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POPSFuture planes, cars may be made of 'buckypaper' So far, buckypaper can be made at only a fraction of its potential strength, in small quantities and at a high price. The Florida State researchers are developing manufacturing techniques that soon may make it competitive with the best composite materials now available. "If this thing goes into production, this very well could be a very, very game-changing or revolutionary technology to the aerospace business," said Les Kramer, chief technologist for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, which is helping fund the Florida State research.
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POPSMirror-Image Clues to Life's Origins From the source: The meteorites did this by providing building blocks with a slight preponderance of that handedness (known scientifically as chirality) that makes life possible. "We know that all amino acids start mirror-image the same, but in living things they have this handedness," said Ronald Breslow, a Columbia University researcher who published recently on the topic. "This change doesn't happen spontaneously, and we've never been able to reproduce it in the laboratory" under conditions similar to early Earth. "The answer to where it comes from looks increasingly like meteorites," he added, "from extraterrestrial bodies falling to Earth. It's a complex story, but we're beginning to understand it better."
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POPSFuture for clean energy lies in 'big bang' of evolution For humans now there is the tantalising possibility of tweaking the photosynthetic reactions of cyanobacteria to produce fuels we want such as hydrogen, alcohols or even hydrocarbons, rather than carbohydrates. Progress at the research level has been rapid, boosting prospects of harnessing photosynthesis not just for energy but also for manufacturing valuable compounds for the chemical and biotechnology industries. Such research is running on two tracks, one aimed at genetically engineering real plants and cyanobacteria to yield the products we want, and the other to mimic their processes in artificial photosynthetic systems built with human-made components. Both approaches hold great promise and will be pursued in parallel, as was discussed at a recent workshop focusing on the photosynthetic reaction centres of cyanobacteria, organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF).
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POPSIce Volcanoes of Titan May Habor Life For almost thirty years, scientists have known that complex carbon compounds called tholins exist on comets and in the atmospheres of the outer planets. Theoretically, tholins might interact with water in a process called hydrolysis to produce complex molecules similar to those found on the early Earth. Could tholins formed in Titan's atmosphere react with liquid water temporarily exposed by meteor impacts or ice volcanoes to produce potentially prebiotic complex organic molecules — before the water freezes? Laboratory research by Catherine Neish, a graduate student working on her doctorate in planetary science at the University of Arizona, suggests, not without controversy, however, that, over a period of days, compounds similar to tholins can be react with water at near-freezing temperatures.
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POPSScientists Create World's Thinnest Balloon Other potential applications include hyper-fine sensors and ultra-pure filters. "Once you have a membrane that won't let anything past, the most interesting thing is to then poke a hole in it. Then you can detect what leaks through that hole with high sensitivity, or make sure only what you want leaks through that hole," McEuen said. The only way gas leaked out from inside the balloons was through the glass that the bubbles were anchored on, McEuen explained.
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POPSNanobots Gone Wild Many of these nanoparticles have specific jobs to do, and they might wreak havoc if they were to do those jobs in our bodies. On the other hand, nanoparticles might cause mutations that humans need to move up to the next level in our evolution. Who knows? That's is what the government is trying to find out.
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POPSWhy we may overlook extra-terrestrial life Ammonia, for example, has many of the same properties as water. An ammonia or ammonia-water mixture, stays liquid at much colder temperatures than plain water.Hydrogen fluoride methanol, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen chloride, and formamide have all been suggested as suitable solvents that could theoretically support alternative biochemistry. All of these “water replacements” have pros and cons when considered in our terrestrial environment. What needs to be considered is that with a radically different environment, comes radically different reactions. Water and carbon might be the very last things capable of supporting life in some extreme planetary conditions. In any case, it is not beyond the realm of feasibility that our first encounter with extra-terrestrial life will not be a solely carbon-based occasion.
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POPSHunt is on for tiny diamonds in space Carbon does have remarkable properties. One of the four basic organic elements, present in any number of compounds including pure carbon compounds like graphite and Diamonds. Mainly because the atom is built like it has four plugs, and four sockets. They think according to the meteorites that there is a vast amount of carbon in interstellar dust and think it may give them clues to the way carbon molecules form, including those that are the precursors of life. Then of course there's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds? The 60s does seem to be a long time ago, and as they say, if you remember it you weren't there.
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POPSIBM Is Working on DNA-Based processors This new goal is an addition to the research on the "DNA origami," conducted by Paul Rothemund of California Institute of Technology. Currently, more and more researchers are turning to DNA in search of an older goal, the "self-assembly". The advantages of building semiconductors based on DNA and nanotubes are especially concerning the chips' size, given the fact that DNA can work at a 2-nanometer scale. Imagine a chip built at two-nanometer node, then compare it to a state-of-the-art processor built with the 45-nanometer production node.
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POPSSaturn's Moon awash with oil We know about carbon based life that relies on liquid water. There is no reason there can't be some sort of life just because the temperature may not agree with us. (There may be a reason, but not one that comes straight to mind.)
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POPSCarbon nanotubes Carbon nanotubes are cylindrical carbon molecules with a length-to-diameter ratio of more than 1,000,000. They have novel properties that make them potentially useful in many applications. including extraordinary strength, unique electrical properties and efficient heat conduction.
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