Nanoreporters tell 'sour' oil from 'sweet'
Houston TX (SPX) Apr 25, 2014 -
Scientists at Rice University have created a nanoscale detector that checks for and reports on the presence of hydrogen sulfide in crude oil and natural gas while they're still in the ground.
The nanoreporter is based on nanometer-sized carbon material developed by a consortium of Rice labs led by chemist James Tour and is the subject of a new paper published this month in the American Che ...
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Steering chemical reactions with laser pulses
Vienna, Austria (SPX) Apr 25, 2014 -
Usually, chemical reactions just take their course, much like a ball rolling downhill. However, it is also possible to deliberately control chemical reactions: at the Vienna University of Technology, molecules are hit with femtosecond laser pulses, changing the distribution of electrons in the molecule. This interaction is so short that at first it does not have any discernable influence on the ...
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'Off-the-shelf' equipment used to digitize insects in 3-D
London, UK (SPX) Apr 25, 2014 -
Scientists have developed a cost-effective, off-the-shelf system to obtain natural-color 3D models of insects, according to results published April 23, 2014, in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Chuong Nguyen from CSIRO in Australia, and colleagues.
Scientists studying insects rely on collected specimens that are often shared between scientists through written descriptions, diagrams, and ...
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New material coating technology mimics nature's lotus effect
Blacksburg VA (SPX) Apr 25, 2014 -
Ever stop to consider why lotus plant leaves always look clean? The hydrophobic - water repelling - characteristic of the leaf, termed the "Lotus effect," helps the plant survive in muddy swamps, repelling dirt and producing beautiful flowers.
Of late, engineers have been paying more and more attention to nature's efficiencies, such as the Lotus effect, and studying its behavior in order t ...
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US to Dodge Solar Shortage This Year Even Amid New Antidumping Fines on Chinese Module Suppliers
Munich, Germany (SPX) Apr 25, 2014 -
A long-running battle in the global photovoltaic (PV) market between the United States and China over antidumping and subsidy charges could expand into higher solar costs, with wide-ranging ramifications for the U.S. if punitive tariffs are levied on Taiwanese cells.
However, enough tariff-free capacity should still be available in 2014 to ensure there are no shortages in the United States ...
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New design for mobile phone masts could cut carbon emissions
Bristol, UK (SPX) Apr 25, 2014 -
A breakthrough in the design of signal amplifiers for mobile phone masts could deliver a massive 200MW cut in the load on UK power stations, reducing CO2 emissions by around 0.5 million tonnes a year.
Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Universities of Bristol and Cardiff have designed an amplifier that works at 50 per cent efficiency compared with ...
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Vacuum Ultraviolet Lamp of the Future Created in Japan
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 25, 2014 -
A team of researchers in Japan has developed a solid-state lamp that emits high-energy ultraviolet (UV) light at the shortest wavelengths ever recorded for such a device, from 140 to 220 nanometers. This is within the range of vacuum-UV light - so named because while light of that energy can propagate in a vacuum, it is quickly absorbed by oxygen in the air.
This fact makes vacuum UV ligh ...
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