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| November 19, 2013 |
 Fukushima operator starts dangerous fuel-rod removal Tokyo (AFP) Nov 18, 2013 - Workers at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant on Monday began moving fuel rods from a reactor building, in their most difficult and dangerous task since a tsunami crippled the facility in 2011. Operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said it had begun the process of removing the uranium and plutonium rods from a storage pool - a tricky but essential step in the complex's decades-long decommissio ... more |  |
 Microbiologists reveal unexpected properties of methane-producing microbe Amherst MA (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - For 40 years, scientists thought they understood how certain bacteria work together to anaerobically digest biomass to produce methane gas, important in bioenergy and the major source of greenhouse gas. But now microbiologists in Derek Lovley's lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst show for the first time that one of the most abundant methane-producing microorganisms on earth makes dire ... more |  |
 Chaotic physics in ferroelectrics hints at brain-like computing Oak Ridge TN (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - Unexpected behavior in ferroelectric materials explored by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory supports a new approach to information storage and processing. Ferroelectric materials are known for their ability to spontaneously switch polarization when an electric field is applied. Using a scanning probe microscope, the ORNL-led team took advantage of thi ... more |  |
 Scientists invent self-healing battery electrode Stanford CA (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - Researchers have made the first battery electrode that heals itself, opening a new and potentially commercially viable path for making the next generation of lithium ion batteries for electric cars, cell phones and other devices. The secret is a stretchy polymer that coats the electrode, binds it together and spontaneously heals tiny cracks that develop during battery operation, said the team fr ... more |  |
Nature: Single-atom Bit Forms Smallest Memory in the World Karlsruhe, Germany (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - One atom equals one bit: According to this design principle, we would like to construct magnetic data memories in the future. Presently, a compound of several million atoms is needed to stabilize a magnetic bit in a way that hard disk data are secure for several years. However, researchers from KIT have just made a big step towards a single-atom bit: They fixed a single atom on a surface such th ... more |  |
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 New hologram technology created with tiny nanoantennas West Lafayette IN (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - Researchers have created tiny holograms using a "metasurface" capable of the ultra-efficient control of light, representing a potential new technology for advanced sensors, high-resolution displays and information processing. The metasurface, thousands of V-shaped nanoantennas formed into an ultrathin gold foil, could make possible "planar photonics" devices and optical switches small enou ... more |  |
Graphene nanoribbons for 'reading' DNA Lausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - If we wanted to count the number of people in a crowd, we could make on the fly estimates, very likely to be imprecise, or we could ask each person to pass through a turnstile. The latter resembles the model that EPFL researchers have used for creating a "DNA reader" that is able to detect the passage of individual DNA molecules through a tiny hole: a nanopore with integrated graphene transistor ... more |  |
Pressure Cooking to Improve Electric Car Batteries Riverside CA (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - Batteries that power electric cars have problems. They take a long time to charge. The charge doesn't hold long enough to drive long distances. They don't allow drivers to quickly accelerate. They are big and bulky. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering have redesigned the component materials of the battery in an environmentally friendly way ... more |  |
 2 for 1 in solar power Cambridge UK (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - Solar cells offer the opportunity to harvest abundant, renewable energy. Although the highest energy light occurs in the ultraviolet and visible spectrum, most solar energy is in the infrared. There is a trade-off in harvesting this light, so that solar cells are efficient in the infrared but waste much of the energy available from the more energetic photons in the visible part of the spectrum. ... more |  |
Vikram Solar Promotes National Solar Manufacturing Capacity Kolkata, India (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - Vikram Solar, which is developing a solar module with 100 per cent domestic raw materials, is firmly committed to advancing the public policy goals of the nation. Its endeavour would surpass the domestic content requirements laid down by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. The guidelines for the ongoing Phase II Batch I of the national ... more |  |
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SunEdison Launches Solar Water Pumps In India St. Peters MO (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - SunEdison has launched a solar photovoltaic (PV)-based water pump designed for the agriculture sector. Intended for use in rural environments, the water pump is available in 3HP (horsepower), 5HP, 7.5HP and 10HP variants. The solar water pump, which will cost around Rs 6 lakh, would help increase crop yield by delivering reliable irrigation without dependence on expensive diesel fuel or in ... more |  |
Refined materials provide booster shot for solar energy conversion Urbana IL (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - If you want to get the most out of the sun, you have to improve the performance of the materials used. An interdisciplinary team of Engineering at Illinois researchers has set its sights on improving the materials that make solar energy conversion/photocatalysis possible. Together, they have developed a new form of high-performance solar photocatalyst based on the combination of the TiO2 ( ... more |  |
Boeing Subsidiary Spectrolab Sets New Solar Cell Efficiency World Record El Segundo, CA (SPX) Nov 19, 2013 - Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab recently set a new world record by producing a solar cell that converted 38.8 percent of solar energy into electricity, more than any other ground-based solar cell not using concentrated sunlight. The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., verified the new record, which beats Spectrolab's own previous world record by 1 perc ... more |  |
Coal sector must 'change dramatically': climate chief Warsaw (AFP) Nov 18, 2013 - The United Nations' climate chief urged the coal industry on Monday to make dramatic changes to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions amid protests at a coal summit held on the sidelines of global climate talks. As environmental activists clamoured outside the meeting venue, the UN's Christiana Figueres told the summit that the cheap but plentiful fossil fuel came today with a hefty and now i ... more |  |
Coal Drives China Emissions Growth Warsaw (AFP) Nov 19, 2013 - Emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and cement production reached a new high in 2012, rising 2.2 percent over 2011 due chiefly to an increase in coal-burning China, scientists said Tuesday. Output of CO2 from these sources was a record 35 billion tonnes, 58 percent above 1990, the benchmark year for calculating greenhouse-gas levels, according to the annual analysis by an internati ... more |  |
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Spain to appeal for damages over Prestige oil spill Madrid (AFP) Nov 18, 2013 - Spain will appeal for damages over the Prestige tanker disaster which choked its northwest coast in oil, the government said Monday, after a court acquitted all defendants of causing the spill. The court on Thursday acquitted the ship's crew and a top Spanish maritime official and awarded no compensation for the 2002 wreck, one of Europe's worst environmental disasters. Its only sentence ... more |  |
Sectarian fury could threaten Iraq's push for record oil output Basra, Iraq (UPI) Nov 17, 2013 - The Iraqi government is seeking to restore calm in the southern province of Basra, the country's main oil production center, after hundreds of foreign oilmen were hastily evacuated amid violent protests by Iraqi oil workers. The evacuation, after rioters wrecked a camp used by Houston-based Schlumberger Inc., the world's largest oilfield services company, came amid a worsening surge of ... more |  |
 US vice president heads to Panama for canal talks Washington (AFP) Nov 17, 2013 - US Vice President Joe Biden begins an official visit to Panama Monday for meetings on the expansion of the canal, which could have major impact on US ports. During his visit, Biden will also meet Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli to discuss in part Panama's request the United States withdraw the chemical weapons it has stationed there since World War II. The $5.6 billion canal expa ... more |  |
 SciTchTalk: FCC, wireless carriers in tussle over locked phones Washington DC (UPI) Nov 17, 2013 - Last week the head of the Federal Communications Commission held a regulatory (and metaphorical) gun to the head of American wireless providers, telling them to allow customers to unlock their phones or face new rules forcing them to do so. As threats go, it may have been mostly symbolic, since locked phones - phones that work only on the network of the mobile provider from which the c ... more |  |
Greenpeace protests coal summit in Warsaw amid UN climate talks Warsaw (AFP) Nov 18, 2013 - Greenpeace activists on Monday hoisted banners protesting against coal use atop Poland's economy ministry in Warsaw, as a global coal conference got underway and UN climate talks entered their final week. Around 40 activists unfurled a large blue and white banner asking: "Who rules the world? Fossil industry or the people?" Others held one printed in red-and-white saying: "Who rules Poland? ... more |  |
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