Aerogel tiles are used in space as comet dust collector.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Facts About Aerogel - Frozen Smoke
A nearly transparent, very lightweight material that is a dry gel principally made from silica (silicon dioxide) and 96% air. Dubbed a "Super Material", aerogel is the world's lightest solid, weighing as little as three times that of air and exhibiting superb insulating properties. Although aerogel looks like it could float away, it has very high compression strength. Theoretically, a block weighing less than a pound could support a weight of half a ton. Aerogels real strength is its incredible insulating effects on any kind of energy transfer; thermal, electrical or acoustic. Aerogel can damp out almost any kind of energy. A one-inch thick Aerogel window has the same insulation value as 15 panes of glass and trapped air - which means a conventional window would have to be ten-inches thick to equal a one-inch thick aerogel window.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Scientists demonstrate world's first germanium laser
Researchers at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can produce wavelengths of light useful for optical communication.
Unlike the materials typically used in lasers, germanium is easy to incorporate into existing processes for manufacturing silicon chips.
So, the result could prove an important step toward computers that move data - and maybe even perform calculations - using light instead of electricity.
But more fundamentally, the researchers have shown that, contrary to prior belief; a class of materials called indirect-band-gap semiconductors can yield practical lasers.
As chips' computational capacity increases, they need higher-bandwidth connections to send data to memory.
But, conventional electrical connections will soon become impractical, because they'll require too much power to transport data at ever higher rates.
Transmitting data with lasers - devices that concentrate light into a narrow, powerful beam - could be much more power-efficient, but it requires a cheap way to integrate optical and electronic components on silicon chips.
Chip assembly is a painstaking process in which layers of different materials are deposited on a wafer of silicon, and patterns are etched into them.
Inserting a new material into this process is difficult: it has to be able to chemically bond to the layers above and below it, and depositing it must be possible at the temperatures and in the chemical environments suitable to the other materials.
The materials used in today's lasers, such as gallium arsenide, are "all tough fits," according to Tremont Miao, a marketing director at Massachusetts-based Analog Devices Semiconductor.
Integrating germanium into the manufacturing process, however, is something that almost all major chip manufacturers have already begun to do, since the addition of germanium increases the speed of silicon chips.
"The ability to grow germanium on silicon is a discovery of this group and the ability to control the strain of those germanium films on silicon is a discovery of this group," said Lionel Kimerling, the Thomas Lord Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, who leads the group.
"High-speed optical circuits like germanium in general. That's a good marriage and a good combination. So their laser research is very, very promising," said Miao.
Miao points out that the germanium lasers need to become more power-efficient before they're a practical source of light for optical communications systems.
Scientists make ultra-lightweight sponge that can absorb and conserve oil
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have made an ultra-lightweight sponge from clay and a bit of high-grade plastic that can absorb and conserve oil out of contaminated water.
According to the research team, the material, called an aerogel, will effectively clean up spills of all kinds of oils and solvents on factory floors and roadways, rivers and oceans.
"The aerogel is made by mixing clay with a polymer and water in a blender," said David Schiraldi, chairman of the Macromolecular Science and Engineering department at the Case School of Engineering.
The mixture is then freeze-dried; air fills the gaps left by the loss of water.
The resulting material is super light, comprised of about 96 percent air, 2 percent polymer and 2 percent clay.
The oil-absorbing form is just one of a growing list of clay-based aerogels being made in Schiraldi's lab.
By adding different polymers, they produce materials with different properties.
"This particular one is oleophilic or oil-loving. Chemically, it hates water, loves oil: the perfect combination," Schiraldi said.
The aeorgel can be made in granular form, in sheets or in blocks of almost any shape and is effective in fresh and saltwater or on a surface.
Because absorption is a physical phenomenon, there is no chemical reaction between the material and oil.
If the oil is otherwise not contaminated, it can be used.
The material was first made when Schiraldi challenged his then-PhD student Matt Gawryla with idea of making kitty litter.
Gawryla added the oil cleanup concept to the program.
Case Western Reserve has granted a 9-month exclusive license for this and other clay-based aerogel technologies to AeroClay, Inc. a startup company.
According to the research team, the material, called an aerogel, will effectively clean up spills of all kinds of oils and solvents on factory floors and roadways, rivers and oceans.
"The aerogel is made by mixing clay with a polymer and water in a blender," said David Schiraldi, chairman of the Macromolecular Science and Engineering department at the Case School of Engineering.
The mixture is then freeze-dried; air fills the gaps left by the loss of water.
The resulting material is super light, comprised of about 96 percent air, 2 percent polymer and 2 percent clay.
The oil-absorbing form is just one of a growing list of clay-based aerogels being made in Schiraldi's lab.
By adding different polymers, they produce materials with different properties.
"This particular one is oleophilic or oil-loving. Chemically, it hates water, loves oil: the perfect combination," Schiraldi said.
The aeorgel can be made in granular form, in sheets or in blocks of almost any shape and is effective in fresh and saltwater or on a surface.
Because absorption is a physical phenomenon, there is no chemical reaction between the material and oil.
If the oil is otherwise not contaminated, it can be used.
The material was first made when Schiraldi challenged his then-PhD student Matt Gawryla with idea of making kitty litter.
Gawryla added the oil cleanup concept to the program.
Case Western Reserve has granted a 9-month exclusive license for this and other clay-based aerogel technologies to AeroClay, Inc. a startup company.
Recharging your cell phone, nature's way
A new solar cell that imitates nature's way of converting sunlight to energy is making its debut in a variety of consumer products. The technology uses a photosensitive dye to start its energy production, much the way leaves use chlorophyll to begin photosynthesis.
The dye-sensitised cells will be used to provide power for devices ranging from e-book readers to cell phones and will take some interesting forms. For e-book readers, for example, the cells may be found in thin, flexible panels stitched into the reader's cover. But such panels will also be housed in new lines of backpacks and sports bags, where they can recharge devices like cell phones and music players.
The technology, long in development, will work best in full, direct sunshine, said Dr Michael Graetzel, a chemist and professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland. But the cells will also make good use of dappled and ambient light, including the indoor light of fluorescent bulbs, he said.
Most photovoltaic cells are based on silicon or related inorganic materials, not dyes. Graetzel and an American colleague, Brian O'Regan, first reported on the new type of cell in the journal Nature in 1991, and Graetzel said he and other colleagues had been working since then to refine the technology. Now G24 Innovations, a company in Campbell, California, that has licensed the technology, is using it to make solar panels at its plant in Cardiff, Wales, said John Hartnett, G24's chief executive.
Some of the panels will be placed on covers designed as an accessory for Sony e-book readers, said Tobi Doeringer, the director of global sales at Mascotte Industrial Associates, a Hong Kong company that makes bags to carry cameras, phones, sports equipment, electronic games and other products. Doeringer said the covers, costing about $99, would be available by March. The cover supplies the power via a plug in a cradle along its spine.
The panels will also be installed on tennis bags, backpacks and messenger bags that have battery chargers within, as well as on bicycle, golf, shopping and beach bags. Prices of the bags will typically range from $149 to $249, he said, depending on the materials and size of the bag. Owners can plug their phones and music players into the bag for recharging, using a USB cord. The solar panels have 11 cells each, said Kevin Tabor, director of science and research at G24. Wiring goes from the panel to a battery pack in the bag, he said. It takes about six to eight sunny hours outside for the panel to fuel the recharger, he said, but longer indoors.
The performance of the dye-sensitised cells has improved steadily in the laboratory, Graetzel said. "Our dyes and electrolytes have changed," he said, and the cells have become more efficient at converting sunlight to electricity. Within the solar cell, the dye is painted in a thin layer on a porous titanium dioxide scaffold to collect light and, in a series of steps, create power. The cells draw on many surprising sources of light. "We've even had a case where we generated voltage from moonlight," he said.
The dye-sensitised cells will be used to provide power for devices ranging from e-book readers to cell phones and will take some interesting forms. For e-book readers, for example, the cells may be found in thin, flexible panels stitched into the reader's cover. But such panels will also be housed in new lines of backpacks and sports bags, where they can recharge devices like cell phones and music players.
The technology, long in development, will work best in full, direct sunshine, said Dr Michael Graetzel, a chemist and professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland. But the cells will also make good use of dappled and ambient light, including the indoor light of fluorescent bulbs, he said.
Most photovoltaic cells are based on silicon or related inorganic materials, not dyes. Graetzel and an American colleague, Brian O'Regan, first reported on the new type of cell in the journal Nature in 1991, and Graetzel said he and other colleagues had been working since then to refine the technology. Now G24 Innovations, a company in Campbell, California, that has licensed the technology, is using it to make solar panels at its plant in Cardiff, Wales, said John Hartnett, G24's chief executive.
Some of the panels will be placed on covers designed as an accessory for Sony e-book readers, said Tobi Doeringer, the director of global sales at Mascotte Industrial Associates, a Hong Kong company that makes bags to carry cameras, phones, sports equipment, electronic games and other products. Doeringer said the covers, costing about $99, would be available by March. The cover supplies the power via a plug in a cradle along its spine.
The panels will also be installed on tennis bags, backpacks and messenger bags that have battery chargers within, as well as on bicycle, golf, shopping and beach bags. Prices of the bags will typically range from $149 to $249, he said, depending on the materials and size of the bag. Owners can plug their phones and music players into the bag for recharging, using a USB cord. The solar panels have 11 cells each, said Kevin Tabor, director of science and research at G24. Wiring goes from the panel to a battery pack in the bag, he said. It takes about six to eight sunny hours outside for the panel to fuel the recharger, he said, but longer indoors.
The performance of the dye-sensitised cells has improved steadily in the laboratory, Graetzel said. "Our dyes and electrolytes have changed," he said, and the cells have become more efficient at converting sunlight to electricity. Within the solar cell, the dye is painted in a thin layer on a porous titanium dioxide scaffold to collect light and, in a series of steps, create power. The cells draw on many surprising sources of light. "We've even had a case where we generated voltage from moonlight," he said.
New robotic device can help partially paralyzed patients walk again
A new robotic device developed by Argo Medical Technologies in Haifa, Israel would soon help partially paralyzed patients walk again.
ReWalk, a cutting-edge robotic device lets a paraplegics to stand, walk and even climb stairs is being tested at a Philadelphia rehab hospital.
It consists of a backpack, an upper body harness and leg supports that are fitted with motorized knees and hips.
The wearer, who must have the use of his upper body, controls the movement of the leg supports with crutches, while motion sensors that are connected to a backpack computer let the device know when a step should be taken.
Researchers hope that it the device will be available in markets by the end of this year.
"ReWalk should become available in the near future and will be able to be applied widely to people with spinal cord injuries that have preserved the use of the arms," the New York Daily News quoted Dr. Alberto Esquenazi, chair of MossRehab's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, who was instrumental in ReWalk's development, as saying.
"You need to have your arms, both for balance control and sensory feedback.
"The tip of the crutches provides sensory feedback about where your body is in space," Esquenazi added.
ReWalk consists of "smart software" that understands what the patient is intending to do, and translates that into taking a step or climbing a stair."
Esquenazi said that so far they have had no problems.
"The system has worked appropriately and patients have been thrilled at being able to use the device. Many years after the injury, they had forgotten how to stand and take steps," he said.
The device is worn over clothing and its battery lasts for three hours and the backup lasts for another 20 minutes.
"The system alerts you that the battery is running low. It tells you that you either need to get to a chair or to a plug," Esquenazi added.
ReWalk, a cutting-edge robotic device lets a paraplegics to stand, walk and even climb stairs is being tested at a Philadelphia rehab hospital.
It consists of a backpack, an upper body harness and leg supports that are fitted with motorized knees and hips.
The wearer, who must have the use of his upper body, controls the movement of the leg supports with crutches, while motion sensors that are connected to a backpack computer let the device know when a step should be taken.
Researchers hope that it the device will be available in markets by the end of this year.
"ReWalk should become available in the near future and will be able to be applied widely to people with spinal cord injuries that have preserved the use of the arms," the New York Daily News quoted Dr. Alberto Esquenazi, chair of MossRehab's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, who was instrumental in ReWalk's development, as saying.
"You need to have your arms, both for balance control and sensory feedback.
"The tip of the crutches provides sensory feedback about where your body is in space," Esquenazi added.
ReWalk consists of "smart software" that understands what the patient is intending to do, and translates that into taking a step or climbing a stair."
Esquenazi said that so far they have had no problems.
"The system has worked appropriately and patients have been thrilled at being able to use the device. Many years after the injury, they had forgotten how to stand and take steps," he said.
The device is worn over clothing and its battery lasts for three hours and the backup lasts for another 20 minutes.
"The system alerts you that the battery is running low. It tells you that you either need to get to a chair or to a plug," Esquenazi added.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Global Seed Vault
Svalbard Global Seed vault was established to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds in an underground cavern. It is an assurance to reduce of hunger & poverty due to the national disaster. Construction of the Seed Vault, which cost approximately 45 million Norwegian Kroner (9 million USD), was funded entirely by the Government of Norway. The seed bank is constructed 120 meters (390 ft) inside a sandstone mountain at Svalbard on Spitsbergen Island. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened officially on February 26, 2008. The first seeds arrived in January 2008. This vault can storage 4.5 million samples of different seeds in the dry temperature of 0° F (-18° C). This storage process can protect the seeds for the thousands of years. Svalbard Global Seed Vault ranked no.6 on Time's Best Inventions Of 2008.
Ortery 3D Photosimile Technology - For The Office
Dubbed as the world's first "Office Photography Machine", the Photosimile 5000 is an imaging tool that provides anyone with the ability to create professional still shots and spherical flash animations for just about any purpose. It produces digital 3D copies of any product from every angle and at a very efficient speed.
Launched by Ortery Technologies, Inc., in 2008, the Photosimile 5000 now sells at a retail price of $17,000. The package consists of a studio box that houses a turntable and a Canon DSLR camera that is installed on an arc-shaped mechanical railing, allowing it to take 360-degree photos. The Photosimile 5000 studio also boasts of four daylight bulbs, giving off 6500K worth of uniform studio lighting. Its Photocapture technology ensures well-lit image with every shot.
The process of creating product shots is similar to that of using a photocopier or scanner. Simply place any object on the turntable and take up to 100 pictures at different angles in no more than 5 minutes. Taking photos for animations can be done at a rate of 20 stitched images within 2.5 minutes. Each image takes a mere five seconds in transmission to a computer, attached via USB. The user is allowed access to camera and image editing controls such as zooming in and out, resizing, and cropping. All images are received via the Photosimile software and may be saved as GIF or Flash files. Annotations and batch processing are also possible options. The software currently works only with Windows platforms.
With the advent of this technology, creating visually enticing advertisement campaigns, both print and online will be much easier and with exceptional quality. Ortery's current customers include some of the biggest names in electronics, food and beverage, as well as prominent educational institutions and government agencies. In a testimonial for the Photosimile brand, the Smithsonian Institution indicated the product's significance in easily putting together a high-quality, multimedia archaeological database with more than 20,000 images in total.
Sam Shearer, Managing Director of Ortery, claims that 360-degree product views will soon be the benchmark for success in eCommerce. True enough, the product has become a bestseller among the eBay population. Photosimile 5000 not only makes the creation of great product shots simple, but also features an "auction" button designed to customize images for eBay use.
Ortery is located in Irvine, California. Since its establishment in 2003, it has become the expert in designing and manufacturing photography automation machines. To date, about 15 percent of Ortery's business is derived from companies on eBay. Technical support for the Photosimile 5000 and other company products is offered for free.
Source:
http://www.new-technology-world.com/connect/index.php?do=/Admin/blog/ortery-3d-photosimile-technology-for-the-office/
IBM Magnetic Tape Storage Capabilities Goes Large...
Magnetic tape data storage was nothing new even in the '80s when IBM unveiled it's latest mainframe solution, the 3090. Magnetic tape was first used for data storage in 1951 on the Univac-1. It has come a long way in nearly 60 years. For example, the Univac-1 8-track magnetic tape data reel could store data at a density of 128 characters (or bytes) per inch. Assuming a 1,200 foot reel, a 1951 tape yielded a storage capacity of 1,843,200 bytes. That's not even enough to store a single top forty song with reasonably good sound quality in mp3 format.
Today's IBM magnetic tape data cartridges are capable of archiving over half a trillion bytes of information, or roughly enough capacity to store all of the books in the central library of a decent sized city.
Magnetic tape data storage is still in wide use. "But", you may wonder, "with large hard disk capacities and optical drives, why continue with magnetic tape data storage at all?" Because it makes economic sense, especially if these vast quantities of digital information can be stored in so small a package as the IBM TLO Generation 4 cartridges common today. Magnetic tape data storage is, gigabyte for gigabyte, currently anywhere from a fifth to a tenth as expensive hard disk drive storage, depending on the amount of information stored. It also has ecological benefits, as tape storage is far cheaper in terms of energy use as hard drive storage. As data density increases, costs go down.
However, IBM has just upped the ante by 44 times as compared to even their own latest generation tape cartridge. They have announced a new magnetic tape data storage prototype, developed in conjunction with Fuji Film, which is capable of storing 35 terabytes (that's 35 trillion Bytes) of information on a single tape. Do you like to read? That amount of storage is enough to store the books necessary to fill 248 miles of bookshelves. Bring your library card, a sack lunch, and maybe your passport, too - that's just a little bit longer than the entire nation of Switzerland.
The increase in cheap, reliable data storage becomes crucial when you consider that information is being stored digitally in exponentially larger volumes. The trend will continue. One of the largest single blocks of digital information is in the medical field, where access to information is widely shared among physicians the world over. Added to that is the storage of an increasing number of web sites, email accounts, student assignments and the transfer of paper archives such as genealogical records which continues apace. Without solutions to the emerging data storage problem, we would find ourselves unable to feed the growing digital appetite of the world. IBM's continued advancement of the field of magnetic tape data storage is not, therefore, simply a case of creative anachronism.
Source:
http://www.new-technology-world.com/connect/index.php?do=/Admin/blog/ibm-magnetic-tape-storage-capabilities-goes-large/
Today's IBM magnetic tape data cartridges are capable of archiving over half a trillion bytes of information, or roughly enough capacity to store all of the books in the central library of a decent sized city.
Magnetic tape data storage is still in wide use. "But", you may wonder, "with large hard disk capacities and optical drives, why continue with magnetic tape data storage at all?" Because it makes economic sense, especially if these vast quantities of digital information can be stored in so small a package as the IBM TLO Generation 4 cartridges common today. Magnetic tape data storage is, gigabyte for gigabyte, currently anywhere from a fifth to a tenth as expensive hard disk drive storage, depending on the amount of information stored. It also has ecological benefits, as tape storage is far cheaper in terms of energy use as hard drive storage. As data density increases, costs go down.
However, IBM has just upped the ante by 44 times as compared to even their own latest generation tape cartridge. They have announced a new magnetic tape data storage prototype, developed in conjunction with Fuji Film, which is capable of storing 35 terabytes (that's 35 trillion Bytes) of information on a single tape. Do you like to read? That amount of storage is enough to store the books necessary to fill 248 miles of bookshelves. Bring your library card, a sack lunch, and maybe your passport, too - that's just a little bit longer than the entire nation of Switzerland.
The increase in cheap, reliable data storage becomes crucial when you consider that information is being stored digitally in exponentially larger volumes. The trend will continue. One of the largest single blocks of digital information is in the medical field, where access to information is widely shared among physicians the world over. Added to that is the storage of an increasing number of web sites, email accounts, student assignments and the transfer of paper archives such as genealogical records which continues apace. Without solutions to the emerging data storage problem, we would find ourselves unable to feed the growing digital appetite of the world. IBM's continued advancement of the field of magnetic tape data storage is not, therefore, simply a case of creative anachronism.
Source:
http://www.new-technology-world.com/connect/index.php?do=/Admin/blog/ibm-magnetic-tape-storage-capabilities-goes-large/
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