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    Return to the Fold for Super-Strong Structures

    June 20, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Return to the fold for super-strong structures

    An origami pattern known as the Miura fold can help dissipate energy inside explosive-proof structural panels. Credit: Swinburne University of Technology

    Lightweight structural panels that can stop bullets or withstand bombs are the goal of a team of researchers working at Swinburne. A team led by Professor Guoxing Lu from Swinburne’s School of Engineering has put a modern twist on this ancient science by replacing solid metal panels with super-tough and light aluminium ‘sandwich’ structures inspired by Japanese origami patterns. A typical sandwich panel inserts a soft, semi-hollow inner core between 2 thin and strong outer skins. Spacing the skins a small distance apart makes the panels much stiffer than the sheet would otherwise be while dramatically decreasing overall bulk...

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    Sustainable Ethanol from CO2? A possible path

    June 20, 2017, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Stanford scientists have designed a copper catalyst that produces ethanol from carbon dioxide and water. Credit: Mark Shwartz/Stanford University

    Stanford scientists have designed a copper catalyst that produces ethanol from carbon dioxide and water. Credit: Mark Shwartz/Stanford University

    Most cars and trucks in the US run on a blend of 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol, a renewable fuel made primarily from fermented corn. But to produce the 14 billion gallons of ethanol consumed annually by American drivers requires millions of acres of farmland. A recent discovery by Stanford University scientists could lead to a new, more sustainable way to make ethanol without corn or other crops. This promising technology has 3 basic components: water, CO2 and electricity delivered through a copper catalyst. The results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

    “One of our long-range goals is to produce renewable...

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    New Branch in Family Tree of Exoplanets discovered

    June 20, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    1. How planets are assembled and sorted into two distinct size classes. First, the rocky cores of planets are formed from smaller pieces. Then, the gravity of the planets attracts hydrogen and helium gas. Finally, the planets are "baked" by the starlight and lose some gas. At a certain mass threshold, planets retain the gas and become gaseous mini-Neptunes; below this threshold, the planets lose all their gas, becoming rocky super-Earths.<br /> Credit: NASA/Kepler/Caltech (R. Hurt)<br /> 2. Researchers using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory and NASA's Kepler mission have discovered a gap in the distribution of planet sizes, indicating that most planets discovered by Kepler so far fall into two distinct size classes: the rocky Earths and super-Earths (similar to Kepler-452b), and the mini-Neptunes (similar to Kepler-22b). This histogram shows the number of planets per 100 stars as a function of planet size relative to Earth.<br /> Credit: NASA/Ames/Caltech/University of Hawaii (B. J. Fulton)<br /> 3. This sketch illustrates a family tree of exoplanets. Planets are born out of swirling disks of gas and dust called protoplanetary disks. The disks give rise to giant planets like Jupiter as well as smaller planets mostly between the sizes of Earth and Neptune. Researchers using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory and NASA's Kepler mission discovered that the smaller planets can be cleanly divided into two size groups: the rocky Earth-like planets and super-Earths, and the gaseous mini-Neptunes. Credit: NASA/Kepler/Caltech (T. Pyle)

    1. How planets are assembled and sorted into two distinct size classes. First, the rocky cores of planets are formed from smaller pieces. Then, the gravity of the planets attracts hydrogen and helium gas. Finally, the planets are “baked” by the starlight and lose some gas. At a certain mass threshold, planets retain the gas and become gaseous mini-Neptunes; below this threshold, the planets lose all their gas, becoming rocky super-Earths.
    Credit: NASA/Kepler/Caltech (R. Hurt)
    2. Researchers using data from the W. M...

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    Astronomers discover Bubble-like structure associated with the pulsar PSR J1015−5719

    June 20, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    ATCA radio intensity maps zoomed in at J1015 and the nebula G283.1−0.59 at 16, 6, and 3 cm. The 16 cm image is obtained from the off-pulse phase bins with the pulsar binning data. The crosses mark the pulsar positionand the beam sizes are shown in the lower left. Credit: Ng et al., 2017.

    ATCA radio intensity maps zoomed in at J1015 and the nebula G283.1−0.59 at 16, 6, and 3 cm. The 16 cm image is obtained from the off-pulse phase bins with the pulsar binning data. The crosses mark the pulsar positionand the beam sizes are shown in the lower left. Credit: Ng et al., 2017.

    Astronomers have recently identified a peculiar bubble-like structure associated with an energetic pulsar known as PSR J1015−5719. The newly found feature, designated G283.1−0.59, is most likely a polar wind nebula. Located some 16,600 light years away from the Earth, PSR J1015−5719 is an energetic pulsar with a spin period of 0.14 seconds and an estimated age of about 39,000 years. The pulsar was detected in 2003 by the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey...

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