A fevered search for the next great high-energy, rechargeable battery technology is on. Scientists are now reporting they have overcome key obstacles toward making lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, which have the potential to leave today's lithium-ion technology in the dust. Their study appears in the ACS journal Nano Letters.
Tech
As nations zero in on the UN's post-2015 global Sustainable Development Goals, innovations being successfully pioneered and demonstrated in Malaysia offer several proven tactical ideas for improving the world, says an influential international sustainable development networking organization.
A chin strap that can harvest energy from jaw movements has been created by a group of researchers in Canada.
It is hoped that the device can generate electricity from eating, chewing and talking, and power a number of small-scale implantable or wearable electronic devices, such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, electronic hearing protectors and communication devices.
The first results of the device's performance have been published today, 17 September, in IOP Publishing's journal Smart Materials and Structures.
New research led by the University of Leicester in the UK gives a blow-by-blow account of the injuries inflicted on King Richard III's body at the Battle of Bosworth Field on Aug 22, 1485. Modern forensic analysis of the King's skeletal remains reveals that three of his injuries had the potential to cause death quickly—two to the skull (page 4, figure 4) and one to the pelvis (page 5, figure 6).
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Ensuring that corn absorbs the right balance of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is crucial to increasing global yields, a Purdue and Kansas State University study finds.
Wearable electronic activity monitors hold great promise in helping people to reach their fitness and health goals. These increasingly sophisticated devices help the wearers improve their wellness by constantly monitoring their activities and bodily responses. This information is organized into companion computer programs and mobile apps.
As the number of children with food allergies in the U.S. increases, so does the risk of children having a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis on school campuses. School nurses often have treatment plans in place for students with diagnosed allergies, but many children have their first allergic reactions at school, where a specific medication, such as EpiPen epinephrine injectors, may not be available and a response protocol may not be in place.
Access to female-controlled contraceptive methods must be improved in order to help women and girls to counteract any risks to their reproductive health caused by intimate partner violence and reproductive coercion,* according to US experts writing in this week's PLOS Medicine.
Jay Silverman and Anita Raj from the University of California in San Diego explain that intimate partner violence is a major contributor to poor reproductive outcomes, such as unintended pregnancy, among women and girls around the world.
A new point-of-care test to measure CD4 T-cells, the prime indicator of HIV disease progression, can expedite the process leading from HIV diagnosis to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and improve clinical outcomes. Now a study by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators, working in collaboration with colleagues in Mozambique and South Africa, indicates that routine use of point-of-care CD4 testing at the time of HIV diagnosis could be cost effective in countries where health care and other resources are severely limited.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – From cell phones to cars and flashlights, batteries play an important role in everyday life. Scientists and technology companies constantly are seeking ways to improve battery life and efficiency. Now, for the first time using a water-based solution, researchers at the University of Missouri have created a long-lasting and more efficient nuclear battery that could be used for many applications such as a reliable energy source in automobiles and also in complicated applications such as space flight.
Cambridge, Mass. – September 16, 2014 – Silicon has few serious competitors as the material of choice in the electronics industry. Yet transistors, the switchable valves that control the flow of electrons in a circuit, cannot simply keep shrinking to meet the needs of powerful, compact devices; physical limitations like energy consumption and heat dissipation are too significant.
Approval of the Keystone XL pipeline (KXL) would likely increase oil sands extraction, according to 26 oil sands professionals and researchers surveyed by the non-profit organization Near Zero. The results are detailed in the report, "Keystone XL: The Climate Impact," and includes both supporters and opponents of the pipeline.
This additional extraction of oil sands could lead to significantly higher greenhouse gas emissions, with the exact amount depending largely on how markets respond.
Twenty-five years ago, the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound. Americans found themselves cleaning up another giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, news coverage of environmental disasters serves to calm our immediate anxieties instead of catalyzing changes in the way fossil fuels are used.
The quest to create artificial "squid skin" -- camouflaging metamaterials that can "see" colors and automatically blend into the background -- is one step closer to reality, thanks to a breakthrough color-display technology unveiled this week by Rice University's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP).