Emerging Technologies
Robot hot among surgeons but US taking fresh look
April 9, 2013 2:02 pm | by LINDSEY TANNER - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsThe biggest thing in operating rooms these days is a million-dollar, multi-armed robot named da Vinci, used in nearly 400,000 surgeries in America last year—triple the number just four years earlier. But now the high-tech helper is under scrutiny over reports of problems, including several deaths that may be linked with it, and the high cost of using the robotic system.
Costs of U.S. solar photovoltaic systems continues to decline
November 28, 2012 8:39 am | News | CommentsThe installed price of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the United States fell substantially in 2011 and through the first half of 2012, according to the latest edition of Tracking the Sun, an annual PV cost-tracking report produced by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. Recent installed price reductions are attributable, in large part, to dramatic reductions in PV module prices, which have been falling precipitously since 2008.
Advance could help soldiers, athletes rebound from traumatic brain injuries
October 18, 2012 11:23 am | News | CommentsTraumatic brain injuries (TBI) disrupt the supply of oxygen-rich blood to the brain significantly, hurting chances for successful recovery. Nanotechnology experts have recently found through testing in mice that a certain type of carbon nanoparticle, when administered immediately following TBI, acted like antioxidants, rapidly restoring blood flow to the brain following resuscitation.
New techniques stretch carbon nanotubes, make stronger composites
October 15, 2012 9:38 am | News | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University have developed new techniques for stretching carbon nanotubes (CNT) and using them to create carbon composites that can be used as stronger, lighter materials. By stretching the CNT material before incorporating it into a composite for use in finished products, the researchers straighten the CNTs in the material, which significantly improves its tensile strength.
Another advance on the road to spintronics
October 15, 2012 9:23 am | News | CommentsUsing a new technique called HARPES, for hard X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers have unlocked the ferromagnetic secrets of dilute magnetic semiconductors, materials of great interest for spintronic technology.
Researchers find way to prevent cracking in nanoparticle films
October 12, 2012 8:17 am | News | CommentsMaking uniform coatings is a common engineering challenge, and, when working at the nanoscale, even the tiniest cracks or defects can be a big problem. New research from University of Pennsylvania engineers has shown a new way of avoiding such cracks when depositing thin films of nanoparticles based on spin-coating.
Researchers create nanoflowers for energy storage, solar cells
October 11, 2012 8:39 am | News | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University have created flower-like structures out of germanium sulfide (GeS)—a semiconductor material—that have extremely thin petals with an enormous surface area. The GeS flower holds promise for next-generation energy storage devices and solar cells.
Demonstrating Development Risk Reduction
October 10, 2012 9:42 am | by Edward Brunner, Group Leader, Industrial and Scientific Group, Cambridge Consultants | Articles | CommentsA phased approach to product development, including models, can help reduce risks and end in rewards.
Method monitors semiconductor etching as it happens
October 1, 2012 3:26 am | News | CommentsUniversity of Illinois researchers have a new, low-cost method to carve delicate features onto semiconductor wafers using light—and watch as it happens. The researchers' new technique can monitor a semiconductor's surface as it is etched, in real time, with nanometer resolution, using a special type of microscope that uses two beams of light to precisely measure topography.
Novel materials become multifunctional at ultimate quantum limit
September 25, 2012 9:17 am | News | CommentsA University of Arkansas physicist and his colleagues have examined the lower limits of novel materials called complex oxides and discovered that unlike conventional semiconductors the materials not only conduct electricity, but also develop unusual magnetic properties.
Research uncovers path to defect-free thin films
September 20, 2012 9:04 am | News | CommentsA team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory has discovered a strain relaxation phenomenon in cobaltites that has eluded researchers for decades and may lead to advances in fuel cells, magnetic sensors, and a host of energy-related materials. The finding could change the conventional wisdom that accommodating the strain inherent during the formation of epitaxial thin films involves structural defects.
Demonstrated: Nanotube transistors can survive space
September 18, 2012 6:02 am | News | CommentsAs part of their investigation of the effects ionizing radiation has on crystalline structures found in single-walled carbon nanotube transistors, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory engineers have recently shown these devices can stand up harsh space environments. This durability has been achieved through a combination of a hardened dielectric material and the natural isolation of the transistor.
IBM scientists first to distinguish individual molecular bonds
September 13, 2012 1:04 pm | News | CommentsUsing non-contact atomic force microscopy, researchers at IBM have been able to differentiate the chemical bonds in individual molecules for the first time. The results push the exploration of using molecules and atoms at the smallest scale and could be important for studying graphene devices.
Nanoengineers can print 3D microstructures in mere seconds
September 13, 2012 11:53 am | News | CommentsNanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a novel technology that can fabricate, in mere seconds, microscale 3D structures out of soft, biocompatible hydrogels. Near term, the technology could lead to better systems for growing and studying cells, including stem cells, in the laboratory. Long-term, the goal is to be able to print biological tissues for regenerative medicine.
