Ben-Gurion University researchers have developed a new satellite imaging system that could revolutionize the economics and imagery available from space-based cameras and even earth-based telescopes. “This is an invention that completely changes the costs of space exploration, astronomy, aerial photography, and more,” says Angika Bulbul, a BGU Ph.D. candidate under the supervision of Professor Joseph…
Juno Mission Captures Images of Volcanic Plumes On Jupiter’s Moon Io
A team of space scientists has captured new images of a volcanic plume on Jupiter’s moon Io during the Juno mission’s 17th flyby of the gas giant. On Dec. 21, during winter solstice, four of Juno’s cameras captured images of the Jovian moon Io, the most volcanic body in our solar system. JunoCam, the Stellar…
R&D Market Pulse: Trump Signs Quantum Technology Act
The R&D Index for the holiday-shortened week ending December 28, 2018 closed at 3,993.57 for the 25 companies in the R&D Index. The Index was up 4.93% (or 187.71 basis points) from the week ending December 21, 2018. The stock of 23 R&D Index members gained value from 0.10% (Daimler) to 7.30% (Amazon). The stock…
Carbon Nanotubes Mimic Biology
Cellular membranes serve as an ideal example of a system that is multifunctional, tunable, precise and efficient. Efforts to mimic these biological wonders haven’t always been successful. However, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have created polymer-based membranes with 1.5-nanometer carbon nanotube pores that mimic the architecture of cellular membranes. The research appears on the…
Data Storage Using Individual Molecules
Researchers from the University of Basel have reported a new method that allows the physical state of just a few atoms or molecules within a network to be controlled. It is based on the spontaneous self-organization of molecules into extensive networks with pores about one nanometer in size. In the journal Small, the physicists reported…
Novel X-ray Imaging Technique Provides Nanoscale Insights into Behavior of Biological Molecules
Berkeley Lab researchers, in collaboration with scientists from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Max Planck Institute, have demonstrated that fluctuation X-ray scattering is capable of capturing the behavior of biological systems in unprecedented detail. Although this technique was first proposed more than four decades ago, its implementation was hindered by the lack of sufficiently…
Taming Turbulence: Seeking to Make Complex Simulations a Breeze
“Sun in a Box” Would Store Renewable Energy for the Grid
MIT engineers have come up with a conceptual design for a system to store renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, and deliver that energy back into an electric grid on demand. The system may be designed to power a small city not just when the sun is up or the wind is high,…
Team Converts Wet Biological Waste to Diesel-Compatible Fuel
In a step toward producing renewable engine fuels that are compatible with existing diesel fuel infrastructure, researchers report they can convert wet biowaste, such as swine manure and food scraps, into a fuel that can be blended with diesel and that shares diesel’s combustion efficiency and emissions profile. The researchers report the findings in the…
DEADLINE EXTENDED – Apply to be a Lab Design Conference Speaker!
Did you miss your chance to apply to speak at the Lab Design Conference? Good news — the deadline has been extended to December 10! The 2019 Lab Design Conference will be held on April 29-May 1, 2019, at the Hyatt Regency Orlando in Florida. Since 2002, the conference — presented by Laboratory Design, a…
Insight Into Swimming Fish Could Lead to Robotics Advances
Insight into Swimming Fish Could Lead to Robotics Advances
New Device Widens Light Beams by 400 Times
Using Fine-Tuning For Record-Breaking Performance
Racing Electrons Under Control
R&D Market Pulse: Global Automotive R&D Kicks Into High Gear
The R&D Index for the week ending November 16, 2018 closed at 4,238.71 for the 25 companies in the R&D Index. The Index was down -3.30% (or -144.71 basis points) from the week ending November 9, 2018. The stock of nine R&D Index companies gained value last week from 0.14% (General Motors) to 1.60% (Merck…
Electronic Skin Points the Way North
While birds are able to naturally perceive the Earth’s magnetic field and use it for orientation, humans have so far not come close to replicate this feat – at least, until now. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) in Germany have developed an electronic skin (e-skin) with magnetosensitive capabilities, sensitive enough to detect and digitize…
Stealth-Cap Technology for Light-Emitting Nanoparticles
A team of scientists from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), in collaboration with researchers from Monash University Australia, has succeeded in significantly increasing the stability and biocompatibility of special light-transducing nanoparticles. The team has developed the so-called “upconverting” nanoparticles that not only convert infrared light into UV-visible light, but also are water-soluble, remain stable in complex…
Perovskite-silicon Tandem Solar Cells Hit New Records
Using microstructured layers, a Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin team has been able to increase the efficiency of perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells, achieving 25.5 percent, which is the highest published value to date. At the same time, computational simulations were utilized to investigate light conversion in various device designs with different nanostructured surfaces. This enabled optimization of light…
R&D Market Pulse: Slowdown in Smartphone Sales Hits Qualcomm Hard
The R&D Index for the week ending November 9, 2018 closed at 4,376.71 for the 25 companies in the R&D Index. The Index was up 1.95% (or 83.85 basis points) from the week ending November 2, 2018. The stock of twenty R&D Index companies gained value last week from 0.25% (Honda) to 8.24% (Astra Zeneca).…
How Stretchy Fluids React to Wavy Surfaces
Viscoelastic fluids are everywhere, whether racing through your veins or through 1,300 kilometers of pipe in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Unlike Newtonian fluids, such as oil or water, viscoelastic fluids stretch like a sticky strand of saliva. Chains of molecules inside the fluids grant them this superpower, and scientists are still working to understand how it…
Filtering Liquids With Liquids Saves Electricity
Nanorobots Propel Through the Eye
Researchers of the Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, together with an international team of scientists, have developed propeller-shaped nanorobots that, for the first time, are able to drill through dense tissue as is prevalent in an eye. They applied a non-stick coating to the…
R&D Market Pulse: U.S. Wages on the Rise
The R&D Index for the week ending November 2, 2018 closed at 4,292,86 for the 25 companies in the R&D Index. The Index was up 0.18% (or 7.58 basis points) from the week ending October 26, 2018. The stock of seventeen R&D Index companies gained value last week from 0.34% (Eli Lilly Company) to 12.57%…
Disorder Plays a Key Role in Phase Transitions of Materials
Phase transitions are common occurrences that dramatically change the properties of a material, the most familiar being the solid-liquid-gas transition in water. Each phase corresponds to a new arrangement of the atoms within the material, which dictate the properties of the substance. While these arrangements can be easily studied in each phase individually, it is…