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    ‘Persistent Photoconductivity’ offers new tool for Bioelectronics

    May 3, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology, Biology/Biotechnology

    This image illustrates changes in photocurrent before and after exposure to UV light. Persistent photoconductivity is demonstrated even hours after the UV light has been turned off. This is illustrated by the pictograms showing charge carriers that come into contact with cells at the interface during in vitro experiments. Credit: Albena Ivanisevic

    This image illustrates changes in photocurrent before and after exposure to UV light. Persistent photoconductivity is demonstrated even hours after the UV light has been turned off. This is illustrated by the pictograms showing charge carriers that come into contact with cells at the interface during in vitro experiments. Credit: Albena Ivanisevic

    Researchers have developed a new approach for manipulating the behavior of cells on semiconductor materials, using light to alter the conductivity of the material itself. Albena Ivanisevic, a professor of materials science and engineering at NC Stat said: “Our work here effectively adds another tool to the toolbox for the development of new bioelectronic devices.” The new approach uses a phenomenon called persistent photoconductivity...

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    Shape-Memory Aerogels created with Rubber-like Elasticity

    May 3, 2017, Categories  Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Shape Memory Superelastic Poly(isocyanurate-urethane) Aerogels (PIR-PUR) for Deployable Panels and Biomimetic Applications

    Shape Memory Superelastic Poly(isocyanurate-urethane) Aerogels (PIR-PUR) for Deployable Panels and Biomimetic Applications

    Polymeric aerogels are nanoporous structures that combine some of the most desirable characteristics of materials, eg. flexibility and mechanical strength. It is nearly impossible to improve on a substance considered the final frontier in lightweight materials. But chemists from Missouri University of Science and Technology have done just that by making aerogels that have rubber-like elasticity and can “remember” their original shapes.

    Aerogels are created by replacing liquids with gases in a silica, metal oxide or polymer gel. They are used in a wide variety of products, from insulation of offshore oil pipelines to NASA space missions...

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    Scientists find Giant Wave Rolling through the Perseus Galaxy Cluster

    May 3, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This X-ray image of the hot gas in the Perseus galaxy cluster was made from 16 days of Chandra observations. Researchers then filtered the data in a way that brightened the contrast of edges in order to make subtle details more obvious. An oval highlights the location of an enormous wave found to be rolling through the gas. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Stephen Walker et al

    This X-ray image of the hot gas in the Perseus galaxy cluster was made from 16 days of Chandra observations. Researchers then filtered the data in a way that brightened the contrast of edges in order to make subtle details more obvious. An oval highlights the location of an enormous wave found to be rolling through the gas. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Stephen Walker et al

    Combining data from Chandra X-ray Observatory with radio observations and computer simulations, an international team has discovered a vast wave of hot gas in the nearby Perseus galaxy cluster. Spanning 200,000 light-years, the wave is about twice the size of our own Milky Way galaxy...

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    Nearby Star is a good Model of our Early Solar System

    May 3, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This is an artist's illustration of the epsilon Eridani system showing Epsilon Eridani b, right foreground, a Jupiter-mass planet orbiting its parent star at the outside edge of an asteroid belt. In the background can be seen another narrow asteroid or comet belt plus an outermost belt similar in size to our solar system's Kuiper Belt. The similarity of the structure of the Epsilon Eridani system to our solar system is remarkable, although Epsilon Eridani is much younger than our sun. SOFIA observations confirmed the existence of the asteroid belt adjacent to the orbit of the Jovian planet. Credit: Illustration by NASA/SOFIA/Lynette Cook

    This is an artist’s illustration of the epsilon Eridani system showing Epsilon Eridani b, right foreground, a Jupiter-mass planet orbiting its parent star at the outside edge of an asteroid belt. In the background can be seen another narrow asteroid or comet belt plus an outermost belt similar in size to our solar system’s Kuiper Belt. The similarity of the structure of the Epsilon Eridani system to our solar system is remarkable, although Epsilon Eridani is much younger than our sun. SOFIA observations confirmed the existence of the asteroid belt adjacent to the orbit of the Jovian planet. Credit: Illustration by NASA/SOFIA/Lynette Cook

    NASA’s SOFIA aircraft, a 747 loaded with a 2...

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