like graphite. That opens up some areas to exploit.

These nanomaterials, that have inherently beneficial properties and mechanisms built into their very structure, will be the next revolution.

Compare the computer chip to a primitive computer built of discrete components. The chip is millions (billions?) of features fabricated simultaneously in a few dozen processing steps. The computer built of discrete components is assembled piece by piece, one at a time. Look at the performance difference (due to shortened length scales) and the tremendous manufacturing efficiency provided by building the whole thing at once on a chip.

Today for a battery or a power storage capacitor we put some electrodes/conductors around some electrolytes/dielectrics. Done on an "engineering" scale this is just begging for improvement like the computer chip was. One day we'll just let the materials figure it out themselves...

Graphene and nanotubes are highly orthotropic (not isotropic but symmetric about certain planes). Just like the strength, stiffness, thermal conductivity of carbon fiber reinforced plastics, only moreso.

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally Posted by masraum

My wife is getting her masters, and is taking a class on epigenetics this semester. Very interesting stuff.

Epigenetics: How our experiences affect our offspring - The Week

This is a BBC show (also on NOVA/PBS, I believe), "The Ghost in Your Genes", that you may find interesting. It's 49min long.
The Ghost In Your Genes - BBC documentary - YouTube

In the show it discusses how the offspring, sometimes multiple generations-on can show the effects of the experiences of their ancestors.

This is truly society changing stuff! The implications are astounding. Watching the BBC doc seemed to focus on how negative situations such as famine and stress can changed the genetics and actually allow those changes to be passed on but my quations is this....what of positive experiences and high nutritian and health? Can we change not only our selves but influence the chances of our grandchildren to be born with some positive attributes? I don't wanna go to the next step...I don't have to. Its right there...

[M.D. Holloway]

A plan to turn every lightbulb into an ultra-fast alternative to Wi-Fi – Quartz

using light bulds to transmit Li-Fi instead of Wi-Fi

[imcarthur]

Sometimes it's the little things . . .

Tiny 'LEGO brick' -style studs make solar panels a quarter more efficient


"In new research, scientists have demonstrated that the efficiency of all solar panel designs could be improved by up to 22 per cent by covering their surface with aluminium studs that bend and trap light inside the absorbing layer."

Ian

[jyl]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/science/new-technique-holds-promise-for-hair-loss.html?_r=0

The curse of male pattern baldness will be vanquished! Thank God for science!

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by jyl

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/science/new-technique-holds-promise-for-hair-loss.html?_r=0

The curse of male pattern baldness will be vanquished! Thank God for science!

I wonder how the dating opportunities are reduced for a mouse that has had circumcision skin grafted to its back, which has human hair growing out. Makes the whole "hairy mole" thing seem not so bad...

[red-beard]

If a mole were to get a "mole", would it have hair, or would it be hairless?

[RWebb]

do naked mole rats (they are hairless) have moles?

BTW - that scientist has big hair

[jyl]

An insecticide-infection connection in bee colony collapses | Ars Technica

Italian scientists discover how a certain insecticide leads to bee colony collapses.

This insecticide will be banned in the EU, unless the chemical companies succeed in derailing the ban.

[Rusty Heap]

Sun erupts with solar flare -- one of the strongest it can unleash - NBC News.com




Great Quick Tanning!!!

[M.D. Holloway]

Physics - Element 115 Confirmed

Element 115 synthesized...

I am interested in the 'island of stability' for the super heavy ones.