Lifeboat Foundation

Something called the fast Fourier transform is running on your cell phone right now. The FFT, as it is known, is a signal-processing algorithm that you use more than you realize. It is, according to the title of one research paper, “an algorithm the whole family can use.”

Alexander Stoytchev – an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Iowa State University who’s also affiliated with the university’s Virtual Reality Applications Center, its Human Computer Interaction graduate program and the department of computer science – says the FFT algorithm and its inverse (known as the IFFT) are at the heart of signal processing.

And, as such, “These are algorithms that made the digital revolution possible,” he said.

Semiconductors are the basic building blocks of today’s digital, electronic age, providing us a multitude of devices that benefit our modern life, including computer, smartphones and other mobile devices. Improvements in semiconductor functionality and performance are likewise enabling next-generation applications of semiconductors for computing, sensing and energy conversion. Yet researchers have long struggled with limitations in our ability to fully understand the electronic charges inside semiconductor devices and advanced semiconductor materials, limiting our ability to drive further advances.

In a new study in the journal Nature, an IBM Research-led collaboration describes an exciting breakthrough in a 140-year-old mystery in physics—one that enables us to unlock the physical characteristics of semiconductors in much greater detail and aid in the development of new and improved semiconductor materials.

To truly understand the physics of semiconductors, we first need to know the fundamental properties of the charge carriers inside the materials, whether those particles are positive or negative, their speed under an applied electric field and how densely they are packed in the material. Physicist Edwin Hall found a way to determine those properties in 1879, when he discovered that a magnetic field will deflect the movement of electronic charges inside a conductor and that the amount of deflection can be measured as a voltage perpendicular to the flow of charge as shown in Fig. 1a. This voltage, known as the Hall voltage, unlocks essential information about the charge carriers in a semiconductor, including whether they are negative electrons or positive quasi-particles called “holes,” how fast they move in an electric field or their “mobility” (µ) and their density (n) inside the semiconductor.

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to John B. Goodenough (The University of Texas at Austin), M. Stanley Whittingham (Binghamton University, State University of New York), and Akira Yoshino (Asahi Kasei Corporation and Meijo University) “for the development of lithium-ion batteries”. With the creation and subsequent optimization of lithium-ion batteries to make them more powerful, lighter, and more robust, the seminal work of Goodenough, Whittingham, and Yoshino has had a profound impact on our modern society. This ubiquitous technology has revolutionized our daily lives by paving the way for portable electronics and made renewable energy sources more viable. While attempts to improve the performance of batteries continue, the lithium-ion battery has remained the world’s most reliable battery system for more than 40 years. The three winners will each receive an equal share of the roughly $1 million award. At 97, Goodenough is now the oldest person ever to win the Nobel Prize.

“A long-awaited recognition for the creators of lithium-ion batteries has come true. The electrochemistry and material science communities – and the greater chemistry community as a whole – are excited to hear the news of the 2019 Nobel Prize award to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino for their pioneering contribution to lithium-ion batteries,” said ACS Energy Letters Editor-in-Chief Prashant Kamat. “As we all know, the lithium-ion battery has revolutionized our modern-day activities. From mobile phones to laptops and from electronic gadgets to electric cars, these storage batteries have become part of our everyday life. We at ACS Publications are excited to be part of this celebration.”

Whittingham laid the foundation of the lithium-ion battery while working at Exxon in the 1970s. During that time, the oil crisis in the United States was ongoing, and there was a strong drive to develop methods of energy storage and transport that did not rely on fossil fuels. Whittingham developed a 2V lithium-ion battery based on a titanium disulfide cathode and lithium metal anode. While a seminal contribution to the advancement of the lithium battery, adopting Whittingham’s system for everyday use would be limiting due to the high reactivity of lithium metal and risk of explosion.

A new treatment plant can make energy, clean water and chemicals.

In a recent paper (Generating Light from Darkness), published on Joule, Stanford University researchers Aaswath P. Raman, Wei Li, and Shanhui Fan are reporting the successful creation of a device that is able to generate electricity by exploiting the difference of temperature that can be established during the night between the surrounding air and the surface of the device that is cooling itself by emitting infrared radiations towards the night sky.

In a recent paper, published on Joule, Stanford University researchers are reporting the successful creation of a device that is able to generate electricity by exploiting the difference of temperature that can be established during the night between the surrounding air and the surface of the device that is cooling itself by emitting infrared radiations towards the night sky.

The possibility to generate electricity by exploiting thermal difference is not new, what is new here is the idea of creating a temperature difference by having part of the device radiating energy into the outer space.

Continue reading “Ever heard of an anti-solar panel? Here it is” »

Check out the new shape-shifting robot made out of “smarticiles” that show a new locomotive strategies!! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190918140759.htm ~via ScienceDaily… #churchofperpetuallife #perpetuallife #sciencedaily

Building conventional robots typically requires carefully combining components like motors, batteries, actuators, body segments, legs and wheels. Now, researchers have taken a new approach, building a robot entirely from smaller robots known as “smarticles” to unlock the principles of a potentially new locomotion technique.

The 3D-printed smarticles — short for smart active particles — can do just one thing: flap their two arms. But when five of these smarticles are confined in a circle, they begin to nudge one another, forming a robophysical system known as a “supersmarticle” that can move by itself. Adding a light or sound sensor allows the supersmarticle to move in response to the stimulus — and even be controlled well enough to navigate a maze.

Though rudimentary now, the notion of making robots from smaller robots — and taking advantage of the group capabilities that arise by combining individuals — could provide mechanically based control over very small robots. Ultimately, the emergent behavior of the group could provide a new locomotion and control approach for small robots that could potentially change shapes.

“It would also need to be big – some 200 metres long and 12 metres in diameter – and powerful, requiring 165 megawatts of power to generate just 1 newton of thrust, which is about the same force you use to type on a keyboard. For that reason, the engine would only be able to reach meaningful speeds in the frictionless environment of space. “The engine itself would be able to get to 99 per cent the speed of light if you had enough time and power,” says Burns.”

A NASA engineer has published plans for an engine that could accelerate a rocket without using propellant. But there are questions over whether it could work.

The school district tweeted about the donation and Musk replied that he hopes “to do more help in the future.”

UPDATE: Water filters from Elon Musk being installed, tested in Flint Community Schools

The district says it will use Musk’s donation to replace drinking fountains with water stations using ultraviolet filtration equipment. The drinking fountains have been out of service since the Flint water crisis in 2015.

It’s a pretty far-fetched idea.