Steps into Space - Commercialisation, Occupation, Colonization: 09/05/14

Friday, 5 September 2014

Bionic Liquids from Lignin

While the powerful solvents known as ionic liquids show great promise for liberating fermentable sugars from lignocellulose and improving the economics of advanced biofuels, an even more promising candidate is on the horizon – bionic liquids. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed “bionic liquids” from lignin and hemicellulose, two by-products of biofuel production from biorefineries. JBEI is a multi-institutional partnership led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) that was established by the DOE Office of Science to accelerate the development of advanced, next-generation biofuels. “What if we could turn what is now a bane to the bioenergy industry into a boon?” says Blake Simmons, a chemical engineer who is JBEI’s Chief Science and Technology Officer and heads JBEI’s Deconstruction Division. “Lignin is viewed as a waste stream that is typically burned to generate heat and electricity for the biorefinery, but if other uses for lignin could be found with higher economic value it would significantly improve the refinery’s overall economics. Our concept of bionic liquids opens the door to realizing a closed-loop process for future lignocellulosic biorefineries, and has far-reaching economic impacts for other ionic liquid-based process technologies that currently use ionic

The post Bionic Liquids from Lignin has been published on Technology Org.

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Ultra sensitive biosensor from molybdenite semiconductor developed

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Researchers have demonstrated an atomically thin, ultrasensitive and scalable molybdenum disulfide field-effect transistor based biosensors and establish their potential for single-molecule detection.

via Science Daily

Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot Poster

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Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot Poster

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This poster has Carl Sagan holding a globe with the Pale Blue Dot picture and his famous quote.

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Meet Hydra, the shape-shifting Dr. Manhattan of the animal kingdom

Science Focus

original post »

The Conversation

In the comic series Watchmen, physicist Jon Osterman is blown apart in a science experiment gone awry. But his "consciousness" is able to pull his body back together atom by atom, becoming the radiating, blue-skinned Dr. Manhattan. It took him months to reform, and in that time I wonder if he learned that trick from a tiny pond animal. For few creatures in fiction, and even fewer in real life, are capable of surviving being ripped to bits. But for hydras, it is an everyday affair.

Hydras are tiny freshwater animals, with column-shaped bodies ringed at the top with tentacles around a mouth...

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» see original post http://theweek.com/article/index/264852/meet-hydra-the-shape-shifting-dr-manhattan-of-the-animal-kingdom
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Cave yields Neanderthal 'artwork'

Science Focus

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An engraving found at a cave in Gibraltar may be the most compelling evidence yet for Neanderthal art.
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» see original post http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28967746#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Name, outer space image gift wrap

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!

Name, outer space image gift wrap

tagged with: star galaxies, outer space picture, deep space astronomy

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series
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Researchers find a way to reduce contact resistance with molybdenum disulphide nanosheets

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(Phys.org) —A team of researchers with members from Rutgers University and Los Alamos National Laboratory has found a way to get around the problem of metals forming high-resistance when deposited on 2H phase molybdenum disulphide (MoS2). In their paper published in the journal Nature Materials, the team describes how they came up with a process for inducing 2H phase nanosheets to the metallic 1T phase, thereby reducing contact resistance.

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Carina Nebula in Argo Navis constellation Round Stickers

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

Carina Nebula in Argo Navis constellation Round Stickers

tagged with: stars, galaxies, astronomy, envelope sealers, carina nebula, argos navis constellation, carina the keel, star formation, carnebngcttst, outer space photography, gas clouds, ngc 3372

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Hubble's view of the Carina Nebula shows star birth in a new level of detail. The fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. In the process, these stars are shredding the surrounding material that is the last vestige of the giant cloud from which the stars were born. The immense nebula is an estimated 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina the Keel (of the old southern constellation Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts, from Greek mythology).
The original image is a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of ionized hydrogen. Colour information was added with data taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.

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Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope; colour data from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile

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A Sagittarius Starscape

This rich starscape spans nearly 7 degrees on the sky, toward the Sagittarius spiral arm and the center of our Milky Way galaxy. A telescopic mosaic, it features well-known bright nebulae and star clusters cataloged by 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier. Still popular stops for skygazers M16, the Eagle (far right), and M17, the Swan (near center) nebulae are the brightest star-forming emission regions. With wingspans of 100 light-years or so, they shine with the telltale reddish glow of hydrogen atoms from over 5,000 light-years away. Colorful open star cluster M25 near the upper left edge of the scene is closer, a mere 2,000 light-years distant and about 20 light-years across. M24, also known as the Sagittarius Star Cloud, crowds in just left of center along the bottom of the frame, fainter and more distant Milky Way stars seen through a narrow window in obscuring fields of interstellar dust.

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Enhanced Hubble Image of Comet iPad Folio Cases

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Enhanced Hubble Image of Comet iPad Folio Cases

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To bolster lithium battery life, add a little salt

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Cornell chemical engineers have achieved a breakthrough in the race for safer, longer-lasting batteries to power the world’s automobiles, cell phones, computers and autonomous robots. Adding certain halide salts to liquid electrolytes spontaneously creates nanostructured surface coatings on a lithium battery anode that hinder the development of detrimental dendritic structures that grow within the battery cell. The discovery opens the way potentially to extend the daily cycle life of a rechargeable lithium battery by up to a factor of 10. The so-called dendrite problem has been troubling lithium battery technology for years. Over several charge/discharge cycles, microscopic particles called dendrites form on the electrode surface and spread, causing short circuits and rapid overheating. “We had conflicting insight from two theories under development in the group and by theorists in the Cornell physics department, which suggested that a nanostructured metal halide coating on the anode could help a little – or a lot – in controlling the formation of dendrites. As it turns out, they work spectacularly well in solving what is widely considered a grand-challenge problem in the field,” said Lynden Archer, the William C. Hooey Director and Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Archer is senior author on the

The post To bolster lithium battery life, add a little salt has been published on Technology Org.

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Rosetta-Alice spectrograph obtains first far ultraviolet spectra of a cometary surface

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NASA's Alice ultraviolet spectrograph aboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta comet orbiter has delivered its first scientific discoveries. Rosetta, in orbit around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, is the first spacecraft to study a comet up close.

via Science Daily

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Milky Way Panorama 2.0 Print

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Milky Way Panorama 2.0 Print

tagged with: milky way, all sky, all-sky, milky way panorama, axel mellinger, galaxy, big dipper, orion, astronomy, astrophotography

Between October 2007 and August 2009, Central Michigan University physics professor Axel Mellinger assembled a digital all-sky mosaic image from more than 3000 individual CCD frames, which he took from remote, dark sites in South Africa, Texas and Michigan. The result is a panoramic image of our home galaxy that no stargazer could ever see from a single spot on Earth. It shows stars 1000 times fainter than those visible to the unaided human eye.

For more information, visit Dr. Mellinger's Milky Way home page at http://home.arcor-online.de/axel.mellinger/.
Or go directly to a zoomable version of the panorama: http://galaxy.phy.cmich.edu/~axel/mwpan2/krpano/.

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A Starburst Galaxy - Messier 82 (Cigar Galaxy) Stickers

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

A Starburst Galaxy - Messier 82 (Cigar Galaxy) Stickers

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Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series This mosaic image of the magnificent starburst galaxy, Messier 82 (aka Cigar Galaxy) is a really sharp wide-angle view of M82. It is a galaxy remarkable for its webs of shredded clouds and flame-like plumes of glowing hydrogen blasting out from its central regions where young stars are being born 10 times faster than they are inside in our Milky Way Galaxy.

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Image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA). Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (NSF).

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Pandora's Cluster Detail iPad Air Cover

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Pandora's Cluster Detail iPad Air Cover

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A colorful space image galaxy cluster Abell 2744, otherwise known as Pandora's Cluster. Source of image is NASA/Hubble programs.

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