Steps into Space - Commercialisation, Occupation, Colonization: 08/16/14

Saturday, 16 August 2014

Novel, highly-sensitive platform to detect membrane transport activity

The research group of Assistant Professor Rikiya Watanabe and Professor Hiroyuki Noji at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Engineering have developed a novel platform to measure membrane transport activity with extremely high sensitivity enhanced up to 6 orders of magnitude over conventional approaches. Membrane proteins, which are located on the cell membrane, play various pivotal roles in cell functions including signal transduction and energy production. Most commercially-available medicines target membrane proteins, and in recent years research has focused on membrane transporters, a group of membrane proteins that transport substrate molecules across the cell membrane and are an optimal pharmacological target due to their physiological importance. Although quantitatively measuring the transport activity of transporters is essential to evaluate the drug efficacy, it remains difficult as current methods have low detection sensitivity and limited target applicability. To address these issues, the research group developed novel technologies including 1) high throughput formation of artificial lipid bilayer membranes with high stability and high compatibility to membrane proteins; 2) a custom-made lipid membrane chip that has more than 100,000 micro-chambers sealed with artificial lipid bilayers; 3) a method for the highly sensitive detection of membrane transporter transport activity. Using these technologies, they enhanced

The post Novel, highly-sensitive platform to detect membrane transport activity has been published on Technology Org.

#materials
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SAGAN POSTERS

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

SAGAN POSTERS

tagged with: carl, sagan, hope, atheist, science, atheism, scientist, astronomy, astronomer, space, cosmos, agnostic, skeptic, secular, humanist, humaism, hope poster, obama hope, red, white, blue

Carl Sagan in the style of the Obama HOPE poster. Text reads SAGAN at the bottom. red white and blue.

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Geothermal energy has success in Nevada, wants to spread to the rest of the West

Science Focus

original post »

Megan Geuss

RENO, NV—On an uncharacteristically rainy day in western Nevada, a small tour bus of journalists rumbled past security gates at the Ormat Steamboat Complex in Washoe County. We were there to learn about geothermal power, a renewable energy resource produced by transferring heat from underground rocks up to power plants.

Most people think of Iceland when they think of geothermal power. On that island, approximately 90 percent of homes are heated by geothermal energy. But some 12 gigawatts of geothermal power are generated worldwide, and the US is one of the largest producers of it, generating nearly 3.4 gigawatts in 2013.

Ormat’s Steamboat Complex is within the Reno city limits, and it’s made up of seven smaller plants that collectively generate 78 megawatts of power. A typical coal-fired power plant can generate around 660 megawatts of power, so Ormat’s 78 megawatts are not a lot by comparison. But when compared to other renewables, geothermal has some advantages.

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#science
» see original post http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/science/~3/SK70xZbEM74/
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Massive neutrinos and new standard cosmological model: No concordance yet

Science Focus

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The research group demonstrates that adding such massive neutrinos to the standard model does not really explain all datasets. Credit: The Milky Way, NASA. Neutrinos, also known as ‘ghost particles’ because they barely interact with other particles or their surroundings, are massless particles according to the standard model of particle physics. However, there is a lot of evidence that their mass is in fact non-zero, but it remains unmeasured. In cosmology, neutrinos are suspected to make up a fraction —small but important— of the mysterious dark matter, which represents 90% of the mass of the galaxy. Modifying the standard cosmological model in order to include fairly massive neutrinos does not explain all the physical observations simultaneously. This is the conclusion of a new scientific paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, signed by Licia Verde, ICREA researcher from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB), Boris Leistedt and Hiranya V. Peiris, from the University College London. Read more at: Phys.org

The post Massive neutrinos and new standard cosmological model: No concordance yet has been published on Technology Org.

#physics
» see original post http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechnologyOrgPhysicsNews/~3/xJvf0wC74Ho/
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A looming crisis in space?

Science Focus

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Could tensions over Ukraine risk space projects?
#science
» see original post http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28573788#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Carina Nebula, Star Forming Gas-cloud Sculpture Stickers

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

Carina Nebula, Star Forming Gas-cloud Sculpture Stickers

tagged with: billowing interstellar gas clouds, cnbigc, star forming activity, carina nebula, amazing space sculpture, star nurseries, stellar winds, young hot stars, gas cloud sculpture

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A beautiful space photograph featuring the 7500 light year distant Carina Nebula. This Hubble image shows rich, interstellar gas clouds feeding the formation of new stars. As a proto star forms, the gas clouds get dragged to its surface and some gets emitted as tight jets of material travelling at hundreds of miles per second. These in turn help sculpt the gas clouds into weird and grotesque shapes, some looking like strange worms, swimming through space.

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image code: cnbigc

Image credit: NASA, the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI) and ESA

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No X-rays from SN 2014J

Last January, telescopes in observatories around planet Earth were eagerly used to watch the rise of SN 2014J, a bright supernova in nearby galaxy M82. Still, the most important observations may have been from orbit where the Chandra X-ray Observatory saw nothing. Identified as a Type Ia supernova, the explosion of SN2014J was thought to be triggered by the buildup of mass on a white dwarf star steadily accreting material from a companion star. That model predicts X-rays would be generated when the supernova blastwave struck the material left surrounding the white dwarf. But no X-rays were seen from the supernova. The mostly blank close-ups centered on the supernova's position are shown in the before and after inset panels of Chandra's false color X-ray image of the M82 galaxy. The stunning lack of X-rays from SN 2014J will require astronomers to explore other models to explain what triggers these cosmic explosions.

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Ring Nebula Hubble Space Room Graphic

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

Ring Nebula Hubble Space Room Graphic

tagged with: ring nebula, planetary nebula, hubble, astronomy, nebula photo, nasa, outer space, hubble space telescope, nature, cool space, nebula, nebulae, m57, esa, universe, hubble telescope, hubble photo, cosmos, astronomical, astrophotography, cosmology, space photo, space picture, space image, deep space, space, natural, science, abstract, orange, ring, oval, round, cool astronomy

Hubble photograph of the Ring Nebula

This is an image of the oval-shaped Ring Nebula, situated around 2000 light years from Earth. It was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1998, and shows orange and yellow outer areas around a blue-green centre.

Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA/ESA)

You can personalise the design further if you'd prefer, such as by adding your name or other text, or adjusting the image - just click 'Customize it' to see all the options. IMPORTANT: If you choose a different sized version of the product, it's important to click Customize and check the image in the Design view to ensure it fills the area to the edge of the product, otherwise white edges may be visible.

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Orion Nebula by the Hubble Telescope 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!

Orion Nebula by the Hubble Telescope Cover For The iPad Mini

tagged with: orion, nebula, hubble, space, astronomy

In one of the most detailed astronomical images ever produced, NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope captured an unprecedented look at the Orion Nebula. ... This extensive study took 105 Hubble orbits to complete. All imaging instruments aboard the telescope were used simultaneously to study Orion. The Advanced Camera mosaic covers approximately the apparent angular size of the full moon. Sign up to Mr. Rebates for FREE and save 12% on any zazzle order in addition to a $5.00 sign up bonus All Rights Reserved; without: prejudice, recourse or notice (U.C.C. 1-308) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orion_Nebula_-_Hubble_2006_mosaic_18000.jpg

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Advanced dielectric film growth technique for next generation power devices

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High performance power devices, which are used for high current, high voltage and high frequency applications, offer the potential for large energy saving. In particular, silicon carbide (SiC) devices offer the potential for lower energy loss than conventional silicon devices. However, SiC transistors suffer from high resistance and low reliability, mainly due to defects formed at the interface between SiC gate dielectric film. Such defects, caused by impurities and atomic excess or deficiency at the interface, need to be reduced to improve the performance. The research group of Associate Professor Koji Kita at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering, found that the density of interface defects is significantly reduced by employing reaction conditions where the byproduct carbon is ejected as carbon monoxide when creating the gate dielectric film. The group achieved the lowest defect density in a MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) test structure employing these conditions. This technique provides a high quality SiC interface without any extra processes such as addition of nitrogen-containing gases, assuring the easy industrial application of this method. This technique is expected to improve the performance and accelerate the spread of SiC power devices, contributing to energy saving in a variety of applications, including electric power

The post Advanced dielectric film growth technique for next generation power devices has been published on Technology Org.

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Exploding Universe Abstract Wall Decal

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

Exploding Universe Abstract Wall Decal

tagged with: nebula, black, space, hole, blue, green, astronomy, clouds, purple, red, gaseous, window, light, white

Exploding universe Abstract Wall Decal

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