Everyone Is Guessing When It Comes To Oil Prices
London, UK (SPX) Mar 13, 2015 -
Predicting and diagnosing the trajectory of oil prices has become something of a cottage industry in the past year. But along with all of the excess crude flowing from the oil patch, there is also an abundance of market indicators that while important, tend to produce a lot of noise that makes any accurate estimate nearly impossible.
First there is the oil price itself. The crash began las ...
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Silk could be new 'green' material for next-generation batteries
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 13, 2015 -
Lithium-ion batteries have enabled many of today's electronics, from portable gadgets to electric cars. But much to the frustration of consumers, none of these batteries last long without a recharge.
Now scientists report in the journal ACS Nano the development of a new, "green" way to boost the performance of these batteries - with a material derived from silk.
Chuanbao Cao and col ...
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Beijing's Island Construction in South China Sea Poses No Threat
Moscow (Sputnik) Mar 13, 2015 -
China's recently intensified construction works on the reefs it controls in the South China Sea's disputed Spratly Island, are lawful and pose no threat to any other countries, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday.
"This construction does not target or affect anyone... we are merely building facilities in our own yard. We have every right to do things that are lawful and justified, ...
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Chemists develop new way to make cost-effective material for electricity storage
Vancouver, Canada (SPX) Mar 13, 2015 -
University of British Columbia researchers have found a new way to make state-of-the-art materials for energy storage using a cheap lamp from the hardware store.
The researchers wanted to find a better way to make coatings that can be painted onto surfaces to conduct electricity or convert electricity into hydrogen fuels. Typically these coatings are made in more extreme conditions with ex ...
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Researchers synthesize new thin-film material for use in fuel cells
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 13, 2015 -
Researchers from Cornell University have synthesized a new thin-film catalyst for use in fuel cells. In a paper published March 10 in the journal APL Materials, from AIP Publishing, the team reports the first-ever epitaxial thin-film growth of Bi2Pt2O7 pyrochlore, which could act as a more effective cathode - a fundamental electrode component of fuel cells from which positive current flows throu ...
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New flexible films for touch screen applications achieve longer lasting display
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 13, 2015 -
Today, touch screens are everywhere, from smart phones and tablets, to computer monitors, to interactive digital signage and displays. Many touch screens are made of layered thin (billionths of a meter thick) films of indium-tin oxide, an inorganic material that is electrically conductive, which allows electrical signals to travel from the "touch" to the edges of the display, where they are sens ...
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Quantum mechanic frequency filter for atomic clocks
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Mar 13, 2015 -
Atomic clocks are the most accurate clocks in the world. In an atomic clock, electrons jumping from one orbit to another decides the clock's frequency. To get the electrons to jump, researchers shine light on the atoms using stabilised laser light. However, the laser light has to have a very precise frequency to trigger very precise electron jumps. It is however challenging to get the laser ligh ...
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