'Innovation in existing plants can help meet growth targets'

L-R: Svenningsson, Martinez Sancho, Ponchon, Edwards and Singh (Image: World Nuclear Association)

Extending operating lifetimes, improving efficiency, and restarting shut-down plants - not just building new capacity - will be needed to meet that tripling target - and innovation will have a big part to play, moderator Johan Svenningsson, who is chairman and CEO of Uniper Sweden, as well as being World Nuclear Association's vice chairman, said in a panel discussion on Maximising Value from Existing Nuclear Power Plants.

France's Grand Carénage investment programme to extend the operating lifetimes of its reactors has involved many activities, including the replacement of critical components and the renewal of instrumentation and control systems. Framatome CEO Gregoire Ponchon said close collaboration with French reactor operator EDF, and a focus on mitigating problems, had allowed the time taken for major activities such as the replacement of steam generators to be shortened. Using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help with time management will also mean such tasks can be completed in a shorter time.

Lou Martinez Sancho is Chief Technology Officer at Westinghouse and acting president of the company's eVinci microreactor. As well as investing in maintaining the generating fleet, she said, continued investment and innovation in the entire fuel cycle will also be critical to achieve continued operation.

A major disruptor in the nuclear materials sector is the availability of new materials and techniques that could in future become widely used in nuclear fuel production, Martinez Sancho said, noting that Westinghouse began producing fuel containing some 3D printed components as long ago as 2020. And AI is also likely to play a key role in nuclear fuel innovation too, helping to shorten development timescales.

The timescales involved in fuel innovations have in the past been long - often longer than the time taken to design a reactor, she said: "But what we are seeing is that [in] nuclear, we have over 75 years of operations, of data - and data is what makes your AI actually develop … and allows you to understand better how closely those developments are going to happen."

Westinghouse's nuclear-specific generative AI system is called Hive. It was launched at the 2024 Symposium - and it "allows us to move that much faster", she said. As well as supporting design innovation, AI is also able to leverage that data to help improve efficiency, both in operations and in products like configuration management systems, optimising processes and supporting power uprates.

Asked if AI was just a "buzzword", Martinez Sancho was emphatic that it is not: Westinghouse is already using both "traditional" AI tools such as machine learning, and more modern tools such as generative AI, daily. But managing AI to unlock its true value is more complex than many realise, she added, needing a secure infrastructure - and full traceability of data is paramount. It needs engineers, data scientists, mathematicians, legal teams and regulators to work closely together. Access to the wealth of data from an AI, coupled with engineering knowledge, can be used to improve and speed up some process - including licensing - but "the final responsibility is always that of the engineer, not the AI", she said.

AI is also useful for knowledge management, to capture the experience of employees of many years and transfer it across generations, she said. "They need to have access to that information much faster," she said.

Never-ending story

AtkinsRéalis CEO Ian Edwards, emphasised the benefits from digitalisation in the execution of work on existing nuclear assets, allowing tasks including maintenance, life extension and even decommissioning to be performed more efficiently.

"We can digitally plan an activity in a nuclear zone to the nth degree virtually, and train our people virtually, so that the actual exposed time and the actual time, from an efficiency perspective, is reduced really consistently. And we are doing this on existing assets all the time and using technology to improve."

Maximising the use of existing nuclear assets is not just about preserving megawatts on the grid: it is also important as a foundation for future developments, Ponchon said, and nuclear companies have benefitted from the experiences of their predecessors. "Innovation is a never ending story," he added.

Operating life extensions and capacity uprates of existing nuclear plants are without doubt critically important for the industry going forward, said Kris Singh, President and CEO of Holtec International, but the challenge is how to make them affordable and also how to design plants and carry out the work in such a way as to ensure they continue to perform well and even to improve: for example, introducing features to make plants more easily inspectable.

"The owner user community and the designers, developers, consultants, they need to get together on this," he said. "There's an opportunity to make every plant last longer, be more resilient, be more reliable, be more maintainable while you are doing the life extension, while you are doing power upgrade."World Nuclear Symposium took place in London from 3-5 September. 'Innovation in existing plants can help meet growth targets'

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Semiconductor product design leadership forum to boost innovation launched in India

(AI image/IANS)

New Delhi, (IANS) In a bid to position India as a global leader in chip design, intellectual property (IP) creation and high-value innovation, a Semiconductor Product Design Leadership Forum was launched here on Monday.

Launched by the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), it aims to tackle critical gaps in access to capital, advanced EDA tools, IP acquisition, global collaborations, and specialised semiconductor design talent.

The forum further aims to produce a globally dominant semiconductor design ecosystem for India by creating an enabling environment for Indian engineers to innovate and promote IP creation within the country. Thereby, the ICEA forum will complement the design-linked incentive (DLI) scheme and other policy initiatives.

"As we invest in fabs and manufacturing through the India Semiconductor Mission, it is imperative that we also strengthen the design ecosystem, for that is where true value, autonomy, and sovereignty lie,” said S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY, at the event.

The Forum Chair, Sandeep Kumar, said that by bringing together fabless companies, IP institutions, tool vendors, supply chains, marketing, and funding agencies, we aim to address structural gaps.

The forum brought together over 80 stakeholders, including officials from MeitY, NITI Aayog and global firms.

Stakeholders from the semiconductor ecosystem, including domestic product design companies, DLI-recognised firms, early-stage design startups, and global semiconductor ecosystem companies, attended the event.

“ICEA Semiconductor Product Design Leadership Forum reflects our conviction that India must lead not only in manufacturing but also in chip innovation. With this initiative, we envision catalysing the growth of 500 successful semiconductor product design companies over the next decade," said Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA.

Backed by government schemes offering up to 50 per cent fiscal support, India’s semiconductor market is projected to grow from $45-50 billion in 2024-25 to $100-110 billion by 2030.The Semiconductor Fabs Scheme and Display Fabs Scheme offer up to 50 per cent financial aid for projects falling under their respective domains. The DLI scheme offers incentives up to Rs 15 crore for each chip design startup. Semiconductor product design leadership forum to boost innovation launched in India | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

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IVRI releases indigenous vaccine for swine fever

• IVRI has released live attenuated classical swine fever cell culture vaccine for indigenous strain, which will help tide over the huge shortfall in vaccine requirement across the country, says a release from the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare.
• Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Dr Trilochan Mohapatra and secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD), Atul Chaturvedi released the Live attenuated Classical Swine Fever Vaccine (IVRI-CSF-BS) technology developed by ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar, on Monday.
• A live attenuated CSF cell vaccine using an Indian isolate has been developed for the first time. The yield of the vaccine is also 1,000 times more than the existing CSF cell culture vaccine.
• An improved Fluorescent Antibody technique has been developed for virus titration.
• According to DFAD secretary Atul Chaturvedi, the new vaccine will help CSF vaccination costs to come down sharply. 
• CSF is one of the most common diseases affecting pigs, causing high mortality with annual loss of approximately Rs430 crore. A lapinized CSF vaccine (Weybridge strain, UK) has been in use in India since 1964 for controlling the disease. The vaccine is produced by sacrificing large numbers of rabbits for each batch. 
• Chaturvedi said the country’s total requirements is 22 million doses per year and hardly 1.2 million doses are produced per year by the lapinized vaccine, as only 50 doses are produced from a single rabbit spleen. 
• In order to do away sacrificing of rabbits and increase productivity, IVRI had earlier developed a cell culture CSF vaccine by adapting the lapinized vaccine virus in cell culture. The technology has been transferred to Indian Immunologicals, Hyderabad and Government of Punjab during 2016 and 2018, respectively. 
• Director, IVRI, Dr RK Singh said since the cell culture vaccine is from a foreign strain (Weybridge Strain, UK), IVRI has further developed a new CSF Cell Culture Vaccine by attenuating an indigenous virulent CSF virus in cell culture. The vaccine virus has very high titre and lakhs of doses can be produced very easily in cell culture and country’s requirement can be easily fulfilled using this new vaccine. 
• The new vaccine is ready for release and commercial production will be completed in less than a year. The vaccine would be the best choice for use in the CSF control programme (CSF-CP) already launched by DAHD (CSF-CP). Chaturvedi said the new vaccine will be part of the government’s One Health Initiative and result in huge savings as it will nip the spread of the virus at animal stage so that it does not pass on to the human population. 
• Dr Mohaptra said there is a huge demand for transfer of this vaccine technology from various state governments and private manufacturers and the vaccine has huge export potential, especially Nepal. Due to very high titre of vaccine virus, this vaccine would be the most economical CSF vaccine costing around less than Rs2 per dose as against Rs15-25 of lapinized CSF vaccine and Rs30/dose (approx) for an imported Korean vaccine being used in the country. Besides, the new vaccine gives immunity for two years as compared to 3 to 6 months protection under the vaccines currently being used, he added. 
• The vaccine is safe, potent, does not revert to virulence and provide protective immunity from day 14 of the vaccination till 24 months studied so far. The vaccine has been tested on around 500 pigs at multiple locations.
• The new vaccine has been developed by a team of IVRI scientists consisting of Dr Pronab Dhar, Dr Ashok Kumar Tiwari, Dr M Manu, Dr Vikramaditya Upmanyu, Dr Richa Pachauri and Dr Raj Kumar Singh and a patent application has already been submitted for the new invention. Source: https://www.domain-b.com

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Researchers develop transparent patch to detect dangerous food threats

• Is that meat still good? Are you sure? McMaster researchers have developed a test to bring certainty to the delicate but critical question of whether meat and other foods are safe to eat or need to be thrown out.
• Mechanical and chemical engineers at McMaster, working closely with biochemists from across campus, have collaborated to develop a transparent test patch, printed with harmless molecules, that can signal contamination as it happens. 
• The patch can be incorporated directly into food packaging, where it can monitor the contents for harmful pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella.
• The new technology, described in the research journal ACS Nano, has the potential to replace the traditional "best before" date on food and drinks alike with a definitive indication that it's time to chuck that roast or pour out that milk.
• "In the future, if you go to a store and you want to be sure the meat you're buying is safe at any point before you use it, you'll have a much more reliable way than the expiration date," says lead author Hanie Yousefi, a graduate student and research assistant in McMaster's Faculty of Engineering.
• If a pathogen is present in the food or drink inside the package, it would trigger a signal in the packaging that could be read by a smartphone or other simple device. The test itself does not affect the contents of the package.
• According to the World Health Organization, foodborne pathogens result in approximately 600 million illnesses and 420,000 deaths per year. About 30 per cent of those cases involve children five years old and younger.
• The researchers are naming the new material "Sentinel Wrap" in tribute to the McMaster-based Sentinel Bioactive Paper Network, an interdisciplinary research network that worked on paper-based detection systems. That network's research ultimately gave rise to the new food-testing technology.
• Chemical engineer Carlos Filipe and mechanical-biomedical engineer Tohid Didar, collaborated closely on the new detection project.
• The signalling technology for the food test was developed in the McMaster labs of biochemist Yingfu Li.
• "He created the key, and we have built a lock and a door to go with it," says Filipe, who is Chair of McMaster's Department of Chemical Engineering.
• Mass producing such a patch would be fairly cheap and simple, the researchers say, as the DNA molecules that detect food pathogens can be printed onto the test material.
• "A food manufacturer could easily incorporate this into its production process," says Didar, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and member of the McMaster Institute for Infectious Disease Research.
• Getting the invention to market would need a commercial partner and regulatory approvals, the researchers say. They point out that the same technology could also be used in other applications, such as bandages to indicate if wounds are infected, or for wrapping surgical instruments to assure they are sterile. Source: https://www.domain-b.com/

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Fujitsu develops glove-style wearable device

Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a glove equipped with a Near Field Communication (NFC) tag reader and that features gesture-based input for maintenance and other operations. The glove has been designed to be used in environments where using a traditional smart device would be unsuitable. By wearing the device, users can receive work instructions and other information, just by touching an object. Task results can also be input using gestures so that operations can be carried out smoothly. One example of a solution obtained by using the device together with a head-mounted display is when an operator touches a connector or control panel's NFC tag to obtain its work order, then making a simple gesture to register the task's results. The device was designed to be comfortable and thus does not have bulky batteries. By equipping the operator's finger with a touch sensor and activating the NFC tag reader only for the moment the object is touched, power consumption is able to be kept low. This gives the glove device nine hours of runtime; sufficient for an entire workday. Fujitsu has also developed gesture-recognition technology they claim functions reliably in multiple tasks and postures without being awkward. In-house testing showed that six patterns (up, down, left, right, rotate left, rotate right) could be recognised with 98% recognition accuracy. These gestures could be used to flip through pages of a manual being shown on a head-mounted display with left and right motions, or to scroll with up and down motions. In a scenario where it is used to input work status, a right rotation could indicate a normal state, and a left rotation a problem. Fujitsu plans to perform verification testing on the technology with the aim of bringing a product to market in fiscal 2015. Source: InAVate

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New particle discovered Chi -b (3P)

Large Hadron Collider scientists have discovered a new particle Known as Chi -b (3P), the particle is the first detected on the Collider since it went into operation in 2009.Scientists believe that it will pave the way to the discovery of the hypothetical Higgs particle. Tags: News, scientific researches, Sci-Tech, World, Hadron Collider, Читать далее, Source: Voice of Russia.

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Swedes find 'world's oldest tree'

By Hania: A tree said to be the oldest on the planet - thought to be nearly 10,000 years old - has been found in Sweden. Scientists from Umeaa University discovered the spruce on Fulu Mountain in Dalarna province while carrying out a census of tree species. The age of its genetic material was recently calculated using carbon dating at a laboratory in Miami, Florida. Scientists had believed the world's oldest trees were 4,000-year-old pine trees found in North America. The oldest,  a bristlecone pine named Methuselah located in California's White Mountains, is aged 4,768, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The new record contender, which would have taken root just after the last ice age, was found among a cluster of around 20 spruces believed to be more than 8,000 years old at an altitude of 910m (2,985ft) on Fulu Mountain. The visible portion of the spruce was comparatively new, but analysis of four "generations" of remains - cones and wood - found underneath its crown showed its root system had been growing for 9,550 years, Umeaa University said. Source: Article

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Superthin glass sheet produced

An international team of scientists writing in the Nano Letters says one of their experiments to produce graphene -- an allotrope of carbon consisting of single-atom-thick planar sheets – has accidentally resulted in the synthesis of a three-atom-thick sheet of glass. The physicists are from the US, European countries and India. An international team of scientists writing in the Nano Letters says one of their experiments to produce graphene -- an allotrope of carbon consisting of

single-atom-thick planar sheets – has accidentally resulted in the synthesis of a three-atom-thick sheet of glass.The physicists are from the US, European countries and India. They say their discovery may give rise to a new class of microelectronic devices. Читать далее, Source: Voice of Russia. 

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From science fiction to science fact: MIT expert achieves invisibility

Scientists have tended to dismiss as impossible the very idea of a device to render something invisible but that failed to dissuade one young academic from looking more closely at how it might be achieved. Mr Janos Perczel was a 22-year old undergraduate at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, when, in August 2011, he published a study describing an ‘invisible sphere’ that slowed down light, potentially allowing the device to remain invisible in front of ever-changing backgrounds of different colours. The Voice of Russia contacted Mr Perczel two years after his revolutionary discovery to ask about his recent projects and his studies at MIT.

Voice of Russia: Janos, before we get into details, how did you come up with the idea of trying to develop an optical devise that would allow things to be hidden things against changing backgrounds? Was there someone who inspired you? Janos Perczel: Science is always a matter of collaborating with other people. There were many people involved in the development of the project. One of them was Professor Ulf Leonhardt who was my supervisor. He was not only my mentor but also my main source of inspiration. There was also Professor Tomas Tyc who helped us with the project. Professor Leonhardt and Professor Tyc have been trying to come up with a solution to the problem of creating a device that would allow one to remain invisible against various backgrounds for some time. After I joined the project, it turned out that the optical sphere that Professors were proposing was operational only in one colour of the spectrum. I started looking into other solutions and it occurred to me that the invisible sphere has to be transmuted in order to slow all the light down to operate in all parts of the colour spectrum. Quite literally, I was having my breakfast in my house when I realised that a transmutation technique would make the optical sphere operational. Voice of Russia: So what is the ‘invisible sphere’? When I think of the device you created I imagine it as somewhat alike the invisibility cloak in the Harry Potter movies. Does it work the same way as science-fiction novelists so often describe? Janos Perczel: There are substantial differences between our sphere and what you see in the Harry Potter movies. Most important of them being that the invisibility cloak in Rowling’s novel is moldable, while our optical device is a rigid sphere-like object. You cannot change its shape or wrap it around yourself. The flexibility of the cloak that you so often see in the movies is incredibly difficult to achieve in reality. Admittedly, there are certain proposals how to do this, especially from St Andrews. Dr Andrea Di Falco has recently come up with the idea of flexible meta-materials which might eventually lead to the creation of Harry-Potter-like cloaks. For now, however, rigid box or sphere-like invisibility devices seem to be more realistic and, indeed, are already being produced in experimental science labs. Editor’s note: meta materials are artificial materials made from large molecules that can be combined to produce exactly the required properties. Voice of Russia: Janos, do you see your sphere being used in real life? When you first came up with the idea, have you ever thought of its practical applications? Janos Perczel: This question is always the hardest one to answer. It is hard to tell how a new device would be applied in practice because you never think about it during the research process. When people like myself develop a new device, we tend to think about the particular scientific problem we are trying to solve and not about how our research will be used in future. We like the feeling of exploring the unexplored. The decision about how the device will be used in practice usually belongs to the engineers, designers, and production managers who know the market well and can foresee what will sell better. Obviously, our device can be used to make things invisible when needed. I am worried about the potential military use of our optical sphere, especially in the area of the development of new invisible weapons. My hope is that the invisible sphere would be used in more peaceful ways. One of them might be shielding people from hazardous forms of radiation. Still, these are just suggestions. Voice of Russia: I know that you finished your invisibility sphere project back in August of 2011. Have you ever thought to continue with your research? Janos Perczel: It would be great to do something that would either be a continuation of our project or something that would relate to meta-materials more generally. Meta-materials can do incredible things. Their power lies in the fact that they can mold the flow of light. One sphere of research where they can be used is perfect-imaging. Professor Leonhardt, for instance, is currently studying how meta-materials can be used to enhance the image-resolution of microscopes. It would be great to get involved in such a project. Voice of Russia: What are you currently working on? Should we wait for yet another ground-breaking project? Janos Perczel: After publishing the paper in August 2011, I spent the next year at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, where I obtained a Master's degree in Mathematical Physics, where I mainly focused on quantum teleportation. Then I moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where I am currently more involved with learning new physics than with research. For a physicist, it is very important to find the right balance between the two. For now, I am still trying to decide what my next project should be. Voice of Russia: My last question would be about your MIT colleagues. I understand that you have not yet spent much time at the Institute, only six months, but during this time have you come across a project that seemed absolutely extraordinary to you? Janos Perczel: Having spent here only half a year it is very hard to get a good overview of research that is happening on campus. You always hear about new robots being developed, computer technologies being advanced, and basic scientific ideas being interpreted from a new angle. One project that I found especially interesting is Professor Marin Soljacic’s research on wireless electricity, which he calls ‘witricity’. To transit electricity from one point to another Professor Soljacic uses magnetic resonance rather than wires. To me, this is not merely a remarkable idea which Professor Soljacic pioneered and made work, but is a revolutionary scientific breakthrough that can potentially transform the way all modern electronic devices work. Source: Voice of Russia, Image

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Identify largest structure in the universe

An international team of astronomers has discovered the largest known structure in the universe which is about 4 billion light-years in dimension across, compared to 120,000 light years for 'Milky Way,' the galaxy to which our earth belongs to. The large quasar group is so large it would take a spacecraft travelling at the speed of light some 4 billion years to cross it. The team led by Dr Roger Clowes of Britain's University of Central Lancashire, has found a large quasar group (LQG), which is so large that it would take a spaceship travelling at the speed of light some 4 billion years to cross it, the Royal Astronomical Society said in a release. The report on the findings is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The LQGs are the nuclei of galaxies from the early days of the universe that undergo 'brief' periods of extremely high brightness that make them visible across billions of light-years away. The 'brief' in astrophysics mean 10-100 million years. The discovered structure is so large that it challenges Albert Einstein's cosmological principle, which assumes that the universe, when viewed at a sufficiently large scale, looks the same irrespective of wherever you are observing it from. "While it is difficult to fathom the scale of this LQG, we can say quite definitely it is the largest structure ever seen in the entire universe,'' Clowes said. ''This is hugely exciting – not least because it runs counter to our current understanding of the scale of the universe,'' he continued. This newly identified LQG has a typical dimension of 1.6 billion light-years or 500 megaparsecs, each megaparsec equaling 3.3 million light-years. But because it is elongated, its longest dimension is some 4 billion light-years. For comparison, the distance from our Milky Way galaxy to its nearest neighbour, the Andromeda galaxy, is about 2.5 million light-years only, or some 1,600 times smaller. According to calculations based on the cosmological principle and modern theories, astrophysicists should
not be able to find a galaxy larger than 1.2 billion light years. The newly discovered structure is about 3.5 times larger than the theoretical limit. ''This is significant not just because of its size but also because it challenges the cosmological principle, which has been widely accepted since Einstein. Our team has been looking at similar cases which add further weight to this challenge and we will be continuing to investigate these fascinating phenomena," Clowes said. Astronomers discovered their first large cluster of quasars in 1982 and two more by 1991. With the advent of Sloan digital sky survey, using a dedicated 2.5-metre wide angle optical telescope, more quasar clusters have been found including the latest. Some other researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Cambridge acknowledge that the finding brings to light a key question in modern cosmology regarding the size scale at which the uneven distribution of matter gives way to a uniform average across the universe. However, they consider the new evidence isn't strong enough to challenge the notion of the cosmological principle of large-scale uniformity. It could also represent the hint of a new, improved threshold larger than 1.2 billion light-years. Moreover, it is unclear whether the discovered cluster is truly single in structure. For instance, what looks like one huge cluster may actually be two structures that look as though they are one because of the viewing angle from Earth, they say. If further observations reveal it as a distinctly rare structure, it could indicate that the cosmos might not be so uniform as thought, and could trigger new theories about the evolution of the universe. Source: Domain-B

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New Particle was discovered that could help to cool Earth

Earth

Scientists have discovered a particle that could "cool the planet" and naturally clean up the atmosphere. According to researchers from The University of Manchester, The University of Bristol and Sandia National Laboratories, Criegee biradicals are invisible chemical intermediates and are powerful oxidisers of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, produced by combustion. Although these chemical intermediates were hypothesised in the 1950s, it is only now that they have been detected. Scientists now believe that, with further research, these species could play a major role in off-setting climate change. The detection of the Criegee biradical and measurement of how fast it reacts was made possible by a

Evolution of Green house gases

unique apparatus, designed by Sandia researchers, that uses light from a third-generation synchrotron facility, at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source. The intense, tunable light from the synchrotron allowed researchers to discern the formation and removal of different isomeric species – molecules that contain the same atoms but arranged in different combinations. The researchers found that the Criegee biradicals react more rapidly than first thought and will accelerate the formation of sulphate and nitrate in the atmosphere. These compounds will lead to aerosol formation and ultimately to cloud formation with the potential to cool the planet. Carl Percival, Reader in Atmospheric Chemistry at The University of Manchester and one of the authors of the paper, believes there could be significant research possibilities arising from the discovery of the Criegee biradicals. "Criegee radicals have been impossible to measure until this work carried out at the Advanced Light Source. We have been able to quantify how fast Criegee radicals react for the first time," Percival said. "Our results will have a significant impact on our understanding of the oxidising capacity of the atmosphere and have wide ranging implications for pollution and climate change. "The main source of these Criegee biradicals does not depend on sunlight and so these processes take place throughout the day and night," he added. The study has been published in Science.Source: Ananta-Tec

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New species of man?

Paleontologists have discovered the remains of an ancient people in a cave in southwestern China which may belong to a previously unknown species. The skulls and teeth are similar but differ significantly from both the modern and the ancient known peoples. Tags: paleontology, Society, World, News, scientific researches, Читать далее, Source: Voice of Russia. 

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The mysterious “dark matter”

By Yelena Kovachich, Recently, a group of scientists from Zurich announced about their discovery that the Sun is surrounded with the so-called “dark matter”. “Dark matter” is a special type of matter, which was discovered (theoretically and hypothetically, because it is not feasible) several decades ago. Its nature still, to a big extent, remains a mystery to scientists.For some people, the very words “dark matter” sound scary, because they are associated with a certain dark, evil force. Tags: Sun, Russia, World, astronomy, space, Sci-Tech, Opinion & Analysis, Читать далее, Source: Voice of Russia. 

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Scientists invent paper LEDs

Linköping University researchers have invented a method to apply LED lighting to paper.

Scientists have discovered how LED lighting can be printed onto paper using nanotechnology, making futuristic novelties such as glowing wallpaper and luminescent curtains possible, Sweden’s Linköping University says. Dr. Gul Amin and his research assistant Naved ul Hassan Alvimade made the breakthrough, which has a patent pending. The university announced the research late last month, which happened to be Amin’s doctoral thesis. “This is the first time anyone has been able to build electronic and photonic inorganic semiconducting components directly on paper using chemical methods,” lead researcher professor Magnus Willander, said in a prepared statement. The process is made possible by using nano-crystals of zinc oxide, an inexpensive material that is found in sunscreens. The material is stable, and would not require the protective coverings that are found on OLEDs (organic light-emitting diode), veteran journalist Alfred Poor noted in a blog post. OLEDS are another flexible material that’s used for displays in some devices, but are remain fairly costly. I recall writing about the potential for OLED televisions to take the market by storm - 11 years ago. That clearly has not happened yet, so I am cautious predicting sweeping technology trends. However, Poor already sees some interesting applications for “paper” LEDS. “The same technology could also be used to create sensors or photovoltaic solar cells. It is possible that this technology could both light your office and generate the electricity to power that lighting,” he wrote. Source: Sam Daily Times

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World's Smallest Semiconductor Laser Created

The scientists report their efforts in this week's Science. Miniaturization of semiconductor lasers is key for the development of faster, smaller and lower energy photon-based technologies, such as ultrafast computer chips; highly sensitive biosensors for detecting, treating and studying disease; and next-generation communication technologies. Such photonic devices could use nanolasers to generate optical signals and transmit information, and have the potential to replace electronic circuits. But the size and performance of photonic devices have been restricted by what's known as the three-dimensional optical diffraction limit. "We have developed a nanolaser device that operates well below the 3-D diffraction limit," said Chih-Kang "Ken" Shih, professor of physics at The University of Texas at Austin. "We believe our research could have a large impact on nanoscale technologies." In the current paper, Shih and his colleagues report the first operation of a continuous-wave, low-threshold laser below the 3-D diffraction limit. When fired, the nanolaser emits a green light. The laser is too small to be visible to the naked eye. The device is constructed of a gallium nitride nanorod that is partially filled with indium gallium nitride. Both alloys are semiconductors used commonly in LEDs. The nanorod is placed on top of a thin insulating layer of silicon that in turn covers a layer of silver film that is smooth at the atomic level. It's a material that the Shih lab has been perfecting for more than 15 years. That "atomic smoothness" is key to building photonic devices that don't scatter and lose plasmons, which are waves of electrons that can be used to move large amounts of data. "Atomically smooth plasmonic structures are highly desirable building blocks for applications with low loss of data," said Shih. Nanolasers such as this could provide for the development of chips where all processes are contained on the chip, so-called "on-chip" communication systems. This would prevent heat gains and information loss typically associated with electronic devices that pass data between multiple chips. "Size mismatches between electronics and photonics have been a huge barrier to realize on-chip optical communications and computing systems," said Shangjr Gwo, professor at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwain and a former doctoral student of Shih's. Source: Sam Daily Times

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British scientists unearth 60-eyed flatworm

A peculiar new species of 15mm flatworm has been found in the grasslands near Cambridge. British biologist Brian Eversham spotted the creature during his stroll through the nature reserve. Scientists claim this 60-eyed invertebrate is most probably a completely new species, unknown to the scientific world.In another discovery story, NASA has recently claimed to have found a new form of life. A microbe they found at the bottom of a lake was reported to live on arsenic, thus refuting the fundamental theory that all life on earth depends on the six cornerstone elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur. Tags: World, News, scientific researches, Society, Читать далее, Source: Voice of Russia. 

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US scientists find subsurface ocean on Titan

American scientists have found proof in favor of the existence of a sub-surface ocean on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. Experts from John Hopkins University made a conclusion to this effect after processing data gathered by NASA’s Cassini probe over a period from 2004 to 2011.They believe that the ocean is located at a depth of 100 kilometers below the ice surface and is made up of slightly salted water. Tags: titan, News, World, Sci-Tech, space, Читать далее, Source: Voice of Russia. 

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China to develop next-generation Internet system

China: The State Council, or China's Cabinet, said Friday the government will accelerate the development of the next-generation Internet industry in the next few years and boost the sector's role in stimulating the economy.China aims to put the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)-based network into small-scale commercial pilot use and form a mature business model by the end of 2013, according to a statement released after an

executive meeting of the State Council presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao. From 2014 to 2015, thecountry will deploy and commercialize the IPv6-based network on a large scale and achieve the interconnection between IPv4 and IPv6-based operations, the statement said. During that period, a group of international competitive research institutions and enterprises in the next-generation Internet sector will be established, it said. "The Internet industry's effect on boosting consumption, investment, exports and employment will be fully strengthened," according to the statement. China launched the construction of the next-generation Internet in 2003, featuring the IPv6 network as a key technology. The IPv6 network, first developed in the 1990s, allows a much higher theoretical limit on the number of IP addresses than the current IPv4 system. The IPv4 system provided only about four billion addresses, and they had all been used by February this year China's IPv6 addresses only account for 0.29 percent of the global total, lagging far behind other countries, Wu Hequan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at a seminar in June. Read Full: China to develop next-generation Internet system - China.org.cn

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Blind man can see the world after implanting Bionic Eye Microchips

Chip of 3mm by 3mm that is planted to sufferers Eye

'I've dreamed in colour for the first time in 20 years': Blind British man can see again after first successful implant of 'bionic' eye microchips It was the ‘magic moment’ that released Chris James from ten years ofblindness. Doctors switched on a microchip that had been inserted into the back of his eye three weeks earlier. After a decade of darkness, there was a sudden explosion of bright light – like a flash bulb going off, he says. Now he is able to make out shapes and light. He hopes his sight – and the way his brain interprets what the microchip is showing it – will carry on improving.  Mr James, 54, is one of two British men who have had their vision partly restored by a pioneering retina implant. Chip of 3mm by 3mm

Chip Pairs with This External Device to Process Image

that is planted to sufferers Eye The other, Robin Millar, one of Britain’s most successful music producers, says he has dreamed in colour for the first time. Both had lost their vision because of a condition known as retinitis pigmentosa, where the photoreceptor cells at the back of the eye gradually cease to work. Their stories bring hope to the 20,000 Britons with RP – and to those with other eye conditions such as advanced macular degeneration which affects up to half a million. Mr James had a ten-hour operation to insert the wafer-thin microchip in the back of his left eye at the Oxford University Eye Hospital six weeks ago. Three weeks later, it was turned on.. Mr James, who lives in Wroughton, Wiltshire, with his wife Janet, said of his ‘magic moment’: ‘I did not know what to expect but I got a flash in the eye, it was like someone taking a photo with a flashbulb and I knew my optic nerve was still working.’ The microchip has 1,500 light sensitive pixels which take over the function of the retina’s photoreceptor rods and cones. One of the first tests was making out a white plate and cup on a black background.Mr James, who works for Swindon Council, said to Daily

mail ‘It  took a while for my brain to adjust to what was in front of me, but I was able to detect the curves and outline of these objects.’ Tim Jackson, a consultant retinal surgeon at King’s College Hospital and Robert MacLaren, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Oxford and a consultant retinal surgeon at the Oxford Eye Hospital, who are running the trial, say it has ‘exceeded expectations’ with patients already regaining ‘useful vision’. Ten more Britons with RP will be fitted with the implants, which are also being tested in Germany and China. The device, made by Retina Implant AG ofGermany, connects to a wireless power supply buried behind the ear. This is connected to an external battery unit via a magnetic disc on the scalp. The user can alter the sensitivity of the device using switches on the unit. Mr

Surgeon Robert Mclaren

Jackson said: ‘It’s difficult to say how much benefit each patient will get, this pioneering treatment is at an early stage. ‘But it’s an exciting and important step forward. Many of those who receive this treatment have lost their vision for many years. The impact of them seeing again, even if it is not normal vision, can be profound and at times quite moving.’ Mr Millar, 60, who was behind Sade’s Diamond Life album, has been blind for 25 years. He said: ‘Since switching on the device I am able to detect light and distinguish the outlines of objects. ‘I have even dreamt in very vivid colour for the first time in 25 years so a part of my brain which had gone to sleep has woken up! I feel this is incredibly promising and I’m happy to be contributing to this legacy.’Source: The Ultimate Update

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