#Small-scale nuclear fusion may be a new energy source Fusion energy may soon be used in small-scale power stations. This means producing environmentally friendly heating
and electricity at a low cost from fuel found in water. Both heating generators and generators for electricity could be developed within a few years,
according to research that has primarily been conducted at the University of Gothenburg. Nuclear fusion is a process
whereby atomic nuclei melt together and release energy. Because of the low binding energy of the tiny atomic nuclei, energy can be released by combining two small nuclei with a heavier one.
A collaboration between researchers at the University of Gothenburg and the University of Iceland has been to study a new type of nuclear fusion process.
This produces almost no neutrons but instead fast, heavy electrons (muons), since it is based on nuclear reactions in ultra-dense heavy hydrogen (deuterium)."
"This is a considerable advantage compared to other nuclear fusion processes which are under development at other research facilities,
"says Leif Holmlid, Professor Emeritus at the University of Gothenburg. No radiation The new fusion process can take place in relatively small laser-fired fusion reactors fuelled by heavy hydrogen (deuterium.
It has already been shown to produce more energy than that needed to start it. Heavy hydrogen is found in large quantities in ordinary water
and is easy to extract. The dangerous handling of radioactive heavy hydrogen (tritium) which would most likely be needed for operating large-scale fusion reactors with a magnetic enclosure in the future is therefore unnecessary."
"A considerable advantage of the fast heavy electrons produced by the new process is that these are charged
and can therefore produce electrical energy instantly. The energy in the neutrons which accumulate in large quantities in other types of nuclear fusion is difficult to handle
because the neutrons are charged not. These neutrons are high-energy and very damaging to living organisms,
whereas the fast, heavy electrons are considerably less dangerous.""Neutrons are difficult to slow down or stop and require reactor enclosures that are several metres thick.
Muons-fast, heavy electrons-decay very quickly into ordinary electrons and similar particles. Research shows that far smaller and simpler fusion reactors can be built.
The next step is to create a generator that produces instant electrical energy y
#A new single-molecule tool to observe enzymes at work A team of scientists at the University of Washington
and the biotechnology company Illumina have created an innovative tool to directly detect the delicate, single-molecule interactions between DNA and enzymatic proteins.
Their approach provides a new platform to view and record these nanoscale interactions in real time. As they report Sept. 28 in Nature Biotechnology("Subangstrom single-molecule measurements of motor proteins using a nanopore),
"this tool should provide fast and reliable characterization of the different mechanisms cellular proteins use to bind to DNA strands information that could shed new light on the atomic-scale interactions within our cells
and help design new drug therapies against pathogens by targeting enzymes that interact with DNA"There are other single-molecule tools around,
but our new tool is said far more sensitive senior author and UW physics professor Jens Gundlach."
"We can really pick up atomic-scale movements that a protein imparts onto DNA.""As can happen in the scientific process,
they developed this tool the single-molecule picometer-resolution nanopore tweezers, or SPRNT while working on a related project.
The UW team has been exploring nanopore technology to read DNA sequences quickly. Our genes are long stretches of DNA molecules,
which are made up of combinations of four chemical DNA"letters.""In their approach, Gundlach and his team measure an electrical current through a biological pore called Mspa,
which is embedded within a modified cell membrane. As DNA passes through a tiny opening in the pore an opening that is just 0. 00000012 centimeters wide,
Gundlach and his team, in the process of investigating nanopore sequencing, tried out a variety of molecular motors to move DNA through the pore.
Biologists have recognized long that proteins have different structures to perform these roles, but the physical motion of proteins as they work on DNA has been difficult to detect directly."
Gundlach and his team show that SPRNT is sensitive enough to differentiate between the mechanisms that two cellular proteins use to pass DNA through the nanopore opening.
according to co-author and UW physics doctoral student Jonathan Craig. They even discovered that these two steps involve sequential chemical processes that the protein uses to walk along DNA."
and that has a ton of implications from understanding how life works to drug design,
Gundlach believes this tool may open a new window for understanding how cellular proteins process DNA,
These fine details may also help scientists understand how mutations in proteins can lead to disease
or find protein properties that would be ideal targets for drug therapies.""For example, viral genes code for their own proteins that process their DNA,
"If we can use SPRNT to screen for drugs that specifically disrupt the functioning of these proteins,
Most commercial sunblocks are good at preventing sunburn, but they can go below the skin surface
made with bioadhesive nanoparticles, that stays on the surface of the skin. Results of the research appear in the Sept. 28 online edition of the journal Nature Materials. e found that
the Goizueta Foundation Professor of Biomedical engineering. anoparticles are large enough to keep from going through the skin surface,
and our nanoparticles are so adhesive that they don even go into hair follicles, which are relatively open.
Using mouse models, the researchers tested their sunblock against direct ultraviolet rays and their ability to cause sunburn.
In this regard, even though it used a significantly smaller amount of the active ingredient than commercial sunscreens,
the researchersformulation protected equally well against sunburn. They also looked at an indirect and much less studied effect of UV LIGHT.
When the active ingredients of sunscreen absorb UV LIGHT a chemical change triggers the generation of oxygen-carrying molecules known as reactive oxygen species (ROS.
said co-author Michael Girardi, a professor of dermatology at Yale Medical school. n fact, the indirect damage was worse
UV exposed skin vs nanoparticle-treated, UV exposed skin. The merged images from rows two and three of this figure show two images of skin cells showing DNA damage in the form of double-strand breaks in sunscreen-treated, UV
exposed skin vs nanoparticle-treated, UV exposed skin. Girardi, who specializes in skin cancer development and progression, said little research has been done on the ultimate effects of sunblock usage and the generation of ROS, ut obviously,
Previous studies have found traces of commercial sunscreen chemicals in usersbloodstreams, urine, and breast milk. There is evidence that these chemicals cause disruptions with the endocrine system
the researchers developed a nanoparticle with a surface coating rich in aldehyde groups, which stick tenaciously to the outer skin layer.
The nanoparticle hydrophilic layer essentially locks in the active ingredient, a hydrophobic chemical called padimate O. Some sunscreen solutions that use larger particles of inorganic compounds, such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide,
By using a nanoparticle to encase padimate O an organic chemical used in many commercial sunscreens,
#Tattoo-like electronic health patches may now be cheaper and easier to make A team of researchers in the Cockrell School of engineering at The University of Texas at Austin has invented a method for producing inexpensive and high-performing wearable patches
potentially outperforming traditional monitoring tools such as cardiac event monitors. The researchers published a paper on their patent-pending process in Advanced Materials.
Led by Assistant professor Nanshu Lu, the team's manufacturing method aims to construct disposable tattoo-like health monitoring patches for the mass production of epidermal electronics,
a popular technology that Lu helped develop in 2011. The team's breakthrough is a repeatable"cut
The researchers believe their new method is compatible with roll-to-roll manufacturing--an existing method for creating devices in bulk using a roll of flexible plastic and a processing machine.
Reliable, ultrathin wearable electronic devices that stick to the skin like a temporary tattoo are a relatively new innovation.
"One of the most attractive aspects of epidermal electronics is their ability to be said disposable,
and portable process for producing these electronics, which, unlike the current method, does not require a clean room, wafers and other expensive resources and equipment.
which is similar in scope to 3-D printing but different in that material is removed instead of added.
industrial-quality metal deposited on polymer sheets. First, an electronic mechanical cutter is used to form patterns on the metal-polymer sheets.
Second, after removing excessive areas, the electronics are printed onto any polymer adhesives, including temporary tattoo films.
The cutter is programmable so the size of the patch and pattern can be customized easily.
Deji Akinwande, an associate professor and materials expert in the Cockrell School, believes Lu's method can be transferred to roll-to-roll manufacturing."
In each test, the researchers'newly fabricated patches picked up body signals that were stronger than those taken by existing medical devices,
including an ECG/EKG, a tool used to assess the electrical and muscular function of the heart.
"We are trying to add more types of sensors including blood pressure and oxygen saturation monitors to the low-cost patch
#Highest efficiency hydrogen production under natural sunlight Researchers at the University of Tokyo and Miyazaki University have produced hydrogen under natural sunlight at an energy conversion efficiency of 24.4,
using high efficiency solar cells to power water electrolysis("A 24.4%solar to hydrogen energy conversion efficiency by combining concentrator photovoltaic modules and electrochemical cells").
Increased demand for hydrogen as a clean fuel for vehicles and other applications is anticipated, but it is produced currently from fossil fuel.
In order to increase Japan use of renewable energy at a substantial fraction in the total energy demand, it is vital to develop technologies for the high efficiency
The research group of Associate professor Masakazu Sugiyama and Project Professor Katsushi Fujii (Graduate school of Engineering
The University of Tokyo) and Associate professor Kensuke Nishioka (Miyazaki University) used concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules,
which includes a photovoltaic cell using a high-quality semiconductor crystal similar to the ones for lasers
and LEDS operating under the focal point of an optical lens. The solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency of this CPV module is as high as 31%.
%The researchers also reduced energy loss by improving the connection between the CPV modules and electrolyzers, resulting in a solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency above 24%.
%he CPV modules and the electrolyzers used in this experiment are commercially available and it is possible to produce hydrogen under sunlight at a high efficiency with an appropriate system design for each installation,
says Associate professor Sugiyama. He continues, he CPV modules are comparatively expensive but if operated in countries with high solar irradiance it would be possible to generate solar electricity at low cost owing to the high energy conversion efficiency.
In the near future, the cost of hydrogen produced by CPV modules and electrolyzes is expected to be below the target price of the United states Department of energy of 4 US dollars per kilogram. l
#Brightness-equalized quantum dots improve biological imaging Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have introduced a new class of light-emitting quantum dots (QDS) with tunable and equalized fluorescence brightness
across a broad range of colors. This results in more accurate measurements of molecules in diseased tissue and improved quantitative imaging capabilities."
"In this work, we have made two major advances--the ability to precisely control the brightness of light-emitting particles called quantum dots,
an assistant professor of bioengineering at Illinois."Previously light emission had an unknown correspondence with molecule number.
and cancer cells to help us unravel disease mechanisms, and for characterizing cells from diseased tissue of patients.""
"Brightness-Equalized Quantum dots,"published this week in Nature Communications. According to the researchers, these new materials will be especially important for imaging in complex tissues
and tunable number of photons per tagged biomolecule. They are expected also to be used for precise color matching in light-emitting devices and displays,
and for photon-on-demand encryption applications. The same principles should be applicable across a wide range of semiconducting materials."
allow quantitative multicolor imaging in biological tissue, and improve color tuning in light-emitting devices.
These attributes should lead to new LEDS and display devices not only with precisely matched colors--better color accuracy and brightness--but also with improved performance lifetime and improved ease of manufacturing."
"QDS are already in use in display devices (e g. Amazon Kindle and a new Samsung TV
#Physicists succeed in direct detection of vacuum fluctuations What are the properties of the vacuum, the absolute nothingness?
Alfred Leitenstorfer at the University of Konstanz (Germany) has succeeded in doing just that. They demonstrated a first direct observation of the so-called vacuum fluctuations by using short light pulses
when the intensity of light and radio waves completely disappears. These findings are of fundamental importance for the development of quantum physics
and magnetic fields can never vanish simultaneously. As a consequence, even total darkness is filled with finite fluctuations of the electromagnetic field,
representing the quantum ground state of light and radio waves. However, until now direct experimental proof of this basic phenomenon has been considered impossible.
Instead, it is assumed usually that vacuum fluctuations are manifested in nature only indirectly. From spontaneous emission of light by excited atoms e g. in a fluorescent tube to influences on the structure of the universe during the Big Bang:
An experimental setup to measure electric fields with extremely high temporal resolution and sensitivity has made now it possible to directly detect vacuum fluctuations,
The research team at the University of Konstanz developed these technologies in-house and also an exact description of the results based on quantum field theory.
#Nanoscale photodetector shows promise to improve the capacity of photonic circuits Photonic circuits, which use light to transmit signals,
are markedly faster than electronic circuits. Unfortunately, they're also bigger. It's difficult to localize visible light below its diffraction limit, about 200-300 nanometers,
and as components in electronic semiconductors have shrunk to the nanometer scale, the photonic circuit size limitation has given electronic circuits a significant advantage,
despite the speed discrepancy. Now researchers at the University of Rochester have demonstrated a key achievement in shrinking photonic devices below the diffraction limit--a necessary step on the road to making photonic circuits competitive with today's technology.
The scientists developed a nanoscale photodetector that uses the common material molybdenum disulfide to detect optical plasmons--travelling oscillations of electrons below the diffraction limit
--and successfully demonstrated that light can drive a current using a silver nanowire.""Our devices are a step towards miniaturization below the diffraction limit,
"said Kenneth Goodfellow, a graduate student in the laboratory of the Quantum Optoelectronics and Optical Metrology Group, The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, New york."
"It is a step towards using light to drive, or, at least complement electronic circuitry for faster information transfer."
"The team will present their work at the Frontiers in Optics, The Optical Society's annual meeting and conference in San jose, California, USA, on 22 october 2015.
The device expands on previous work demonstrating that light could be transmitted along a silver nanowire as a plasmon
the light corresponded to the band gap of Mos2, rather than solely to the laser's wavelength, demonstrating that the plasmons effectively nudged the electrons in Mos2 into a different energy state."
"The natural next idea would be to see if this type of device would be able to be used as a photodetector,
To do this, the group transferred a silver nanowire coated at one end with Mos2 onto a silicon substrate
the energy was converted into plasmons, a form of electromagnetic wave that travels through oscillations in electron density.
This energy electronically excited an electron once it reached the molybdenum disulfide-covered end effectively generating a current.
and performance was limited at shorter wavelengths due to ineffective plasmon propagation and at longer wavelengths due to the band gap of molybdenum disulfide."
but this work helps to feed the current effort, "Goodfellow said. Future work for the group includes reducing potential contamination in device assembly by transitioning to a complete dry transfer of wires and Mos2 onto prefabricated electrodes,
as well as gaining better control of the Mos2 doping process to add additional charge carriers and improve the device's efficiency.
About the Presentation The presentation,"Detection of Optical Plasmons Using an Atomically-Thin Semiconductor, "by Kenneth Goodfellow, will take place from 15:30-17:00, Thursday, 22 october 2015,
A media room for credentialed press and analysts will be located on-site in The Fairmont Hotel, 18-22 october 2015.
Media interested in attending the event should register on the Fio website media center: Media Center r
#Developing a nanoscale'clutch'A model microscopic system to demonstrate the transmission of torque in the presence of thermal fluctuations-necessary for the creation of a tiny'clutch'operating at the nanoscale-has been assembled at the University of Bristol as part of an international collaboration (Nature
Physics,"Transmission of torque at the nanoscale"."When driving a car, the clutch mechanically carries the torque produced by the engine to the chassis of the vehicle-a coupling that has long been tested
and optimized in such macroscopic machines, giving us highly efficient engines. For microscopic machines, however, developing a clutch
which would operate at the nanoscale is much more challenging because, at microscopic length scales,
different physics need to be considered. Thermal fluctuations play an increasingly dominant role as a device is miniaturised,
leading to increased dissipation of energy and the need to develop new design principles. In the model microscopic system developed by scientists from Bristol
Dr Paddy Royall of the University of Bristol said:""This device looks a lot like a washing machine,
but the dimensions are tiny. Through optical manipulation the particle ring can be squeezed at will, altering the coupling between the driven and loaded parts of the assembly and providing a clutch-like operation mode."
"Exploiting the softness of nanomaterials gives us additional and unprecedented control mechanisms which may be employed when designing microscopic machines,
In addition to the experiments performed at the University of Bristol, physicists at the University of Düsseldorf have developed model computer simulations to further investigate torque coupling at the nanoscale.
This enables the measurement of nanomachine efficiency, which is small but can be optimised through careful control of the system parameters.
The researchers have identified three different transmission regimes: a solid-like scenario which transmits torque much like a macroscopic gear;
a liquid-like scenario in which much of the energy input is lost to friction and an intermediate slipping scenario unique to soft materials
"A basic understanding of the coupling process will give us insight into the construction of nanomachines, in
Professor Hartmut Loewen of the University of Düsseldorf d
#A quantum logic gate in silicon built for the for the first time (w/video) The significant advance, by a team at the University of New south wales (UNSW) in Sydney appears today in the international journal Nature("A two-qubit logic gate in silicon"."
""What we have is a game changer, "said team leader Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor and Director of the Australian National Fabrication Facility at UNSW."
"We've demonstrated a two-qubit logic gate-the central building block of a quantum computer-and, significantly, done it in silicon.
Because we use essentially the same device technology as existing computer chips, we believe it will be much easier to manufacture a full-scale processor chip than for any of the leading designs,
which rely on more exotic technologies.""This makes the building of a quantum computer much more feasible,
since it is based on the same manufacturing technology as today's computer industry, "he added. The advance represents the final physical component needed to realise the promise of super-powerful silicon quantum computers,
which harness the science of the very small-the strange behaviour of subatomic particles-to solve computing challenges that are beyond the reach of even today's fastest supercomputers.
In classical computers, data is rendered as binary bits, which are always in one of two states:
0 or 1. However, a quantum bit (or'qubit')can exist in both of these states at once, a condition known as a superposition.
A qubit operation exploits this quantum weirdness by allowing many computations to be performed in parallel (a two-qubit system performs the operation on 4 values, a three-qubit system on 8, and so on."
"If quantum computers are to become a reality, the ability to conduct one-and two-qubit calculations are said essential
-and thereby create a logic gate-using silicon. But the UNSW team-working with Professor Kohei M. Itoh of Japan's Keio University-has done just that for the first time.
The result means that all of the physical building blocks for a silicon-based quantum computer have now been constructed successfully
allowing engineers to finally begin the task of designing and building a functioning quantum computer. A key advantage of the UNSW approach is that they have reconfigured the'transistors'that are used to define the bits in existing silicon chips,
and turned them into qubits.""The silicon chip in your smartphone or tablet already has around one billion transistors on it,
with each transistor less than 100 billionths of a metre in size,"said Dr Menno Veldhorst,
a UNSW Research Fellow and the lead author of the Nature paper.""We've morphed those silicon transistors into quantum bits by ensuring that each has only one electron associated with it.
We then store the binary code of 0 or 1 on the'spin'of the electron,
which is associated with the electron's tiny magnetic field, "he added. Dzurak noted that that the team had patented recently a design for a full-scale quantum computer chip that would allow for millions of our qubits,
all doing the types of calculations that we've just experimentally demonstrated.""He said that a key next step for the project is to identify the right industry partners to work with to manufacture the full-scale quantum processor chip.
Such a full-scale quantum processor would have major applications in the finance, security and healthcare sectors, allowing the identification
and development of new medicines by greatly accelerating the computer-aided design of pharmaceutical compounds (and minimizing lengthy trial and error testing);
the development of new, lighter and stronger materials spanning consumer electronics to aircraft; and faster information searching through large databases s
#Flame retardant nanocoating is derived naturally and nontoxic (w/video) Inspired by a naturally occurring material found in marine mussels,
researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have created a new flame retardant to replace commercial additives that are often toxic
and can accumulate over time in the environment and living animals, including humans. Flame retardants are added to foams found in mattresses, sofas, car upholstery and many other consumer products.
Once incorporated into foam, these chemicals can migrate out of the products over time, releasing toxic substances into the air and environment.
Throughout the United states there is pressure on state legislatures to ban flame retardants, especially those containing brominated compounds (BRFS),
a mix of human-made chemicals thought to pose a risk to public health. A team led by Cockrell School of engineering associate professor Christopher Ellison found that a synthetic coating of polydopamine--derived from the natural compound dopamine--can be used as a highly effective, water-applied flame retardant for polyurethane foam.
Dopamine is a chemical compound found in humans and animals that helps in the transmission of signals in the brain and other vital areas.
The researchers believe their dopamine-based nanocoating could be used in lieu of conventional flame retardants.
this question of toxicity immediately goes away, "Ellison said.""We believe polydopamine could cheaply and easily replace the flame retardants found in many of the products that we use every day,
including cancer drug delivery and implantable biomedical devices. However the UT Austin team is thought to be one of the first to pursue the use of polydopamine as a flame retardant.
Free radicals are produced during the fire cycle as a polymer degrades, and their removal is critical to stopping the fire from continuing to spread.
which blocks fire's access to its fuel source--the polymer. The synergistic combination of both these processes makes polydopamine an attractive and powerful flame retardant.
Ion channels are typically about 1 nanometer wide; by maintaining the right balance of ions, they keep cells healthy and stable.
Each graphene pore is less than 2 nanometers wide, making them among the smallest pores through
or selectivities, says Rohit Karnik, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. Karnik says graphene nanopores could be useful as sensors for instance,
detecting ions of mercury, potassium, or fluoride in solution. Such ion-selective membranes may also be useful in mining:
In the future, it may be possible to make graphene nanopores capable of sifting out trace amounts of gold ions from other metal ions, like silver and aluminum.
Karnik and former graduate student Tarun Jain, along with Benjamin Rasera, Ricardo Guerrero, Michael Boutilier, and Sean Oern from MIT and Juan-carlos Idrobo from Oak ridge National Laboratory, publish their results today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology("Heterogeneous sub-continuum ionic transport in statistically isolated graphene nanopores").
"Dynamic personality In living cells, the diversity of ion channels may arise from the size and precise atomic arrangement of the channels,
which are slightly smaller than the ions that flow through them. hen nanopores get smaller than the hydrated size of the ion,
The researchers used the process to generate nanometer-sized pores in various sheets of graphene,
The researchers then isolated individual pores by placing each graphene sheet over a layer of silicon nitride that had been punctured by an ion beam
and then through the larger silicon nitride hole. The group measured flows of five different salt ions through several graphene sheet setups by applying a voltage and measuring the current flowing through the pores.
Based on the model, they found that the diameter of many of the pores was below 1 nanometer,
Knowing this, researchers may one day be able to tailor pores at the nanoscale to create ion-specific membranes for applications such as environmental sensing and trace metal mining. t kind of a new frontier in membrane technologies,
Meni Wanunu, an assistant professor of physics at Northeastern University, says the group work with graphene membranes may significantly improve on commercial membranes used for water purification,
The work here is fundamental, and will surely guide current and future graphene membrane design principles in years to come. e
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