Sciences & Technology

"Camera technology goes far beyond taking beautiful images. One such example is FingerReader, a finger-mounted device developed by researchers at MIT’s Media Lab that enables the blind to read without the need for Braille..."

"The NASA spacecraft Dawn has spent more than seven years travelling across the Solar System to intercept the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. Now in orbit around Ceres, the probe has returned the first images and data from these distant objects. But inside Dawn itself is another first – the spacecraft is the first exploratory space mission to use an electrically-powered ion engine rather than conventional rockets.

The ion engine will propel the next generation of spacecraft. Electric power is used to create charged particles of the fuel, usually the gas xenon, and accelerate them to extremely high velocities..."

Magnetic nanoparticles can increase the performance of solar cells made from polymers - provided the mix is right. This is the result of an X-ray study at DESY's synchrotron radiation source PETRA III.

Peur des clones ? Alors que la Fondation laissait entendre après la sortie du Modèle B+ que rien ne bougerait côté matériel avant 2017, voici que sort ce matin le Raspberry Pi 2.

"It is easy to measure electric current. But it is extremely hard to watch the individual electrons which make up this current. Electrons race through the metal with a speed of several million meters per second, and the distance they have to cover between two adjacent atoms is very small. This means that tiny time intervals have to be resolved in order to watch the electrons dashing through the metal.

Measurements in Garching (Germany) and theoretical calculations at the Vienna University of Technology (Austria) have now made this possible. As it turns out, the motion of the electrons in the metal is remarkably similar to ballistic motion in free space. The results have now been published in the journal Nature..."

Honda has taken full opportunity of the timing of the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit this month to announce up and coming launches.

How far is the Sun? It seems as if one could hardly ask a more straightforward question. Yet this very inquiry bedeviled astronomers for more than two thousand years.

(Phys.org)—A new study predicts that large-scale power plants based on thermoelectric effects, such as small temperature differences in ocean water, could generate electricity at a lower cost than photovoltaic power plants.

(Phys.org) —A large team of researchers with members from around the globe has announced that a class of compounds they've been studying (pyrazoleamides) appears to be successful in fighting malaria.

Totality! The 2012 total solar eclipse as seen from Australia. Credit and copyright: www.hughca.com.
The first of two eclipse seasons for the year is upon us this month, and kicks off with the only total solar eclipse for 2015 on Friday, March 20th.

"Hitachi America, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. and Demansys Energy, Inc. ("Demansys"), a smart grid technology company with offices in Connecticut and Troy, New York, announced today that they have completed construction and commissioning of a 1 MW Lithium Ion energy storage facility utilizing Hitachi's "CrystEna" compact container-type energy storage system and have started a demonstration project in Somerdale, New Jersey."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-02-crystena-energy-storage.html#jCp

Stacking perovskites onto a conventional silicon solar cell dramatically improves the overall efficiency of the cell, according to a new study led by Stanford University scientists.

"Today, we're surrounded by a variety of electronic devices that are moving increasingly closer to us - we can attach and wear them, or even implant electronics inside our bodies.

Many types of smart devices are readily available and convenient to use. The goal now is to make wearable electronics that are flexible, sustainable and powered by ambient renewable energy.

This last goal inspired a group of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) researchers to explore how the attractive physical features of zinc oxide (ZnO) materials could be more effectively used to tap into abundant mechanical energy sources to power micro devices. They discovered that inserting aluminum nitride insulating layers into ZnO-based energy harvesting devices led to a significant improvement of the devices' performance. The researchers report their findings in the journal Applied Physics Letters..."

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has arrived again, the world's largest consumer electronics and technology exhibition in Las Vegas, where manufacturers will show off the new technologies available in 2015 (...)

Korean electronics and display manufacturer LG has set the ball rolling by announcing its 4K ultra high-definition television displays (UHDTVs) that use quantum dot technology, an improved method for producing colour displays.

What exactly is a quantum dot?

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-01-future-bright-quantum-dot-televisions.html#jCp

It’s easy to take digital technology for granted these days. To students who were practically born with an iPad in their hands, it’s hard to imagine a time when a world of history and knowledge wasn’t just a few swipes away.

Après plusieurs décennies d'études, les chercheurs se demandent encore de quoi sont fait les rayons cosmiques ultra-énergétiques, en provenance des confins de la Galaxie.

Everybody loves LEDs, as they're far more efficient and longer-lasting than traditional incandescent bulbs. They're also more economical to use in the long run, although they're costlier on a per-bulb basis. That price gap could soon be closing, however, as scientists have discovered a cheaper alternative to one of their most expensive ingredients.

White light-emitting LEDs use metals known as rare earth elements (REEs) for their phosphors – these are the materials that convert the light emitted from LED chips into longer wavelengths, allowing the bulbs to put out full-spectrum visible light.

The mining and processing of REEs is hazardous, however, leaving China as just about the only country currently supplying them in substantial quantities. This drives up their price, which could climb even higher as demand for LED-based technologies increases.

Led by Prof. Jing Li, a team of scientists from New Jersey's Rutgers University has now discovered that a family of materials made from relatively cheap and abundant copper iodide can be substituted for REEs.