First-ever look inside a working lithium-ion battery
Columbus OH (SPX) Sep 09, 2014 -
For the first time, researchers have been able to open a kind of window into the inner workings of a lithium-ion battery. Using a neutron beam, chemists and engineers at The Ohio State University were able to track the flow of lithium atoms into and out of an electrode in real time as a battery charged and discharged.
The study, published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edit ...
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Co-flowing liquids can stabilize chaotic 'whipping' in microfluidic jets
Atlanta GA (SPX) Sep 09, 2014 -
Industrial wet spinning processes produce fibers from polymers and other materials by using tiny needles to eject continuous jets of liquid precursors. The electrically charged liquids ejected from the needles normally exhibit a chaotic "whipping" structure as they enter a secondary liquid that surrounds the microscopic jets.
But the liquid jets sometimes form a helical wave. And that was ...
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Live from inside a battery
Munich, Germany (SPX) Sep 05, 2014 -
Lithium-ion batteries are seen as a solution for energy storage of the future and have become indispensible, especially in electromobility. Their key advantage is that they are able to store large amounts of energy but are still comparatively light and compact. However, when metallic lithium forms and deposits during charging it can lead to a reduced battery lifespan and even short-circuits.
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International Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Data Goes Public
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 05, 2014 -
The most accurate and comprehensive collection of rain, snowfall and other types of precipitation data ever assembled now is available to the public. This new resource for climate studies, weather forecasting, and other applications is based on observations by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, a joint mission of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), w ...
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Mantle plumes crack continents
Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Sep 09, 2014 -
In some parts of the Earth, material rises upwards like a column from the boundary layer of the Earth's core and the lower mantel to just below the Earth's crust hundreds of kilometres above. Halted by the resistance of the hard crust and lithospheric mantle, the flow of material becomes wider, taking on a mushroom-like shape. Specialists call these magma columns "mantle plumes" or simply "plume ...
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Trinity geologists re-write Earth's evolutionary history books
Dublin, Ireland (SPX) Sep 09, 2014 -
Geologists from Trinity College Dublin have rewritten the evolutionary history books by finding that oxygen-producing life forms were present on Earth some 3 billion years ago - a full 60 million years earlier than previously thought. These life forms were responsible for adding oxygen (O2) to our atmosphere, which laid the foundations for more complex life to evolve and proliferate.
Worki ...
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Brown Tide Algae Exploit Nutrient-Rich Coastlines
New York NY (SPX) Sep 09, 2014 -
The sea-grass beds of Long Island's Great South Bay once teemed with shellfish. Clams, scallops and oysters filtered nutrients from the water and flushed money through the local economy. But three decades after the algae that cause brown tides first appeared here, much of the sea grass and the bounty it used to provide is gone.
Spring on eastern Long Island is now marked by dense blooms of ...
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