Applied Physics

Polymer matrix composites with carbon black can be used as filler material and can beneficially modify the electrical and mechanical properties of the used matrixes. The polymer components of these composites are traditionally made using oleo-polymers; however, an alternative is to use natural and renewable sources as soybean oil, linseed oil, sunflower oil, etc. Polymers derived from those natural oils can be tailored for engineering and aeronautical applications by reinforcing them with natural and synthetic fibers and clays. Figure 1: Resistivity variation of poly(AESO-co-BMA) + CB…

A University of Alberta research team has combined two fields of study in nanotechnology to create a third field that the researchers believe will lead to revolutionary advances in computer electronics, among many other areas. Dr. Abdulhakem Elezzabi and his colleagues have applied plasmonics principles to spintronics technology and created a novel way to control the quantum state of an electron's spin. The new technology, which the researchers call spinplasmonics, may be used to create incredibly efficient electron spin-based photonic devices, which in turn may be used to build, for…

A newly discovered dwarf galaxy in the Local Group has been found to have formed in a region of space far from our own and is falling into our system for the first time in its history, according to new data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory. An international team of astronomers report that the dwarf galaxy, Andromeda XII, marks the best piece of evidence for small galaxies which are just now arriving in our Local Group. The finding provides an important test for simulations of galaxy formation.Dwarf galaxies and streams of stellar material mark the visible remnants of galactic merging…

During the first 24 hours of invasion by the malaria-inducing parasite Plasmodium falciparum, red blood cells start to lose their ability to deform and squeeze through tiny blood vessels-one of the hallmarks of the deadly disease that infects nearly 400 million people each year. Now, an international team of researchers led by an MIT professor has demonstrated just why that happens. By knocking out the gene for a parasite protein called RESA (ring-infected erythrocyte surface antigen), the researchers found that the protein, transferred from the parasite to the cell's interior molecular…

MIT researchers have undertaken a first-of-its-kind analysis of bone's mechanical properties and discovered new things about how a bone absorbs energy. The insights gained from this work could lead to the creation of new, tougher materials. MIT researchers created this nanoscale map of the stiffness of bone. Image courtesy / Ortiz Lab, MIT The researchers' up-close-and-personal look at bone probes its fundamental building block—a corkscrew-shaped protein called collagen embedded with tiny nanoparticles of mineral—at the level of tens of nanometers, or billionths of a meter. A human hair, by…

Integrating bio-chemical sensors into textiles for continuous monitoring of a person's health is the goal of the EU-funded BIOTEX ('Bio-sensing textile for health management') project. As the first of its kind, the project is developing optimal electric, electrochemical and optical sensors which will be embedded into a textile substrate to create 'sensing patches' able to monitor the biochemical parameters of a user. The aim of these 'sensing patches' will be to continuously monitor the bodily fluids (blood, sweat and urine) of the wearer throughout the day. In this way, the project aims to…

Researchers have found that bricks made from fly ash--fine ash particles captured as waste by coal-fired power plants--may be even safer than predicted. Instead of leaching minute amounts of mercury as some researchers had predicted, the bricks apparently do the reverse, pulling minute amounts of the toxic metal out of ambient air. Each year, roughly 25 million tons of fly ash from coal-fired power plants are recycled, generally as additives in building materials such as concrete, but 45 million tons go to waste. Fly ash bricks both find a use for some of that waste and counter the…

Next time there is a global pandemic, contaminated water caused by flooding, or questionable-looking meat in a supermarket, we may be reaching for a piece of paper. It won’t be just any type of paper but a Canadian-invented bioactive paper that contains the ingredients to detect and ward off life-threatening bacteria and viruses like E-coli, salmonella and SARS, to name just a few. Researchers from 10 universities across Canada, nine industry partners, and federal and provincial government agencies have formed a research consortium named the SENTINEL Bioactive Paper Network to develop low-…

You may not be able to relive your youth, but part of your brain can. Johns Hopkins researchers have found that newly made nerves in an adult brain's learning center experience a one-month period when they are just as active as the nerves in a developing child. The study, appearing this week in Neuron, suggests that new adult nerves have a deeper role than simply replacing dead ones. Song and his colleagues tracked the chemical signals received by newly made nerve cells in the adult mouse hippocampus, a brain structure dedicated to learning and memory, by injecting virus particles to light…

The hydrogen economy is not a futuristic concept. The U.S. Department of Energy's 2006 Advance Energy Initiative calls for competitive ethanol from plant sources by 2012 and a good selection of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles by 2020. Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the University of Georgia propose using polysaccharides, or sugary carbohydrates, from biomass to directly produce low-cost hydrogen for the new hydrogen economy. According to the DOE, advances are needed in four areas to make hydrogen fuel an economical reality for transportation –…