Friday 20 May 2016

Graphene makes rubber more rubbery

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Adding graphene to thin rubber films can make them stronger and stretchier, researchers have shown.
via Science Daily

NASA super pressure balloon begins globetrotting journey

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NASA successfully launched a super pressure balloon on a potentially record-breaking, around-the-world test flight.
via Science Daily
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New type of graphene-based transistor will increase the clock speed of processors

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Scientists have developed a new type of graphene-based transistor and using modelling they have demonstrated that it has ultralow power consumption compared with other similar transistor devices. The most important effect of reducing power consumption is that it enables the clock speed of processors to be increased. According to calculations, the increase could be as high as two orders of magnitude.
via Science Daily

Researchers in Antarctic discover new facets of space weather

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A team of National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported researchers at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) discovered new evidence about how the Earth's magnetic field interacts with solar wind, almost as soon as they finished installing six data-collection stations across East Antarctic Plateau last January.
via Science Daily
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Supernova reserve fuel tank clue to big parents

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Some supernovae have a reserve tank of radioactive fuel that cuts in and powers their explosions for three times longer than astronomers had previously thought. A team of astronomers detected the faint afterglow of a supernova, and found it was powered by radioactive cobalt-57.
via Science Daily
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3D Mercury Transit

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On May 9, innermost planet Mercury crossed IN FRONT of the Sun. Though pictures project the event in only two dimensions, a remarkable three dimensional perspective on the transit is possible by free viewing this stereo pair. The images were made 23 minutes apart and rotated so that Mercury's position shifts horizontally between the two. As a result, Mercury's orbital motion produced an exaggerated parallax simulating binocular vision. Between the two exposures, the appropriately named planet's speedy 47.4 kilometer per second orbital velocity actually carried it over 65,000 kilometers. Taken first, the left image is intended for the right eye, so a cross-eyed view is needed to see Mercury's tiny silhouette suspended in the foreground. Try it. Merging the text below the images helps.

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