Monday 14 April 2014

Smaller microchips that keep their cool

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Temperatures often over 200 degrees C occur in geothermal and oil production – conventional microelectronics hit their limits there. Researchers have now fabricated compact microchips that can keep their cool even at 300 degrees C. An enormous treasure slumbers in the depths of our planet. Temperatures of up to 7000 °Celsius are thought to be present in the Earth’s core, while at a depth of four to six kilometers (2.5 to 3.5 miles) it is still 150 °C to over 200 °C. These gigantic reserves of heat can be used as a renewable source of energy for geothermal power. The drill bits and bore hole probes employed are high-tech machines. They are fitted with a range of sensors and control mechanisms for their expedition into the Earth’s interior. They are able in this way to be very precisely controlled or autonomously analyze the environmental parameters at depth, and thereby locate suitable – in other words, warm – regions for geothermal production. There is one problem, however: microchips hit their thermal limits when exposed to temperatures over 200 degrees Celsius. Withstanding temperatures of several hundred degrees Celsius Scientists of the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS have now developed

The post Smaller microchips that keep their cool has been published on Technology Org.

 
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Orion, from head to toes (portrait orientation) poster

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


tagged with: nebula, space, astronomy, poster, orion, horsehead, rigel, betelgeuse, constellation, stars, nebulae

An incredible and colorful deep wide field image of the Constellation of Orion.

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New physical phenomenon on nanowires seen for the first time

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Very tiny wires made of semiconducting materials – more than one thousand times thinner than a human hair – promise to be an essential component for the semiconductor industry. Thanks to these tiny nanostructures, scientists envision not only a more powerful new generation of transistors, but also to integrate optical communication systems within the very same piece of silicon. This would make possible data transfer between chips at the speed of light.



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Here's how to really detect lies

Science Focus

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Lying well is hard — but not in the way you might think.

We usually look for nervousness as one of the signs of lying. Like the person is worried about getting caught. But that's actually a weak predictor.

Some people are so confident they don't fear getting caught. Others are great at hiding it.

Some get nervous when questioned so you get false positives. And others are lying to themselves — so they show no signs of deliberate deception.

So lying isn't necessarily hard in terms of stress. But it is hard in terms of "cognitive load." What's that mean?

Lying is hard because it...

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original post: http://theweek.com/article/index/258917/heres-how-to-really-detect-lies
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What are the chances of that?

Science Focus

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What are the chances of that?
Finally, they've got a positive id of one of these rare creatures. Billions upon billions of them pass right through our planet every second and only extremely occasionally does one bump into anything.
Trying to 'witness' one of these collisions has proved impossible ...until now.
 #science
 
original post: https://plus.google.com/116000959328274308893/posts/UikPM91Xah6
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Name, Orion Nebula and Trapezium Stars Gift Wrap 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: dust clouds, new born stars, star nursery, ornebcsfr, orion nebula, emission nebula, trapezium stars, astronomy images, outer space, star galaxies, hot young stars

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A gorgeous picture from the deep universe featuring the bubbling, seething mass of gas and dust that is the Orion Nebula, 1500 light years away and the closest star-forming region to us. The nebula is a star nursery in which there are birthing, new-born, young and adult stars. Look carefully in the brightest central region and you'll see the Trapezium, four of the most massive stars in Orion.
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image code: ornebcsfr

Image credit: NASA, ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team

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Helix Nebula, Galaxies and Stars Star Stickers

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


tagged with: star nurseries, star clusters, galaxies, stars, astronomy, nebulae, helixneb, helix nebula, starfields, european southern observatory, eso, vista

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A fantastic colour-composite image of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293). It was created from images obtained using the Wide Field Imager (WFI), an astronomical camera attached to the 2.2-metre Max-Planck Society/ESO telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile.

The blue-green glow in the centre of the Helix comes from oxygen atoms shining under effects of the intense ultraviolet radiation of the 120 000 degree Celsius central star and the hot gas.

Further out from the star and beyond the ring of knots, the red colour from hydrogen and nitrogen is more prominent. A careful look at the central part of this object reveals not only the knots, but also many remote galaxies seen right through the thinly spread glowing gas.
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image code: helixneb

ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA www.eso.org
Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

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In latest generation of tiny biosensors, size isn't everything

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(Phys.org) —When it comes to nanomedicine, smaller is—surprisingly—not always better.



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An Unusual Globule in IC 1396

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World-record current in a superconductor

Astronaut Repairing Hubble iPad Covers

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!


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Environmental hormones – tiny amounts, big effects

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Empty nets and few species – environmental hormones are believed responsible for the diminishing numbers of fish. How damaging are these substances really, though? Studies that depict a complete picture of the lives of fish provide clues. You cannot see, smell, or taste them – and yet, environmental hormones are components of many materials and products. They can be found for example in colorants and dyes, pesticides, cosmetics, plastics, and in pharmaceuticals. Environmental hormones are molecules that behave like hormones, because they resemble them in their structure. It has been suspected that the substances getting into an organism via the air, the skin, through foodstuffs, and through medications influence the human reproductive system and cause a reduction in the quality of spermatozoa, with an associated drop in male fertility. The animal world is affected as well. In addition to other factors, environmental hormones are believed responsible for the reduction in fish populations. Life cycle studies with freshwater fish Experts and scientists have been in disagreement for over two decades about whether fish stocks and amphibian populations are actually threatened by any stress from hormonally active substances in bodies of water, because the effects of the environmental hormones actually remain insufficiently

The post Environmental hormones – tiny amounts, big effects has been published on Technology Org.

 
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A tadpole's tale

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Space science image of the week: A bright blue tadpole swims through the inky blackness of space

via ESA Space Science

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2014/04/The_Tadpole_and_the_Wriggler

Planets and dwarf planets poster

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


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Planets and dwarf planets of the solar system

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Enlarged Region of The Omega Nebula Sticker

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


tagged with: stars, galaxies, astronomy, universe, outer space, envelope sealers, eroton, galaxies stars, gas clouds, star forming activity, green hydrogen, omega nebula m17, ultraviolet radiation, young massive stars, red sulpher, blue oxygen

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Like the fury of a raging sea, this bubbly ocean of glowing hydrogen, oxygen, and sulphur gas lies in the extremely massive and luminous molecular nebula Messier 17.
This Hubble photograph captures a small region within Messier 17 (M17), a hotbed of star formation. M17, also known as the Omega or Swan Nebula, is located about 5500 light-years away in the Sagittarius constellation.
Ultraviolet radiation is carving and heating the surfaces of cold hydrogen gas clouds and the warmed surfaces glow orange and red. The intense heat and pressure causes some material to stream away from the surface, creating the glowing veil of even hotter green-coloured gas that masks background structures. The colours in the image represent various gases. Red represents sulphur; green, hydrogen; and blue, oxygen.

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image code: eroton

Image credit: NASA, the ACS Science Team

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Name, North American and Pelican Nebulae Gift Wrap Paper

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tagged with: dust clouds, new born stars, star nursery, nanpn, interstellar hydrogen clouds, emission nebulae, pelican nebula, north american nebula, astronomy pictures, outer space, hot young stars

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A gorgeous picture from outer space featuring the North American and Pelican emission nebulae in the constellation of Cygnus, The Swan. The red, green and yellow areas all highlight the cloud of interstellar ionised hydrogen.
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image code: nanpn

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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W5 Wallpaper Room Sticker

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


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Beautiful space photo of W5.

Generations of stars can be seen in this new infrared portrait from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. In this wispy star-forming region, called W5, the oldest stars can be seen as blue dots in the centers of the two hollow cavities (other blue dots are background and foreground stars not associated with the region). Younger stars line the rims of the cavities, and some can be seen as pink dots at the tips of the elephant-trunk-like pillars. The white knotty areas are where the youngest stars are forming. Red shows heated dust that pervades the region's cavities, while green highlights dense clouds. W5 spans an area of sky equivalent to four full moons and is about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. The Spitzer picture was taken over a period of 24 hours.

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Hubble IPad Case

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: hubble

Hubble

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