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Archive for the ‘computing’ category: Page 561

Jan 24, 2020

Transparent material conducts and insulates heat at the same time

Posted by in categories: computing, materials

Different kinds of materials can play different roles when it comes to controlling heat. If we want to keep our home warm in the depths of winter, insulating layers in our walls can help to lock it in. If we want to keep things cool, thermally conductive materials like those used in computer processors can help carry it away. But could one material have it both ways? A new breakthrough suggests that it could, made by a team of scientists who believe heat needn’t just be a one way street.

The research was carried out by scientists at the University of Bayreuth and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, who sought to combine the thermally insulating properties of materials like polystyrene, with the thermally conductive properties of heavy metals often used to dissipate heat.

Their breakthrough boils down to a way of manipulating the way heat travels, which is through the oscillation of individual molecules that pass on their movement to neighboring molecules.

Jan 24, 2020

Computer model shows ancient Earth with an atmosphere 70 percent carbon dioxide

Posted by in categories: computing, materials

A team of researchers from the University of Washington has found evidence that the Earth’s atmosphere approximately 2.7 billion years ago might have been up to 70 percent carbon dioxide. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes their study of micrometeorites and what they learned from them.

As scientists continue to study Earth’s past, they look for evidence of what environmental conditions might have been like in hopes of understanding how life arose. One important piece of the puzzle is the atmosphere. Scientists suspect that its ingredients were far different billions of years ago, but they have little in the way of evidence to prove it. In this new endeavor, the researchers looked to micrometeorites as a possible source of clues. Their thinking was that any material from space that made its way to the surface of the planet had to travel first through the atmosphere—and any material that travels through the atmosphere is highly influenced by its materials, largely due to the high temperatures of atmospheric entry.

Several years ago, researchers found a host of micrometeorites that had landed on Earth approximately 2.7 billion years ago, putting them squarely in the Archean Eon—the time during which it is believed life first appeared on Earth. Study of the micrometeorites showed that they contained high levels of iron along with wüstite. Wüstite forms when iron is exposed to oxygen, but not on the Earth’s surface. It must have been created as the grain-sized meteorites burned and fell through the Earth’s atmosphere. Intrigued by the finding, the researchers created a to simulate the conditions that would lead to the creation of materials such as wüstite on a rock falling through the atmosphere.

Jan 22, 2020

Chris Roberts on using infinite computing power to create a universe of endless possibilities

Posted by in categories: computing, entertainment, space

Circa 2017


Chris Roberts built worlds for games such as Wing Commander at Electronic Arts’ Origin at the dawn of 3D games a couple of decades ago.

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Jan 22, 2020

ResearchGate: Kenya is having a locust crisis

Posted by in category: computing

Can this “shed new light” on the scourge To explore new physical means in controlling locusts, semiconductor continuous diode laser (wavelength 808nm, power 2W) was used to evaluate the effect of laser irradiation on locusts(Locusta Migratoria Manilensis) and host plants (fresh Gramineous Plant Green Bristle Grass).At different distances and time, the heads of Ⅰ-Ⅲ instar nymphs and Ⅵ-Ⅴ instar nymphs were irradiated, and the death rate was observed two hours, two days and three days after treatment;the leaves and stems of host plants were irradiated, and the growth state was observed. The results indicated that the locusts were killed when power density nears the tissue’s thermal damage threshold.

Jan 22, 2020

Toshiba Says It Created An Algorithm That Beats Quantum Computers Using Standard Hardware

Posted by in categories: computing, information science, quantum physics

Something to look forward to: Some of the biggest problems that need solving in the enterprise world require sifting through vast amounts of data and finding the best possible solution given a number of factors and requirements, some of which are at.

Jan 21, 2020

Coming Soon to a Processor Near You: Atom-Thick Transistors

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics

Devices made with 2D semiconductors might start to appear sooner than you expected.


If there’s one thing about Moore’s Law that’s obvious to anyone, it’s that transistors have been made smaller and smaller as the years went on. Scientists and engineers have taken that trend to an almost absurd limit during the past decade, creating devices that are made of one-atom-thick layers of material.

The most famous of these materials is, of course, graphene, a hexagonal honeycomb-shaped sheet of carbon with outstanding conductivity for both heat and electricity, odd optical abilities, and incredible mechanical strength. But as a substance with which to make transistors, graphene hasn’t really delivered. With no natural bandgap—the property that makes a semiconductor a semiconductor—it’s just not built for the job.

Instead, scientists and engineers have been exploring the universe of transition metal dichalcogenides, which all have the chemical formula MX2. These are made up of one of more than a dozen transition metals (M) along with one of the three chalcogenides (X): sulfur, selenium, or tellurium. Tungsten disulfide, molybdenum diselenide, and a few others can be made in single-atom layers that (unlike graphene) are natural semiconductors. These materials offer the enticing prospect that we will be able to scale down transistors all the way to atom-thin components long after today’s silicon technology has run its course.

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Jan 21, 2020

Computational Biology

Posted by in categories: biological, chemistry, computing, genetics, mathematics

Computational biology is the combined application of math, statistics and computer science to solve biology-based problems. Examples of biology problems are: genetics, evolution, cell biology, biochemistry. [1].

Jan 19, 2020

Laser diode emits deep UV light

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing

Nagoya University researchers say they have designed a laser diode that emits the shortest-wavelength ultraviolet light to-date, with potential applications in disinfection, dermatology, and DNA analyses.

Jan 19, 2020

LG TV Morphs From Flat Screen to Curved With Press of a Button

Posted by in categories: computing, electronics

At CES, LG Display is showing off a 65-inch concept TV that can bend at the edges, allowing it to switch from a flat-screen display to a curved one in about five seconds. The company also put a bendable OLED on a foldable tablet/laptop.

Jan 18, 2020

Material developed which is heat-insulating and heat-conducting at the same time

Posted by in categories: computing, materials

Styrofoam or copper—both materials have very different properties with regard to their ability to conduct heat. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) in Mainz and the University of Bayreuth have now jointly developed and characterized a novel, extremely thin and transparent material that has different thermal conduction properties depending on the direction. While it can conduct heat extremely well in one direction, it shows good thermal insulation in the other direction.

Thermal insulation and thermal conduction play a crucial role in our everyday lives—from computer processors, where it is important to dissipate heat as quickly as possible, to houses, where good insulation is essential for energy costs. Often extremely light, such as polystyrene are used for insulation, while heavy such as metals are used for heat dissipation. A newly developed material, which scientists at the MPI-P have jointly developed and characterized with the University of Bayreuth, can now combine both properties.

The material consists of alternating layers of wafer-thin glass plates between which individual polymer chains are inserted. “In principle, our material produced in this way corresponds to the principle of double glazing,” says Markus Retsch, Professor at the University of Bayreuth. “It only shows the difference that we not only have two layers, but hundreds.”