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Berkeley Lab Researchers Create a Nonlinear Light-generating Zero-Index MetaMaterial

By Guest PostJanuary 3, 2014Scienceberkeley lab, chemical composition, efficient light generation, first plasmonic nanolasers, four wave mixing, future quantum networks, haim suchowski, information age, kevin obrien, light generating, multidirectional emission, nonlinear, nonlinear optics, photon direction, quantum processors, silicon nitride membrane, supercomputers, technique, vacuum, xiang zhang, zero index metamaterial, zero refractive index

Holds Promise for Future Quantum Networks and Light Sources

The Information Age will get a major upgrade with the arrival of quantum processors many times faster and more powerful than today’s supercomputers. For the benefits of this new Information Age 2.0 to be fully realized, however, quantum computers will need fast and efficient multi-directional light sources. While quantum technologies remain grist for science fiction, a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have taken an important step towards efficient light generation, the foundation for future quantum networks. (more…)

Researchers Find Simple, Cheap Way to Increase Solar Cell Efficiency

By Guest PostJanuary 3, 2014Sciencechinese academy, donor:acceptor morphology, electron acceptor, electron donor, electronic structure, energy particles, energy source, fabrication costs, harald ade, highest, homo, jianhui hou, light, lijun huo, lowest, lumo, maojie zhang, molecular structure, north Carolina, occupied molecular orbit, pbt op, polymer, researcher, sciences, solar cells, state university, unoccupied molecular orbit, xray analysis

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found an easy way to modify the molecular structure of a polymer commonly used in solar cells. Their modification can increase solar cell efficiency by more than 30 percent.

Polymer-based solar cells have two domains, consisting of an electron acceptor and an electron donor material. Excitons are the energy particles created by solar cells when light is absorbed. In order to be harnessed effectively as an energy source, excitons must be able to travel quickly to the interface of the donor and acceptor domains and retain as much of the light’s energy as possible. (more…)

TB bacteria mask their identity to intrude into deeper regions of lungs

By Guest PostJanuary 3, 2014Healthinfection killing cells, samples of tb, tb causing bacteria, tb cells, tb infections, tb pathogens, tuberculosis infections

TB-causing bacteria appear to mask their identity to avoid recognition by infection-killing cells in the upper airways. The bacteria call up more permissive white blood cells in the deeper regions of the lungs and hitch a ride inside them to get into the host’s body. (more…)

Libelle des Jahres 2014 ist die Kleine Moosjungfer

By Guest PostJanuary 3, 2014Naturebund, die odonatologen gesellschaft, gdo, guenter l loos, hochmooren, leucorrhinia dubia, moosjungfer, nehle hoffer

Berlin: Die Kleine Moosjungfer (Leucorrhinia dubia) ist Libelle des Jahres 2014. Das teilten der Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) und die Gesellschaft deutschsprachiger Odonatologen (GdO) mit. Entsprechend der Roten Liste der in Deutschland heimischen Libellen werde die Kleine Moosjungfer inzwischen als “gefährdet” eingestuft. In einigen Regionen sei ihr Bestand bereits rückläufig, so die Verbände.

“Die Gefährdung der Libellen steht beispielhaft für die generelle Bedrohung der Natur. Die Kleine Moosjungfer leidet unter dem Schwund von Mooren, in denen sie normalerweise häufig vorkommt. Überhöhter Fischbesatz, Drainagen, Nährstoffeinträge aus dem Verkehr und aus der industriellen Landwirtschaft sind die Hauptursachen für den Rückgang der Libellen”, sagte Nehle Hoffer, Libellenexpertin beim BUND. (more…)

UChicago researchers use Hubble Telescope to reveal cloudy weather on alien world

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2014Sciencealien world, astronomers, atmosphere, bjorn benneke, clouds, constellation ophiuchus, drake deming, earth, exoplanets, gj 1214b, heavy molecule, high altitude clouds, hubble telescope, jacob bean, jacob l bean, jean michel desert, laura kreidberg, milky way galaxy, NASA, neptune, university of chicago, water vapor

Weather forecasters on exoplanet GJ 1214b would have an easy job. Today’s forecast: cloudy. Tomorrow: overcast. Extended outlook: more clouds.

That’s the implication of a study led by researchers in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago who have definitively characterized the atmosphere of a super-Earth class planet orbiting another star for the first time. (more…)

Arctic 30-Aktivisten – endlich zu Hause

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2014Environmentalexandra harris, anne mie, arctic 30 aktivisten, arctic sunrise, benjamin borgerding, daenemark, dima litvinov, dmitri sharomov, fsb, gazprom bohrinsel, geheimdienst, gizem akhan, grossbritannien, iain rogers, parlament, polen, prirazlomnaya, roer jensen, russland, st. petersburg, tomasz dziemianczuk, tuerkei, wladimir putin

Am 29. Dezember konnte sich auch Tomasz Dziemianczuk aus Polen auf die Heimreise machen. Jetzt haben alle 26 nicht-russischen Arctic 30-Aktivisten Russland verlassen, wo sie nach einem friedlichen Protest an einer Gazprom-Bohrinsel rund 100 Tage lang festgesetzt waren.

Nach der Amnestie durch das russische Parlament hatten bis zum Freitag alle nicht-russischen Aktivisten unter den Arctic 30 die zur Ausreise benötigten Stempel in ihren Pässen. Dima Litvinov erklärte vor seiner Abreise aus St. Petersburg:

„Ich habe nie bereut, was wir getan haben, nicht ein einziges Mal, nicht im Gefängnis und auch nicht jetzt. Sie haben uns nicht für das ins Gefängnis geworfen, was wir getan haben, sondern für das, wofür wir stehen. Die Ölindustrie in der Arktis hat Angst vor abweichenden Meinungen, und das völlig zurecht!“ (more…)

Online Science Expedition Brings Deep Sea Vents to the Computer Screen

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2014Environmentdeep sea, deep sea vents, hydrothermal vents, mid ocean ridge, science expedition

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s ‘Dive and Discover’ Begins Jan. 2, 2014

Scientists and engineers using advanced technology and a unique robotic vehicle to study the deep sea will also be using their computers to interact with students, teachers, and the public about the research they are conducting. (more…)

Water in cells behaves in complex and intricate ways

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2014Sciencealbert einstein, biological action, cell machinery, charles brooks, computer simulation, dexter, distance, kevin kubarych, liquid, manhattan, phenomenon, picosecond timescale, protein, protein surface, proteins are hydrophobic, quantum entanglement, spooky action, university of michigan, water in cells

ANN ARBOR — In a sort of biological “spooky action at a distance,” water in a cell slows down in the tightest confines between proteins and develops the ability to affect other proteins much farther away, University of Michigan researchers have discovered.

On a fundamental level, the findings show some of the complex and unexpected ways that water behaves inside cells. In a practical sense, they could provide insights into how and why proteins clump together in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Understanding how proteins aggregate could help researchers figure out how to prevent them from doing so. (more…)

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