Published in Chemistry World, 12 Jan 2012
The Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), based in Tokai, was supposed to be one of the leading facilities of its kind, allowing an unprecedented view of microstructures in the life and physical sciences. But when the $1.5 billion (£1 billion) facility opened in 2009, it was missing something important: helium-3, a neutron-detector material. Thanks to a global shortage, which came to light the year before, availability of helium-3 has plummeted while prices have skyrocketed.
J-PARC needs 100,000 litres of helium-3 to run properly, but has secured only 85,000 litres.
Faced with such a massive shortfall, J-PARC, together with more than a dozen other neutron-scattering facilities all over the world, is now investigating alternatives to helium-3 neutron detectors. And they’re not the only ones. Government agencies are also in on the search, because border security devices have traditionally used helium-3 to detect the transport of illicit, neutron-emitting radioactive material. But with helium-3 reserves eroding rapidly, the question is whether these alternatives will arrive soon enough and whether they can help all helium-3 users. [...]
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Published in Physics World, 1 Jan 2012
Scientists at the computing firm IBM have demonstrated a prototype of their next generation “racetrack” memory that can be made to work with standard silicon technology, as used in conventional computer chips. The development of IBM’s novel memory could provide a major step towards “universal” devices that combine the advantages of both hard disk drives and solid-state memory such as flash drives that are used in USB sticks. [...]
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Posted in Nanotechnology, Technology | Comments Off
Published in Physics World, 1 Jan 2012
Five scientists talk to Jon Cartwright about why they are drawn to problems on the border between biology and physics.
People go into biophysics for a variety of motivations, but if one reason stands out, it is this: it focuses on phenomena that are familiar to all of us. While some topics in physics can seem esoteric and far removed from everyday life, biophysics can be more personal. How does a cell work, for example, or what is the molecular basis of AIDS? These are questions to which everyone can relate.
Yet perhaps biophysics is also attractive to scientists because it is fairly new, and draws from many other disciplines. You might have trained as a nuclear physicist, a computer programmer or a physical chemist and still have much to offer. Here, five scientists with interests in biophysics – all with very different backgrounds – reveal what they enjoy about their subject. [...]
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Published in ScienceNOW, 15 Dec 2011
Tired of washing your clothes? In the future, the chore might be as easy as hanging them in the sun, according to researchers who have developed a type of self-cleaning cotton. The idea is not totally new: Coatings such as titanium dioxide have long been known to have self-cleaning properties. When light strikes, the compound emits oppositely charged particles known as electron-hole pairs, which encourage so-called oxidation reactions, breaking down organic material such as dirt. [...]
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Posted in Condensed matter, Technology | Comments Off
Published in ScienceNOW, 14 Dec 2011
Amplifying electrical signals while minimizing noise is crucial to a lot of modern technology. Now, scientists have created a device that amplifies microwaves with almost the minimum amount of noise allowed by quantum mechanics. The device could be used to process the sensitive outputs of quantum computers, which are expected to outperform conventional computers in years to come.
Noise is ever-present in electrical signals. Some of it arises simply because atoms have heat—they jostle around, knocking into one another. But even when there is no heat—that is, when temperatures have dropped close to absolute zero—noise remains. That’s because of a fundamental tenet of quantum mechanics, which says that space is always filled with fluctuating energy, or quantum jitters. [...]
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Published in Chemistry World, 13 Dec 2011
Researchers in Germany claim to have created the world’s smallest molecular switch, relying on the movement of just a single proton. The switch could help scientists to develop molecular electronics for ultra-small computing devices.
Molecules have long been proposed as alternative circuit components. In 1974, IBM researchers described how a single molecule could pass current in just one direction, thereby acting as a diode, and since then various other components, such as transistors and switches, have been put forward. In theory, single molecule electronics should be smaller than their silicon counterparts, and may require less power. [...]
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Published in ScienceNOW, 12 Dec 2011
Red and yellow and pink and green—for scientists, a rainbow isn’t much of a mystery. Sunlight bounces off raindrops, splitting into its constituent colors and heading backwards at a precise angle, which makes a rainbow appear as a semicircle wherever you stand. But what about two rainbows at once? Now, researchers performing computer simulations think they have an explanation for this odd phenomenon. [...]
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Published in ScienceNOW, 9 Dec 2011
Detecting tiny amounts of gases might seem dull, but when it comes to spotting traces of toxic substances that are intended for chemical attacks, it can make the difference between life and death. Now, scientists have improved the sensitivity of gas detection almost 1000 times over, paving the way for more-rigorous security operations and even a novel way of performing carbon dating. [...]
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Published in Physics World, 8 Dec 2011
Independent analyses of data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have found no trace of low-mass dark matter – the mysterious substance thought to make up much of the universe. The results appear to go against recent direct evidence for low-mass dark matter, although some physicists believe there is no conflict.
Dark matter is an invisible substance thought to make up nearly a quarter of the mass/energy of the universe. While its gravitational pull is needed to explain the properties of massive structures such as galaxies, it does not interact strongly with light and has therefore yet to be observed directly. The most popular candidates for dark matter are so-called weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). To spot these WIMPs directly, researchers have built detectors in underground labs where the low background noise ought to allow any signals to stand out. These detector experiments include DAMA and CRESST, both based underground at the Gran Sasso laboratory in central Italy, and CoGeNT, based in the Soudan mine in the US. [...]
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Published in Chemistry World, 6 Dec 2011
Capturing carbon dioxide from the air to mitigate climate change is likely to be too expensive to be practical, a new study suggests. The study, which has examined the thermodynamics of different carbon-capture methods, implies that removing a tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere will cost in the region of $1000 (£640).
Carbon capture is one of the most popular ideas to combat climate change. The process can either be performed at large ‘point sources’ like fossil-fuel power plants, which emit high concentrations of CO2, or indeed anywhere to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels. Once the CO2 is captured, it must be purified and stored so it can no longer have an effect on the climate. [...]
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