Sunday 30 March 2014

Nanostructures enhance light trapping for solar fuel generation

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Illustration of a hematite photoelectrode consisting of a periodic nanobeam-array (red) on a conductive ITO layer (dark blue). The nanobeam structure boosts the absorption of sunlight at the hematite/H2O interface, resulting in more efficient conversion of sunlight into solar fuel. Credit: Soo Jin Kim, et al. ©2014 American Chemical Society As the world’s dependence on fossil fuels causes ever-increasing problems, researchers are investigating solar fuels as an alternative energy source. To make solar fuels, sunlight is converted into hydrogen or another type of chemical energy. Compared to energy produced by solar cells, which convert sunlight directly to electricity, solar fuels such as hydrogen have the advantage of being easier to store for later use. Because of the enormous amount of sunlight that reaches Earth, solar fuel generation has the potential to serve as a clean, terawatt-scale global energy source. But in order for this to happen, the photocatalysts that enhance light absorption and light trapping must be improved, both in terms of higher performance and lower cost. In a new study, researchers Soo Jin Kim, et al., at the Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials in Stanford, California, have demonstrated that photocatalysts made from iron oxide exhibit substantial performance improvements when they are

The post Nanostructures enhance light trapping for solar fuel generation has been published on Technology Org.


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All Solar System Bodies larger than 200 Miles Print

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: solar system, space, astronomy, scale, visualization

A visual listing of objects in the Solar System, ordered by size. A (large) image showing the 88 known objects in our Solar System that are larger than 200 miles in diameter. Captures a fair percentage of known Trans-Neptunian Objects (51), enough to give a good idea of their place in the larger scheme of things. http://kokogiak.com/gedankengang/2007/03/all-known-bodies-in-solar-system.html

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The sexual battles of plants

Science Focus

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Humans physically fight over mates, sure (see Popeye vs Bluto). Other animals also get into confrontation over mates (bears, for example). But plants? Psssh. No way, right? How do you fight when you're basically immobile and blind to your competitors?

Even though plant reproduction doesn't resemble more familiar mating rituals, plants are still sexually competitive and try to exploit pollinators like birds and insects to one up each other. Now scientists in Argentina have found what appears to be the first evidence of a plant evolving weaponry to physically fight off its competitors.

Milkweeds...

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Research brings new control over topological insulator

Science Focus

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An international team of scientists investigating the electronic properties of ultra-thin films of new materials – topological insulators (TIs) – has demonstrated a new method to tune their unique properties using strain. Topological insulators are new materials with surfaces that host a new quantum state of matter and are insensitive to contaminants, defects and impurities. Surface electrons in TIs behave like massless Dirac particles in a similar way to electrons in graphene. Moreover, surface currents in topological insulators also preserve their spin orientation and coherence on a macro scale. The research, carried out by physicists from the University of York, UK, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA, and the University of Cadiz, Spain is reported in the journal Nature Physics. The ability to control the surface electronic states of TIs is a crucial step in the realisation of their potential in highly energy efficient spintronic devices. Dr Vlado Lazarov, from York’s Department of Physics, said: “These inherent properties of TIs, and the interplay between magnetism and proximity to superconductors, make topological insulators a prime platform for the realisation of solid state quantum computing devices. “The ability to control the surface electronic state of the TIs is a crucial step in realising

The post Research brings new control over topological insulator has been published on Technology Org.


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Synthetic DNA advance is hailed

Science Focus

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Scientists have created the first synthetic chromosome for yeast in a landmark achievement for biological engineering.
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Crab Nebula in Taurus - Our Awesome Universe Sticker

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: crbneb, astronomy, messier 1, neutron stars, star ejecta, pulsars, supernovae explosions, heavens, european southern observatory, supernova, eso, vista

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A great outer space picture featuring a three colour composite of the well-known Crab Nebula (also known as Messier 1), as observed with the FORS2 instrument in imaging mode in the morning of November 10, 1999.

It's the remnant of a supernova explosion at a distance of about 6,000 light-years, observed almost 1,000 years ago, in the year 1054. It contains a neutron star near its center that spins 30 times per second around its axis (see below).

In this picture, the green light is predominantly produced by hydrogen emission from material ejected by the star that exploded. The blue light is predominantly emitted by very high-energy ("relativistic") electrons that spiral in a large-scale magnetic field (so-called synchrotron emission). It's believed that these electrons are continuously accelerated and ejected by the rapidly spinning neutron star at the centre of the nebula and which is the remnant core of the exploded star.

This pulsar has been identified with the lower/right of the two close stars near the geometric center of the nebula, immediately left of the small arc-like feature, best seen in ESO Press Photo eso9948.

Technical information: ESO Press Photo eso9948 is based on a composite of three images taken through three different optical filters: B (429 nm; FWHM 88 nm; 5 min; here rendered as blue), R (657 nm; FWHM 150 nm; 1 min; green) and S II (673 nm; FWHM 6 nm; 5 min; red) during periods of 0.65 arcsec (R, S II) and 0.80 (B) seeing, respectively. The field shown measures 6.8 x 6.8 arcminutes and the images were recorded in frames of 2048 x 2048 pixels, each measuring 0.2 arcseconds. North is up; East is left.

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ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA www.eso.org
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Name, Carina Nebula, intriguing outer space image Wrapping Paper

Get your out-of-this-world gift wrap here! Perfect for Christmas gifts for anyone who is fascinated by what the universe holds in store for us!


tagged with: star nurseries, star clusters, galaxies, starfields, nebulae, carina nebula, outer space photography, astronomy photographs, universe images, hrbstslr crnneb, european southern observatory, eso, vista

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A fantastic astronomy photograph showing a panoramic view of the WR 22 and Eta Carinae regions of the Carina Nebula.
The picture was created from images taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

It's a stunning, fantastic image that reveals a little of the wonder that is our universe.
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image code: crnneb

ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA www.eso.org
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Io in True Color

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Crab Nebula Room Decals

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: astronomy, space, space images, nebula, supernova, remnant, crab nebula, hubble telescope, hubble, telescope, exploration, constellation of taurus, constellation, taurus

The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. The nebula was observed by John Bevis in 1731; it corresponds to a bright supernova recorded by Arab, Chinese and Japanese astronomers in 1054. The Crab Nebula is one of the most intricately structured and highly dynamical objects ever observed.

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The Active Cigar Galaxy - Messier 82 Cover For The iPad Mini

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


tagged with: agmet, hubble, cigar galaxy, active galaxies, hubble space photography, outer space, stars, cosmological, messier 82, astronomy pictures, chandra

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Composite of images of the active galaxy Messier 82 from the three Great Observatories: Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope. X-ray data recorded by Chandra appears here in blue, infrared light recorded by Spitzer appears in red. Hubble's observation of hydrogen emission appears in orange. Hubble's bluest observation appears in yellow-green.
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image code: agmet

Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope

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Astronauts' hearts become more spherical in space

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New findings from a study of 12 astronauts show the heart becomes more spherical when exposed to long periods of microgravity in space, a change that could lead to cardiac problems, according to research. With implications for an eventual manned mission to Mars, the findings represent an important step toward understanding how a spaceflight of 18 months or more could affect astronauts' heart health.

via Science Daily

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Spintronic Thermoelectric Power Generators

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Imagine a computer so efficient that it can recycle its own waste heat to produce electricity. While such an idea may seem far-fetched today, significant progress has already been made to realize these devices. Researchers at the Nanostructured Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Utah have fabricated spintronics-based thin film devices which do just that, i.e. convert even minute waste heat into useful electricity. “As electronic devices enter the nano-size regime, the problem of heat generation is becoming more and more severe,” says University of Utah Materials Scientist Ashutosh Tiwari, who led the research published online Friday, March 21 in the Nature publishing group’s journal “Scientific Reports”. “Our spintronic-based thermoelectric devices work at room temperature and don’t require the continuous application of an external magnetic field,” Tiwari says. “Most of the spintronic thermoelectric devices in earlier studies required the continuous application of a magnetic field to keep the device magnetized.” “Spintronics is a new branch of electronics which utilizes both the charge as well as the spin of electrons,” says Tiwari. “Tiwari conducted the research with graduate students Gene Siegel, Megan Campbell Prestgard, and Shiang Teng. The study was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Condensed Matter Physics

The post Spintronic Thermoelectric Power Generators has been published on Technology Org.


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Destinations in space could get much prettier

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Destinations in space could get much prettier
For the future space tourism market... When I'm in my spaceship, voyaging through #outerspace I'll be able to see wondrous sights that aren't normally within reach of my eyes! Or would the portholes be made of this material?
  #forwidersharing  

Zazzle Space Gifts for every occasion

Black Hole Poster

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: black, hole, nasa, holes, blackhole, blackholes, space, astronomy, universe, galaxy, image, photography, exotic, color

Three hot blobs of matter orbiting a black hole. If placed in our Solar System, this black hole would appear like a dark abyss spread out nearly as wide as Mercury's orbit. And the three blobs (each as large as the Sun) would be as far out as Jupiter. They orbit the black hole in a lightning-quick 20,000 miles per second, over a tenth of the speed of light. Credit: NASA/Dana Berry, SkyWorks Digital

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Name, Tarantula Nebula, outer space image Gift Wrap

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tagged with: galaxies, astronomy, stellar nursery, 30 doradus nebula, massive stars, amazing hubble images, tarantula nebula, cosmological stars, outer space, doorneblmc, r136, large magellanic cloud, star cluster

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds in appear in this the most detailed view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood. The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus (or Tarantula) Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.
There is no known star-forming region in our galaxy as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus. Many of the diamond-like icy blue stars are among the most massive stars known. Several of them are over 100 times more massive than our Sun. These hefty stars are destined to pop off, like a string of firecrackers, as supernovas in a few million years. The image, taken in ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, spans about 100 light-years.
The movement of the LMC around the Milky Way may have triggered the massive cluster's formation in several ways. The gravitational tug of the Milky Way and the companion Small Magellanic Cloud may have compressed gas in the LMC. Also, the pressure resulting from the LMC plowing through the Milky Way's halo may have compressed gas in the satellite. The cluster is a rare, nearby example of the many super star clusters that formed in the distant, early universe, when star birth and galaxy interactions were more frequent.
The LMC is located 170,000 light-years away and is a member of the Local Group of Galaxies, which also includes the Milky Way. The Hubble observations were taken Oct. 20-27, 2009. The blue color is light from the hottest, most massive stars; the green from the glow of oxygen; and the red from fluorescing hydrogen.
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image code: dorneblmc

Image credit: Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3

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Fires of the Flame Nebula - in Orion Rectangular Sticker

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: breathtaking astronomy images, hfflmnb, star forming, orion constellation, young stars clusters, orion the hunter, flame nebula, awesome space picture, heavens, orions belt, european southern observatory, eso, vista

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A gorgeous outer space picture featuring the spectacular star-forming region known as the Flame Nebula, or NGC 2024, in the constellation of Orion (the Hunter) and its surroundings.

In views of this evocative object in visible light the core of the nebula is completely hidden behind obscuring dust, but in this VISTA view, taken in infrared light, the cluster of very young stars at the object’s heart is revealed. The wide-field VISTA view also includes the glow of the reflection nebula NGC 2023, just below centre, and the ghostly outline of the Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) towards the lower right.

The bright bluish star towards the right is one of the three bright stars forming the Belt of Orion. The image was created from VISTA images taken through J, H and Ks filters in the near-infrared part of the spectrum.

The image shows about half the area of the full VISTA field and is about 40 x 50 arcminutes in extent. The total exposure time was 14 minutes and was the first to be released publicly from VISTA, the world’s largest survey telescope.

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ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA www.eso.org
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Eta Carinae Nebula Wall Skin

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: eta carinae nebula, eta carinae, carinae, nebula, carinae nebula, space, astronomy, stars, outer space, wr 22

This spectacular panoramic view combines a new image of the field around the Wolf–Rayet star WR 22 in the Carina Nebula (right) with an earlier picture of the region around the unique star Eta Carinae in the heart of the nebula (left).

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