Tag: physical sciences
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Engineers Increase Computer Program Speed, Retain Safety
Researchers at North Carolina State University in Raleigh have developed a software tool that helps computer applications run more efficiently without sacrificing safety features that previously slowed down their performance. The faculty/student team will discuss this process on 5 April at the International Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization in Chamonix, France. Application software programs…
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Universities Form Appalachian Enviro. Research Initiative
Seven universities in the Appalachian region of the U.S. have formed a consortium to study environmental impacts of the production and use Appalachia’s energy resources, particularly coal. Virginia Tech in Blacksburg will house the new Appalachian Research Initiative for Environmental Science (ARIES). ARIES is expected to involve researchers representing a range of disciplines from Virginia…
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Merck to Offer Biotech Funding, Incubator in Israel
The global pharmaceutical company Merck in Darmstadt, Germany has opened the Merck Serono Israel Bioincubator Fund, to support Israeli biotech and materials science start up companies. Merck’s chairman Karl-Ludwig Kley announced the initiative yesterday during meetings with officials in Israel. Merck’s incubator program covers pharmaceuticals, life sciences, and high-performance materials. The program will offer start…
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Solar Developer, Energy Lab Sign R&D Deal
New Energy Technologies Inc. in Columbia, Maryland has signed a research and development agreement with National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado to advance the company’s technology for generating solar electric power through window glass. NREL is a division of the U.S. Department of Energy. New Energy’s system, marketed under the trade name SolarWindow,…
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University Studying Smart Polymer Film to Control Substrates
Researchers at Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany are developing thin plastics with the ability to control the properties of materials to which they are attached. The films made of polymers — long, repeating chains of molecules — would contain elements that react to external stimuli, such as light or magnetic fields, and change the underlying…
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Univ. Licenses Air Quality Monitoring Technology
An instrument to measure air quality, developed by researchers at University of Nevada in Reno, has been licensed for commercial development to Droplet Measurement Technologies of Boulder, Colorado. The device, invented by physics professor Pat Arnott (pictured left) and student Ian Arnold, is believed to be more economical, more portable, and more accurate than older…
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Molycorp, Ames Lab to Partner on Rare Earth Magnets
Molycorp Inc. in Greenwood Village, Colorado and Ames National Laboratory have signed a research and development agreement to devise new methods to create commercial-grade rare-earth permanent magnets. Ames Lab in Ames, Iowa is a division of the U.S. Department of Energy. Rare-earth elements are key components in modern electronic technologies, such as televisions, fluorescent light…
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Prof. Develops Open-Space Laser Transmission Technology
An emerging technology for transmitting data with lasers through open space is being developed at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. The technology that aims to exceed the communications capabilities of fiber-optic transmission without the fiber is being studied by physics and engineering professor Rainer Martini (pictured left), who has also started a…
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U.K. Grant Funds Composite Materials Research
A research team from two universities in the U.K. have been awarded a grant to develop a new generation of high performance, fiber-reinforced polymer composites to overcome failures that can happen with little warning. The £6 million ($US 9.6 million) six-year grant by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council was awarded to University of…
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Electrolyte Nanocrystals Increase Efficiency of Fuel Cells
Researchers at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands found that adding small crystals to solid electrolyte material can raise the efficiency of fuel cells. The TU Delft team published its findings, the second recent article on this subject, in the journal Advanced Functional Materials (paid subscription required). Fuel cells are devices that…