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A team led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers has discovered a groundbreaking one-step process for creating materials with unique properties, called metamaterials. Their results show the realistic possibility of designing similar self-assembled structures with the potential of creating “built-to-order” nanostructures for wide application in electronics and optical devices.

The research was published and featured on the cover of Nano Letters, a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society.

In general, metamaterials are materials made in the lab so as to provide specific physical, chemical, electrical, and optical properties otherwise impossible to find in naturally occurring materials. These materials can have unique properties which make them ideal for a variety of applications from optical filters and medical devices to aircraft soundproofing and infrastructure monitoring. Usually these nano-scale materials are painstakingly produced in a specialized clean room environment over days and weeks in a multi-step fabrication process.

Summary: A newly developed technique dubbed NeuroPAL is helping researchers investigate the dynamics of neural networks in the nervous system of microscopic worms.

Source: Columbia University.

The human brain contains approximately 86 billion neurons, or nerve cells, woven together by an estimated 100 trillion connections, or synapses. Each cell has a role that helps us to move muscles, process our environment, form memories, and much more.

O,.o circa 2019.

The latest from NASA’s X-plane series could make Concorde-style supersonic commercial flights a reality again without the deafening sonic boom noise.

Circa 2014

A NASA study has recently concluded that the “Cannae Drive,” a disruptive new method of space propulsion, can produce small amounts of thrust without the use of propellant, in apparent discordance with Newton’s third law. According to its inventor, the device can harness microwave radiation inside a resonator, turning electricity into a net thrust. If further verified and perfected, the advance could revolutionize the space industry, dramatically cutting costs for both missions in deep space and satellites in Earth orbit.

The basic principle behind space propulsion is very simple: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Use a rocket engine to throw mass one way, get propelled the other way. And according to the law of conservation of momentum, the more mass you throw behind you and the faster you throw it, the stronger your forward thrust will be.

Continue reading “NASA says puzzling new space drive can generate thrust without propellant” »

Since we last explored the Brown Mountain Lights (March/April 1995), new scientific research teams were formed, the Burke County Tourism Authority offered sold-out symposia, the lights were featured in a National Geographic show and more.

Erik Rintamaki was searching for rocks on a Michigan beach last summer when he made what he calls a “mind blowing” discovery. Resting among the thousands of pebbles covering the Lake Superior beach, Rintamaki saw a glowing rock.

Farms that grow metal-rich plants are cropping up around the world and promise a greener, less destructive alternative to mining for rare minerals.

Moonshot Thinking For Aging, Mental Health, And Drug Re-Purposing — Dr. Tim R. Peterson.

Washington University in St. Louis.

Continue reading “Dr. Tim R. Peterson — Moonshot Thinking For Aging, Mental Health, And Drug Re-Purposing” »

Smartwatches and other battery-powered electronics would be even smarter if they could run AI algorithms. But efforts to build AI-capable chips for mobile devices have so far hit a wall—the so-called “memory wall” that separates data processing and memory chips that must work together to meet the massive and continually growing computational demands imposed by AI.

“Transactions between processors and memory can consume 95 percent of the energy needed to do machine learning and AI, and that severely limits battery life,” said computer scientist Subhasish Mitra, senior author of a new study published in Nature Electronics.

Now, a team that includes Stanford computer scientist Mary Wootters and electrical engineer H.-S. Philip Wong has designed a system that can run AI tasks faster, and with less energy, by harnessing eight hybrid chips, each with its own data processor built right next to its own memory storage.