Category: Science & Engineering

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From Engadget: MIT ‘microthrusters’ are the size of a penny, could reposition tiny satellites

MIT 'microthrusters' are the size of a penny, could reposition tiny satellites

Bus-sized satellites require massive engines for even the slightest movements, but as far smaller structures become a possibility, a tiny driving mechanism can offer usable thrust. To serve this next-gen tech, MIT saw a need to develop “microthrusters,” which are each the size of a penny and can be mounted to tiny cubed satellites. With thruster components measuring a few microns each, the magnetic levitation system is able to accommodate 500 microscopic tips that emit ion beams in a very small package, serving to push two-pound structures through space. The tiny devices have not made their way into orbit yet, but they have been tested in a vacuum chamber. Because of their size, it’s possible to add several to each satellite, then enabling sophisticated movements for more precise turns.

There are currently two dozen “CubeSats” in orbit, each measuring only slightly larger than a Rubik’s cube, but without any thrusters to power them, positioning can’t be adjusted once they’re released. Because of their current location, CubeSats eventually burn up in the atmosphere, but once they’re released farther from Earth, they won’t be able to enter the atmosphere on their own, remaining in orbit as “space junk” even after completing their missions — micro thrusters could also serve to move these satellites closer to the planet so they can burn up during re-entry. There’s no word on when, or even if, MIT’s invention will make its way to the launchpad, but you can take a closer look in the demo video after the break.

 

from Engadget

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From Engadget: Korean carbon-coated lithium-ion battery could cut recharge times down to minutes

Korean, carboncoated lithiumion battery could cut recharge times down to minutes

Anyone who’s had to recharge an EV — or, for that matter, any mobile device with a very big battery — knows the pain of waiting for hours while a lithium-ion pack tops up. South Korea’s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology has developed a conduction technique that could cut that charging time down to less than a minute. By dousing the nanoparticle materials of the battery in a graphite solution that’s then carbonized, the researchers make a web of conductors that all start charging at once; current batteries have to charge towards the center slowly, like a not-very-edible Tootsie Pop. The immediate goal is to develop a secondary battery for an EV that could provide extra mileage in a matter of seconds. Here’s hoping that the Ulsan team’s fast-charging battery is more viable than others and spreads to just about everything — we’d love to have EVs and laptops alike that power up in as much time as it takes to fill a traditional car at the pump.

[Image credit: iFixit]

 

from Engadget

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From Geeks are Sexy Technology News: QR Codes Under Threat From New Tech


Korean researchers say they’ve found a way to produce an alternative to QR codes that takes up less space, carries far more data, yet costs very little.

The solution involves a rectenna, which takes its name from ‘rectifying antenna’ rather than rectangular. It’s effectively a tiny AC/DC converter that works with microwave energy.

The idea is to harness the energy from a smartphone’s radio waves, convert it to a DC current, and use that to power the data transmission from a chip that can be put onto posters or other displays. It’s a similar concept to Near Field Communications, used in several smartphone “swipe to pay” or “tap to pay” tools, but would allow two-way communication.

The development from Sunchon National University and the Paru Printed Electronics Research Institute is to produce the rectenna using electronic inks. That greatly reduces costs as the rectennas (or rectennae) can simply be printed in rolls rather than produced in a more complicated fashion. The researchers believe each rectenna produced this way could cost as little as 1.5 cents.

Another benefit is that it’s possible to print an extra layer on top the rectenna that contains visual information for the user. This means there’s no need to either print a separate explanation of what the visible chip is for, or to take up space with a QR “barcode” and either explain it or hope people know what it is.

 

from Geeks are Sexy Technology News

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From Discover Magazine: Light-activated, Nano-sized Protein Factories Show Promise For Drug Delivery | 80beats

particle

Some of the most exciting medical research these days involves light. Light therapy for cancer, in which a tumor-seeking dye becomes toxic as soon as a light is switched on, manages to avoid slaughtering nearby healthy cells. Optogenetics—using light to turn on or off the expression of neurons—has advanced researchers’ understanding of neurological diseases.

Now, a recent paper is a reminder that light might someday be used for exquisitely tailored drug delivery: in this paper, tiny packages bearing all the molecular machinery to build a protein are idle when injected into mice, but spring into action when exposed to UV light.

The nanoparticles, which you can see a schematic of above, are little envelopes of cellular membrane, wrapped around a basic set of protein-building machinery and the gene for whatever you’d like manufactured—the researchers used a glowing fluorescent protein for their test. The gene can’t be accessed by the machinery because it is sealed into a loop by a piece of molecular adhesive, but shine a UV light on it, and the adhesive unsticks. Then the machinery transcribes the gene, and the protein is expressed. The researchers found that when they injected the particles into mice and …

 

from Discover Magazine

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From Engadget: Amateur archaeologist finds possible pyramids using Google Earth

Amateur archaeologist finds possible pyramids using Google Earth

While most Google Earth hobbyists are satisfied with a bit of snapping and geotagging, some have far loftier ambitions. Satellite archaeologist Angela Micol thinks she’s discovered the locations of some of Egypt’s lost pyramids, buried for centuries under the earth, including a three-in-a-line arrangement similar to those on the Giza Plateau. Egyptologists have already confirmed that the secret locations are undiscovered, so now it’s down to scientists in the field to determine if it’s worth calling the diggers in.

 

from Engadget

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From Discover Magazine: 20 Things You Didn’t Know About… Deserts

cracked, dry desert

3  There are parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile where no rain has ever been recorded. Scientists believe portions of the region have been in an extreme desert state for 40 million years—longer than any other place on Earth.

5  If you get lost in the desert, you don’t have to urinate on your shirt and wear it on your head like Bear Grylls to avoid dying of thirst. You can suck water from the branches of some palms, such as buri and rattan.

9  The world record for crossing the Sahara by bicycle was set in 2011 by Reza Pakravan, 36, a market security analyst in London, who made the 1,084-mile journey in 13 days, 5 hours, 50 minutes, and 14 seconds. He started in Algeria, cycled south, then turned east through Niger and Chad to reach Sudan.

16  In northeastern China, a Green Great Wall of shrubs and trees now being planted may win back the edges of the Gobi Desert. The wall will eventually stretch 2,800 miles from outer Beijing through Inner Mongolia…

Image: Shutterstock

from Discover Magazine

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From Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now: Giant 3-D Printer to Make An Entire House in 20 Hours

3-D Printing Concrete Houses Contour Crafting

3-D printers can make airplanes and their parts, food and more – why not entire buildings? A professor at the University of Southern California aims to print out whole houses, using layers of concrete and adding plumbing, electrical wiring and other guts as it moves upward.

Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis at USC created a layered fabrication method he calls Contour Crafting, which he says can be used to build a single house or “a colony of houses.” It could be used with concrete or adobe, he says. Khoshnevis has been developing the system for several years and hosted a presentation about it at a recent TEDx event.

It would use a movable gantry taller than the house you want to build. Concrete pours out and is set down layer by layer, like a typical 3-D printer would sinter plastic together. It could be ideal for emergency housing, commercial or low-income structures, but it could also be used to print out customized luxury homes, according to Khoshnevis. Or, he adds, it might be ideal for the moon or Mars. “Contour Crafting technology has the potential to build safe, reliable, and affordable lunar and Martian structures, habitats, laboratories, and other facilities before the arrival of human beings,” his website reads.

Khoshnevis is hardly the only 3-D printing expert advocating this – Enrico Dini, the Italian inventor of the D-Shape 3-D printer, wants to 3-D print moon buildings out of lunar regolith.

On Earth, the automated system could prevent delays, injuries and other labor issues related to human workers. With this system, maybe a 3-D printer could beat the Chinese attempt to construct the world’s tallest building in three months.

[via Dvice]

 

from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now