Solar Cells with 60% Efficiency?
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.7 / 5 (159) |
19
Nuclear Engineer Lonnie Johnson, best known for his invention of the super soaker squirt gun, has recently designed a new type of solar energy technology that he says can achieve a conversion efficiency rate ...
Integral discovers the galaxy’s antimatter cloud is lopsided
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.5 / 5 (52) |
1
The shape of the mysterious cloud of antimatter in the central regions of the Milky Way has been revealed by ESA’s orbiting gamma-ray observatory Integral. The unexpectedly lopsided shape is a new clue to ...
The leading 'edge': plastic fibre slashes network costs
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.6 / 5 (46) |
0
Plans in the 1990s to bring ultra-high speed telecom lines into every home foundered because the optical fibre infrastructure was just too expensive. But a new European project using plastic fibre and off-the-shelf ...
480 million-year-old fossil sheds light on 150-year-old paleontological mystery
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.5 / 5 (46) |
3
Discovery of an exceptional fossil specimen in southeastern Morocco that preserves evidence of the animal’s soft tissues has solved a paleontological puzzle about the origins of an extinct group of bizarre ...
'Invisibility cloaks' could break sound barriers
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.4 / 5 (40) |
5
Contrary to earlier predictions, Duke University engineers have found that a three-dimensional sound cloak is possible, at least in theory.
Earth: A Borderline Planet for Life?
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.4 / 5 (36) |
15
Our planet is changing before our eyes, and as a result, many species are living on the edge. Yet Earth has been on the edge of habitability from the beginning. New work by astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian ...
Solar Cells Can Take the Heat
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.3 / 5 (36) |
2
Solar cells have attracted global attention as one of the cornerstones of alternative energy. In theory, it seems to make abundant sense to tap into the energy of the sun to convert light to electricity with little or no ...
Surprise -- cholesterol may actually pose benefits, study shows
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.5 / 5 (31) |
1
If you’re worried about high cholesterol levels and keeping heart-healthy as you get older, don’t push aside bacon and eggs just yet. A new study says they might actually provide a benefit.
How We Localize Surround Sound
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.3 / 5 (32) |
2
You're walking down a busy street, with cars and buses driving past and bits of conversations reaching your ears, when you hear someone call your name. You turn about 60 degrees to your left and look up to ...
Quakes under Pacific floor reveal unexpected circulatory system
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.5 / 5 (28) |
1
Zigzagging some 60,000 kilometers across ocean floors, earth’s system of mid-ocean ridges plays a pivotal role in many workings of the planet, from its plate-tectonic movements to heat flow from the interior, ...
Galaxy may hold hundreds of rogue black holes
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.8 / 5 (24) |
7
If the latest simulation of what happens when black holes merge is correct, there could be hundreds of rogue black holes, each weighing several thousand times the mass of the sun, roaming around the Milky ...
An 'attractive' man-machine interface
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.7 / 5 (21) |
2
Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have developed a new “nanobiotechnology” that enables magnetic control of events at the cellular level. They describe the technology, which could lead to finely-tuned but noninvasive ...
Ames Laboratory beefing up magnets for electric-drive cars
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.3 / 5 (19) |
2
Ask Iver Anderson at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory about consumer interest in and desire for “ultragreen” electric-drive vehicles, and he’ll reply without a moment’s hesitation that the trend ...
Track People from your PC with PocketFinder
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.4 / 5 (15) |
0
A new pocked-sized device may soon help parents keep track of their young children, aging parents, or even pets - all through a PC or phone.
When Worlds Collide: Have Astronomers Observed the Aftermath of a Distant Planetary Collision?
Jan 09, 2008 |
4.1 / 5 (15) |
1
Astronomers announced today that a mystery object orbiting a star 170 light-years from Earth might have formed from the collision and merger of two protoplanets. The object, known as 2M1207B, has puzzled astronomers ...
