Lifeboat Foundation

IBS scientists and their colleagues have recently report an ultimate electrocatalyst that addresses all of the issues that trouble H₂O₂ production. This new catalyst comprising the optimal Co-N₄ molecules incorporated in nitrogen-doped graphene, Co₁-NG(O), exhibits a record-high electrocatalytic reactivity, producing up to 8 times higher than the amount of H₂O₂ that can be generated from rather expensive noble metal-based electrocatalysts.

Just as we take a shower to wash away dirt and other particles, semiconductors also require a cleaning process. However, its cleaning goes to extremes to ensure even trace contaminants “leave no trace.” After all the chip fabrication materials are applied to a silicon wafer, a strict cleaning process is taken to remove residual particles. If this high-purity cleaning and particle-removal step goes wrong, electrical connections in the chip are likely to suffer from it. With ever-miniaturized gadgets on the market, the purity standards of the electronics industry reach a level equivalent to finding a needle in a desert.

That explains why hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), a major electronic cleaning chemical, is one of the most valuable chemical feedstocks that underpins the chip-making industry. Despite the ever-growing importance of H₂O₂, its industry has been left with an energy-intensive and multi-step method known as the anthraquinone process. This is an environmentally unfriendly process which involves the hydrogenation step using expensive palladium catalysts. Alternatively, H₂O₂ can be synthesized directly from H₂ and O₂ gas, although the reactivity is still very poor and it requires high pressure. Another eco-friendly method is to electrochemically reduce oxygen to H₂O₂ a via 2-electron pathway. Recently, noble metal-based electrocatalysts (for example, Au-Pd, Pt-Hg, and Pd-Hg) have been demonstrated to show H₂O₂ productivity although such expensive investments have seen low returns that fail to meet the scalable industry needs.

Circa 2013

The unique relationship between the coordinates in the bore of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner and the magnetic field gradients used for MRI allows building a localization system based on the measurement of these gradients. We have previously presented a miniature 3D Hall probe integrated in a low cost, low voltage 0.35μm CMOS chip from which we were able to measure the magnetic gradient 3D maps of 1.5T and 3T MRI scanners. In this paper, this 3D Hall probe has been integrated in a magnetic tracking device prototype and an algorithm was built to determine the position of the probe. First experimental results show that the probe gives its position with accuracy close to a few millimeters, and that sub-millimeter localization in a one-shot-3ms-measurement should be readily possible. Such a prototype opens the way for the development of MRI compatible real time magnetic tracking systems which could be integrable in surgical tools for MR-guided minimally-invasive surgery.

In October 2019, Google made a big announcement. It announced its 53-qubit quantum computer named Sycamore had achieved ‘quantum supremacy.’ That’s when quantum computers can complete tasks exponentially more quickly than their classical counterparts. In this case, Google said its quantum machine completed a task in 200 seconds that would have taken the world’s most powerful computer 10,000 years to complete. IBM, another major player in quantum computing, took issue with the findings. Either way, it was a big milestone in quantum computing, and it’s leading to a lot of hype in the field. Here’s how quantum computing works, and how it could change everything from Wall Street to Big Pharma and beyond.

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Continue reading “The Hype Over Quantum Computers, Explained” »

No matter how cheap or fast paid internet service gets, the Internet of Things (IOT) won’t take wings until we have ubiquitous access to a completely decentralized, open-standard network that does not require a provider subscription. This month, we may be a step closer.

Let’s talk about internet connected gadgets. Not just your phone or PC—and not even a microwave oven or light bulb. Instead, think of everyday objects that are much smaller and much less expensive. Think of things that seemingly have no need to talk with you.

Now think of applications in which these tiny things need to communicate with each other and not just with you. Think of the cost of this “thing” compared to the added cost of continuous communications. Do so many things really need to talk in the first place?

First, there were Trackers…

Continue reading “IOT needs decentralized, long-range connectivity. It’s finally coming” »

Particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are incredibly useful – and usually incredibly huge – instruments for studying some of the fundamentals of particle physics. But now scientists have managed to squeeze one on to a silicon chip.

It’s nowhere near as powerful as the bigger versions, as you might expect, but the new particle accelerator chip could still be very helpful for researchers who aren’t able to access gigantic particle accelerator setups.

While this first model is only a prototype, the team behind it is hopeful that it’s a first step towards providing a more compact alternative to the well-known massive particle accelerators, including the LHC and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Chip Walter’s new book is titled “Immortality Inc.: Renegade Science, Silicon Valley Billions and the Quest to Live Forever.” It’s about the money, and the research, that’s seeking a way to extend human life indefinitely.

Chip Walter discusses “Immortality, Inc.” at Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures: 6 p.m. Thu., Jan. 16. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Main Branch, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland.

Sounds like science fiction, but Walter thinks breakthroughs are just around the corner.

Mozilla has warned Firefox users to update their browser to the latest version after security researchers found a vulnerability that hackers were actively exploiting in “targeted attacks” against users.

The vulnerability, found by Chinese security company Qihoo 360, was found in Firefox’s just-in-time compiler. The compiler is tasked with speeding up performance of JavaScript to make websites load faster. But researchers found that the bug could allow malicious JavaScript to run outside of the browser on the host computer.

In practical terms, that means an attacker can quietly break into a victim’s computer by tricking the victim into accessing a website running malicious JavaScript code.

A new study suggests that human neurons may have more computing power than once thought.

The PC industry had given up on Intel ever producing its own powerful desktop graphics cards after the company unceremoniously killed its Larrabee project 10 years ago last month. Now, we’re seeing the Intel DG1, the company’s first discrete graphics card, at CES 2020.