Tag Archives: plastic

IBM Scientists Demonstrate Quantum Phenomenon for the First Time Using a Plastic Film

By Guest PostDecember 10, 2013Science, Technologyalbert einstein, bec, big data, bose einstein condensation, bosons, computer systems, energy efficient lasers, exabytes, Germany, ibm research, johannes d plumhof, lijian mai, luminescent polymer, macroscopic quantum phenomena, macroscopic scale, nanometers, non crystalline, optical switches, particles, petabytes, picoseconds, plastic, polymer film, polymeric layer, quantum mechanical phenomenon, quantum simulations, quantum world, rainer f mahrt, satyendranath bose, smartphones, thilo stoferle, ullrich scherf, university of wuppertal

Originally predicted in the 1920s by Satyendranath Bose and Albert Einstein, applications could include energy-efficient lasers and optical switches, critical components for future computer systems processing Big Data

ZURICH – 10 Dec 2013: For the first time, scientists at IBM Research have demonstrated a complex quantum mechanical phenomenon known as Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), using a luminescent polymer (plastic) similar to the materials in light emitting displays used in many of today’s smartphones.

This discovery has potential applications in developing novel optoelectronic devices including energy-efficient lasers and ultra-fast optical switches — critical components for powering future computer systems to process massive Big Data workloads. The use of a polymer material and the observation of BEC at room temperature provides substantial advantages in terms of applicability and cost. (more…)

Underwater Robot

By Guest PostFebruary 27, 2013Sciencearthur trembanis, carter duval, ceoe, coast of delaware, create sonar images, douglas miller, high definition, laundry basket, marine samples, mark moline, metal frame, navigation system, navy, number of mussels, palau, plastic, plume of water, record video, redbird artificial reef, remotely operated vehicle, research expedition, rov, scientists, swimming pool, underwater robot, university of delaware, waterproof video cameras, western pacific

New remotely operated vehicle to aid UD marine research efforts

UD researchers discuss a new underwater robot that will assist in marine research.

An underwater robot made a splash at a University of Delaware swimming pool recently in a test of the new equipment, which will soon be used in field research by College of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE) scientists.

The device, called a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), can dive deep below the ocean surface to record video, create sonar images and retrieve objects. (more…)

UCLA Researchers Develop New Technique to Scale up Production of Graphene Micro-Supercapacitors

By Guest PostFebruary 24, 2013Sciencebatteries, capacitors, cmos, complementary, consumer grade, dvd burner, electrodes, electronic circuits, electronic devices, energy storage units, grapheme based supercapacitors, graphene micro supercapacitors, graphite oxide, graphite oxide dispersion, graphitic carbon, groundbreaking technique, identification tags, integrated fabrication processes, layer, lightscribe dvd burner, lightscribe optical drive, maher el kady, mems, metal oxide semiconductors, micro electromechanical systems, micro scale, micro supercapacitors, miniaturization, one atom thick, plastic, radio frequency, richard kaner, single atom, third dimension, water

While the demand for ever-smaller electronic devices has spurred the miniaturization of a variety of technologies, one area has lagged behind in this downsizing revolution: energy-storage units, such as batteries and capacitors.

Now, Richard Kaner, a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA and a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Maher El-Kady, a graduate student in Kaner’s laboratory, may have changed the game. (more…)

Speaking of Ethics

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2012Environmentatmosphere, baby albatross, bird, bottle caps, brown lab, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate crisis, delaware, distribution, earth, Environment, environmental ethics, environmental philosopher, ethical responsibility, extinction, gulf, history, human, human rights, joy, kathleen dean moore, life, Mexico, moral obligation, Nature, notion, ocean, oil companies, oil spill, oregon, organism, planet, plastic, principle, protect, relationship, species, spring creek project, state university, stomach, university, violation, world

Lecturer explores the imperatives of environmental ethics

Speaking to University of Delaware faculty and students and community members in Brown Lab on Monday night, Oct. 15, environmental philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore discussed how important it is for humans to realize their ethical responsibility to save the world from a climate crisis.

In a lecture titled “Why It’s Wrong to Wreck the World: Climate Change and the Moral Obligation to the Future,” Moore reflected on the relationship humans have with the environment and argued that once humans realize the impact of their actions, they will naturally feel a moral obligation to care for the planet. (more…)

Not Your Parents’ Chem Labs

By Guest PostApril 25, 2012Educationacetone, anti-inflammatory, balance, benzene, borneol, carbon dioxide, carbon trachloride, catalyst, chalcone, chemical industry, chemistry, cloves, cookbook chemistry, cylindrical container, deane morrison, density, environmental problem, extract, fluid, general chemistry labs, graduated cylinder, grams per milliliter, greener, hazardous, industry, inorganic chemistry, james wollack, jane wissinger, josh jansen, lindsay nevalainen, liquid, marc hillmyer, michelle driessen, molecule, oil, organic chem, organic molecule, plastic, renewable resources, scale, sodium bromide, solution, solvent, university of minnesota, volume

‘Greener’ and more engaging experiments draw students in

As a college student, Michelle Driessen had an all-too-typical experience.

“I hated general chemistry,” she says. “I thought it was terribly boring.”

She had plenty of company. Experiments were all laid out in advance, and the goal seemed to be to get to a predetermined result without blowing up the glassware.

In the old days, “very few students appreciated the point of most general chemistry labs,” adds Driessen. “With cookbook chemistry, you couldn’t have anything go wrong or deviate [from what’s supposed to happen], but I find those things to be the most interesting part of science.” (more…)

Better Organic Electronics

By Guest PostMarch 22, 2012Science5tba, allard katan, berkeley lab, conductance, crystal structure, d5tba, derivative, dh5tba, doe, electron, electron diffraction patterns, florent martin, intuition, lynn yarris, metal, miquel salmeron, molecular foundry, molecule, nanometer, nanoscience center, organic electronic device, organic film, organic semiconductor, pentathiophene butyric acid, plastic, polymer electronics, semiconductor, shaul aloni, silicon nitride membrane, tem, trial and error, virginia altoe

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Show the Way Forward for Improving Organic and Molecular Electronic Devices*

Future prospects for superior new organic electronic devices are brighter now thanks to a new study by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Working at the Lab’s Molecular Foundry, a DOE nanoscience center, the team has provided the first experimental determination of the pathways by which electrical charge is transported from molecule-to-molecule in an organic thin film. Their results also show how such organic films can be chemically modified to improve conductance.

“We have shown that when the molecules in organic thin films are aligned in particular directions, there is much better conductance,” says Miquel Salmeron, a leading authority on nanoscale surface imaging who directs Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division and who led this study. “Chemists already know how to fabricate organic thin films in a way that can achieve such an alignment, which means they should be able to use the information provided by our methodology to determine the molecular alignment and its role on charge transport across and along the molecules. This will help improve the performances of future organic electronic devices.” (more…)

UA Engineer Launches Robotic Planetary Lake Lander

By Guest PostMarch 18, 2012Environment, Scienceair propellers, alex jacobs, autonomous, big sky, daiichi, debris, environmental research, fukushima, garbage patches, gyres, hazardous environments, internet connection, liquid hydrocarbon, moon, NASA, nuclear plant, pete brown, planet, planetary exploration, plastic, pollutants, radioactive element, robotic lake lander, rovers, saturn, styrofoam hulls, tex ii, tier scalable reconnaissance, titan, tokyo electric power, tucson explorer ii, university of arizona, wolfgang fink

Wolfgang Fink of the University of Arizona department of electrical and computer engineering has developed an autonomous robotic lake lander that could be used to explore this planet and others.

Fink unveiled the lake lander, named Tucson Explorer II, or TEX II, in a paper titled “Robotic Lake Lander Test Bed for Autonomous Surface and Subsurface Exploration of Titan Lakes,” which he presented March 8 at an aerospace conference organized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Big Sky, Mont. (more…)

Yale Students’ Trip to Rainforest Yields New Way to Degrade Plastic

By Guest PostAugust 7, 2011EnvironmentAmazon rainforest, biological activity, bioremediation, degrade polyurethane, endophytes, enzyme, equador, fungi, howard hughes medical institute, jeffrey huang, jonathan r russell, kaury kucera, new haven, organisms, plastic, pria anand, rainforest plants, yale rainforest expedition, yale students, yale undergraduates

Organisms discovered by Yale undergraduates growing within fungi in the Amazon Rainforest can degrade polyurethane, a findings that may lead to innovative ways to reduce waste in the world’s landfills.

The paper, accepted for publication in July by the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, is the work of undergraduates who participated in Yale’s Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory course, funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. (more…)