Tech | Page 1456 | Science Codex

Saltwater boosts microbial electrolysis cells to cleanly produce hydrogen

A grain of salt or two may be all that microbial electrolysis cells need to produce hydrogen from wastewater or organic byproducts, without adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere or using grid electricity, according to Penn State engineers.

"This system could produce hydrogen anyplace that there is wastewater near sea water," said Bruce E. Logan, Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering. "It uses no grid electricity and is completely carbon neutral. It is an inexhaustible source of energy."

Cancer detection using an implantable GaN LED

Daejeon, the Republic of Korea, August 8, 2011—Can a flexible LED conformably placed on the human heart, situated on the corrugated surface of the human brain, or rolled upon the blood vessels, diagnose or even treat various diseases? These things might be a reality in the near future.

The team of Professor Keon Jae Lee (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KAIST) has developed a new concept: a biocompatible, flexible Gallium Nitride (GaN) LED that can detect prostate cancer.

Technology funding makes climate protection cheaper

To cost‑effectively protect the climate, not only an emissions trading scheme but also financial support for new technologies is needed. Economising on targeted funding, for example for renewable energies, makes climate protection more expensive ‑ as scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now calculated for the first time, using a complex computer simulation that spans the entire 21st century.

Brightest gamma ray on Earth -- for a safer, healthier world

The brightest gamma ray beam ever created- more than a thousand billion times more brilliant than the sun- has been produced in research led at the University of Strathclyde- and could open up new possibilities for medicine.

Physicists have discovered that ultra-short duration laser pulses can interact with ionised gas to give off beams that are so intense they can pass through 20 cm of lead and would take 1.5 m of concrete to be completely absorbed.

A Wi-fi way to measure the breathing of surgery patients

SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 19, 2011 – University of Utah engineers who built wireless networks that see through walls now are aiming the technology at a new goal: noninvasively measuring the breathing of surgery patients, adults with sleep apnea and babies at risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Foldit: Gamers solve longstanding scientific problem

Gamers have solved the structure of a retrovirus enzyme whose configuration had stumped scientists for more than a decade. The gamers achieved their discovery by playing Foldit, an online game that allows players to collaborate and compete in predicting the structure of protein molecules.

After scientists repeatedly failed to piece together the structure of a protein-cutting enzyme from an AIDS-like virus, they called in the Foldit players. The scientists challenged the gamers to produce an accurate model of the enzyme. They did it in only three weeks.

CQD improves performance of next-generation solar cell technology

Researchers from the University of Toronto, the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology and Pennsylvania State University have created the most efficient solar cell ever made based on collodial-quantum-dots (CQD), they report in the latest issue of Nature Materials.

Lasers could be used to detect roadside bombs

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A research team at Michigan State University has developed a laser that could detect roadside bombs – the deadliest enemy weapon encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As the subsidies go, so does cost of solar photovoltaic systems in the US

Berkeley, CA — The installed cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the United States fell in 2010 and into the first half of 2011, according to the latest edition of an annual PV cost tracking report released by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

First field-based molecular diagnostic test for African sleeping sickness in sight

'Subconscious mode' could improve Smartphone battery life over 50 percent

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A new "subconscious mode" for smartphones and other WiFi-enabled mobile devices could extend battery life by as much as 54 percent for users on the busiest networks.

University of Michigan computer science and engineering professor Kang Shin and doctoral student Xinyu Zhang will present their new power management approach Sept. 21 at the ACM International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking in Las Vegas. The approach is still in the proof-of-concept stage and is not yet commercially available.

Personalized 3-D avatars for patients may boost surgery success

An avatar is really no more than a graphical representation, generally human, which is associated with a user for identification purposes. Avatars can be either photographs or art drawings, and certain technologies enable their use in three dimensions.

Until now, 3D avatars were mainly used as fun objects for diversion and entertainment purposes of the end user. However, the Media Unit at Tecnalia has developed a "Personalised 3D avatars" technology, the aim of which is to facilitate the building of low-cost 3D avatars.

An electronic bucket brigade could boost solar cell voltages

If solar cells could generate higher voltages when sunlight falls on them, they'd produce more electrical power more efficiently. For over half a century scientists have known that ferroelectrics, materials whose atomic structure allows them to have an overall electrical polarization, can develop very high photovoltages under illumination. Until now, no one has figured out exactly how this photovoltaic process occurs.

A new MEMS device generates energy from small vibrations

Cambridge, Mass. - Today's wireless-sensor networks can do everything from supervising factory machinery to tracking environmental pollution to measuring the movement of buildings and bridges. Working together, distributed sensors can monitor activity along an oil pipeline or throughout a forest, keeping track of multiple variables at a time.

Good news plus lingering concerns for Deepwater Horizon cleanup workers

Several new studies of air and water near the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill conclude that cleanup workers may have escaped harm from one of the most worrisome groups of potentially toxic substances in the oil, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (CEN). But it cites concerns that another group of potentially harmful chemicals did escape from the water and could create a health hazard for cleanup workers.