Researchers in electrical and computer engineering at University of California, Santa Barbara have introduced and modeled an integrated circuit design scheme in which transistors and interconnects are monolithically patterned seamlessly on a sheet of graphene, a 2-dimensional plane of carbon atoms. The demonstration offers possibilities for ultra energy-efficient, flexible, and transparent electronics.
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MATERIALS—Improving panel performance . . .
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — As older workers increasingly contemplate delaying retirement or putting it off entirely, they should also consider the financial-planning options available in Social Security, Medicare and employment-based retirement plans such as IRAs and 401(k) accounts, says a University of Illinois expert on taxation and retirement benefits.
According to a paper by law professor Richard L. Kaplan, such options are relevant not only to the non-retirees, but also potentially to a surviving spouse.
Scientists used the powerful X-ray laser at the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to create movies detailing trillionths-of-a-second changes in the arrangement of copper atoms after an extreme shock. Movies like these will help researchers create new kinds of materials and test the strength of existing ones.
WASHINGTON, D.C. Oct. 22, 2013 -- Photovoltaic devices, which tap the power of the sun and convert it to electricity, offer a green -- and potentially unlimited -- alternative to fossil fuel use. So why haven't solar technologies been more widely adopted?
Quite simply, "they're too expensive," says Ji-Seon Kim, a senior lecturer in experimental solid-state physics at Imperial College London, who, along with her colleagues, has come up with a technology that might help bring the prices down.
A new University of Texas at Arlington study about the elimination of malaria in the 1930s American South may have significant implications for solving modern day malaria outbreaks in parts of Africa, Central and Latin America, and Asia.
Researchers challenged a leading argument that movement of Southern tenant farmers away from mosquito breeding grounds was the dominant factor in the decline of malaria in U.S. during the 1930s.
The use of booze and drugs among truck drivers on the road is common, but seems to be mainly linked to poor working conditions, finds a systematic analysis of the available evidence published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
An accompanying editorial describes the research findings as "a cause for concern," not only in terms of the impact on drivers' health, but also because of the risk posed to road safety.
Nitrogen fertilizer applied to crops lingers in the soil and leaks out as nitrate for decades towards groundwater – "much longer than previously thought," scientists in France and at the University of Calgary say in a new study.
Thirty years after synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer had been applied to crops in 1982, about 15 per cent of the fertilizer N still remained in soil organic matter, the scientists found.
As electronics approach the atomic scale, researchers are increasingly successful at developing atomically thin, virtually two-dimensional materials that could usher in the next generation of computing. Integrating these materials to create necessary circuits, however, has remained a challenge.
Researchers from Cornell University have identified some agricultural management practices in the field that can either boost or reduce the risk of contamination in produce from two major foodborne pathogens: salmonella, the biggest single killer among the foodborne microbes, and Listeria monocytogenes. Their findings are published ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Cambridge, Mass. – October 21, 2013 – Active camouflage has taken a step forward at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), with a new coating that intrinsically conceals its own temperature to thermal cameras.
UPTON, NY-When it comes to designing extremely water-repellent surfaces, shape and size matter. That's the finding of a group of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, who investigated the effects of differently shaped, nanoscale textures on a material's ability to force water droplets to roll off without wetting its surface.
SALINAS, CA--In the coastal valleys of central California, where more than 80% of the United States' strawberry crops are grown, there is developing concern about the impact of these vast production systems on groundwater contamination. According to a study published in the August 2013 issue of HortScience, changes in growers' cultural practices and the introduction of new cultivars has increased strawberry yields in the region by 140% during the past 50 years.
USAK, TURKEY -- The high cost of vegetable crop seeds--hybrids in particular--has led growers to seek out new precision seeding and transplant production systems. The quality of vegetable seed lots can be affected by a variety of pre-storage and post-storage factors, so finding ways to improve seedling emergence percentages and uniformity is critically important for producers.
Imagine buildings in which the windows allow the sun's light to enter, and at the same time capture the energy from the sun needed to meet all their energy needs. In this seemingly futuristic scenario, the windows become productive solar cells that help us decrease our reliance on fossil fuels and advance towards a greener and cleaner environment.