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Archive for the ‘materials’ category: Page 284

Feb 10, 2016

Bending Light

Posted by in category: materials

This material allows light to bend as it travels through it.

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Feb 9, 2016

NYC Startup Aims to 3D Print Bones with Patients‘ Own Stem Cells

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, materials

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NKeeHahhNL4

When the idea of a medical transplant is brought up, most people’s thoughts are usually drawn to procedures such as blood transfusions or organ replacements. But, oftentimes, we forget the importance of our bone structure, as well as the 2 million painful bone transplants that take place every year around world. Previously stuck in a Medieval-like operation method, surgeons had little option but to replace their patients’ bones with the bones of animals or human cadavers, and even this procedure can oftentimes led to complications due to the body’s rejection of the foreign replacement. But 3D bioprinting has been a major influence in changing the entire nature of this traditional surgical procedure, new methods of creating bone grafts have been developed by researchers around the world from Montana State University to Tokyo. 3D printing has become a recent revelation in skeletal reconstruction surgery, with 3D printed synthetic implants and even harvested stem cell materials proving to be a much safer and efficient surgical alternative.

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Feb 8, 2016

Quantum Levitation

Posted by in categories: materials, quantum physics, transportation

Researchers at the school of physics and astronomy at Tel Aviv University have created a track around which a superconductor (a material that is extremely efficient at transmitting electricity) can float, thanks to the phenomenon of “quantum levitation “.

This levitation effect is explained by the Meissner effect, which describes how, when a material makes the transition from its normal to its superconducting state, it actively excludes magnetic fields from its interior, leaving only a thin layer on its surface.

When a material is in its superconducting state — which involves very low temperatures — it is strongly diamagnetic. This means that when a magnetic field is externally applied, it will create an equally opposing magnetic field, locking it in place.

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Feb 8, 2016

Chiral magnetic effect generates quantum current

Posted by in categories: computing, materials, quantum physics

Another step forward for Quantum — The Quantum Current. US Dept. of Energy has a new method to generate very low-resistance electric (Quantum) current which will improve our methods for energy, quantum computing, and medical imaging, and possibly even a new mechanism for inducing superconductivity—the ability of some materials (zirconium pentatelluride) to carry current with no energy loss.

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Feb 8, 2016

It seems life really does have a vital spark: quantum mechanics

Posted by in categories: materials, particle physics, quantum physics

We all have “Quantum Spark”.


For centuries philosophers have grappled with the question of what makes life, and thanks to the science of quantum mechanics we might just have the answer, writes Johnjoe McFadden.

What is life? Why is the stuff of life — flesh — so different from inanimate material? Does life obey the same laws as the inanimate world? And what happens when we die?

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Feb 5, 2016

Northwestern University researchers develop a hybrid polymer

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, electronics, materials, nanotechnology

What would be really cool is have a “Computer Screen in a Can”; take your polymer spray and instantly create a screen on a table, a window, suitcase, etc. with your “Computer Screen in a Can”; U Can! I can just imagine the infomercials. On a more serious note — NW Univ has developed a new Hybrid Polymer which is going to expand the capabilities of polymer into so many areas in medicine, to manufacturing, electronics, self reparing material & devices, etc.

http://www.compositesworld.com/news/northwestern-university-…id-polymer


A completely new hybrid polymer has been developed by Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) researchers.

“We have created a surprising new polymer with nano-sized compartments that can be removed and chemically regenerated multiple times,” said materials scientist Samuel Stupp, the senior author of the study and director of Northwestern’s Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology. The study was published in the Jan. 29 issue of Science.

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Feb 5, 2016

Space and Technology Review: Our Home Among the Stars

Posted by in categories: energy, food, materials, policy, singularity, space

At Singularity University, space is one of our Global Grand Challenges (GGCs). The GGCs are defined as billion-person problems. They include, for example, water, food, and energy and serve as targets for the innovation and technologies that can make the world a better place.

You might be thinking: We have enough challenges here on Earth—why include space?

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Feb 5, 2016

Ourobotics takes home Silicon Valley Google Award with 10 material bioprinter

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, materials, robotics/AI

Bioprinting companies can be successful at start-up investment conferences, although they are sometimes outshone by more immediately accessible products. Bioprinters have the potential to drastically change life expectancy and quality in the long term, but can “only” help out with scientific research in the short term and that, often, is not exciting enough for start-up awards.

That was not the case at the recent SVOD (Silicon Valley Open Doors) Europe, an investment conference that began in 2005 and went global in 2015. The event then came to Europe for the first time in an effort to connect the Eastern European tech community with more established ecosystems. This year, the event took place in Ireland and “local” startupper Jemma Redmond took home the top prize with the Ourobotics 10 material 3D bioprinter.

I have been following Jemma and her team’s progress, from the pre-conference preparation all the way up to her presentation, via Facebook feed and other updates. The event took place at Google’s Dublin HQ and the winning team received, among other things, $5,000 in Google Adwords credits. Clearly happy about this success, Jemma told me they faced off against 25 other teams.

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Feb 5, 2016

Elon Musk and Spacex to reveal the Spacex Mars roadmap at IAC from Sept 26-30th 2016

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, materials, space travel

At the StartmeupHK Festival in Hong Kong, Musk stated that he was prepared to unveil SpaceX’s Mars roadmap at the International Astronautical Conference, which will take place from September 26 to 30 in Mexico. And according to Berger of Ars Technica, Musk’s plan may call for the kick-off of humans to Mars by 2025, a fairly ambitious goal that puts it nearly a decade ahead of NASA’s nebulous Mission to Mars plans.

SpaceX is working on the Falcon Heavy, a rocket ready to debut later this year capable of lifting 58 tons of material into Low Earth Orbit, which is about four times the lifting power of the Falcon 9. It’s specs are just a few hairs short of NASA’s own Space Launch System, the largest rocket since the Saturn V rockets that carried out the Apollo moon landings.

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Feb 4, 2016

Purifying Water with Leaf-mimicking Device

Posted by in categories: food, materials, solar power, sustainability

New method to make purify water and eliminate clean water shortages in the future by purifying waste water via artificial leafing.


Contaminated water can be cleaned up to varying levels of purity with a new artificial leaf. Photo: American Chemical Society For years, scientists have been pursuing ways to imitate a leaf’s photosynthetic power to make hydrogen fuel from water and sunlight. In a new twist, a team has come up with another kind of device that mimics two of a leaf’s processes — photosynthesis and transpiration — to harness solar energy to purify water. Their development, reported in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, could help address issues of water scarcity.

More than 1 billion people around the world live in areas where clean water is hard to come by, and that number will likely rise as the population grows.

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