clhs sciblog

Musings on current happenings in science from our little slice of the world.

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What to wear on Mars?

January 15, 2012 by kronebca · Physics

Scientists have been studying and inventing different kinds of spacesuits to wear to the moon for years. However now scientists are needing to develop new spacesuits to travel to other areas in outer space, like Mars. Students from the University of Alberta are working on improving the current spacesuit and are turning it into something that is suitable for traveling to Mars and maybe beyond. They are simply improving the suit by adding new materials that can stand up to the radiation and freezing climates of Mars. The students have created a suit that has a 12 layers of a special new polymeric material. This new spacesuit is extremely expensive because they have created it out of all high end materials.

This article also stated how that America will not be ready to make a trip to Mars for a couple decades. However,  I think that its really great that we are starting to plan to take a trip to Mars and a huge step in making a mission to Mars would be creating a space suit suitable for the conditions of Mars.

If you would like to read more on this article click here.

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California Decides to Reduce Energy Consumption

January 13, 2012 by koglerej · Physics

The state of California has taken a massive step in the direction of energy consumption. Their first attempt is to impose a standard for battery chargers. If you have any kind of cellphone, portable game player, or laptop, these electronics have been labeled as “Energy Vampires”. This is due to the charger that comes along with the electronic. It is stated that these chargers waste 60% of the energy that comes from the outlet. It is important to remember that this mandate would benefit the consumers as well as the overall population. This simple change would shred off $306 million in residential electricity and commercial bills, what a colossal savings!

Buying a new charger for your cellphone or laptop would be totally worth the price of saving energy every day. If we want to make our planet a pleasant and affordable place to live without pollution, we must work together! Saving energy is a wonderful way to start. Not only is saving energy good for the environment, but it saves you money. So whether it is out of selfish conceit that you choose to buy a new battery charger or you care about saving our planet; the important thing is that you just do it!

Read the full article here.

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Superconductors Guarantee Supply of Power Plant

January 13, 2012 by colejm · Physics

A new technology, co-developed by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and made by Nexans Superconductors, is being used on a power plant for the first time. This technology protects the grid and ensures the constant flow of electricity at the Boxberg power plant of Vattenfall. This is possible because of superconductors. After being installed, they limit the current from a power plant to prevent short circuits and voltage peaks. The superconductors not only protect the power plant, it may also reduce the investment costs of plants. Until now, we have only had superconductors that were to difficult to handle, too brittle, and too expensive for general applications. These old superconductors were improved, into the new ones that are very helpful.

This new technology will greatly help our energy system. It will keep power plants from malfunctioning, and keep energy from being lost. It will prevent power failures and damage that may occur from one. Power plants will also save money because of the superconductors. This will allow them to hopefully use the money for good, rather wasting it away on lost energy. Finding ways to preserve and protect energy is always helpful. Maybe this will help us in spreading the use of energy in the whole world, and help those countries who don’t have constant electricity.

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World’s smallest magnetic data storage unit created

January 13, 2012 by smithrj · Physics

If you think your iPods are small but can hold a lot of memory, then you haven’t seen anything yet. Scientists have been able to create a working magnetic data storage unit, which measures to be exactly 4 by 16 nanometers. while other devices require half a billion atoms to store each byte this device can store it on as little as 96 atoms. This device was created by IBM and the German Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL).

I found this article very interesting because I realize that data storage units have come from needing billions of atoms to needing just 96 , and that to me is amazing. It also means that sometime in the near future these devices will be placed inside of iPods and other hand held devices, which means that people will have more memory for more songs or videos or whatever they want to download. To learn more about this article click here.

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Eavesdropping Spiders

January 13, 2012 by walkerjc · Biology

The wolf spider is the first known spider to use a eavesdropping type of method to one-up its male rivals. For a long time it has been known that other animals such as fish and birds use eavesdropping to help themselves in mating season, but now through studies we have discovered that also wolf spiders eavesdrop in a way to win over the ladies. They discovered this by playing film that scientists have recorded of wolf spider to there mating dance in the woods. Then they showed the captured wolf spider this video in a controlled environment. When they did they did this they recorded that the spider would try to mimic and try one-up the video spider, thinking there was a female around.

I thought this article was very interesting in that it seemed strange that the spider would try to mimic the opposing spider. I did not think that the spider was actually mimicking the other spider, I thought it was just competing with the other spider.

To read more click here.

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The Next Big Small Thing

January 13, 2012 by smithrj · Physics

The laboratory at Rice University has found a way to turn carbon fiber into graphene quantum dots. These dots are tiny specks of matter with properties  that are supposed to be extremely useful for electronics, optical, and bio medical applications. Discovered in the 1980′s, quantum dots are semi-conductors, that have a shape and size dependent band gap, the size of these semi-conductors can be controlled because of the temperature at which they were created.

I find this article fascinating because it shows the growth we have had in the scientific community  over the last 30 years, which when you think about it really is not that long of a time. What I also learned from this article was that these materials can be used to help further technology in hospitals and other medical facilities. To read more about this article click here.

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Could a Planet of the Apes Actually Happen?

January 13, 2012 by shieryjd · Biology

If you haven’t already seen the movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes, beware of spoilers in the next few sentences.  In the movie, scientists are working on a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, testing on the brains of chimpanzees.  However, they created a new breed of ape with human intelligence, with very aggressive tendencies.  Now the question is—Is something like this even possible?

Firstly, many critics do not believe that this kind of research is ethical.  Secondly, scientists are concerned about unregulated experiments on animal intelligence. If scientists started putting human brain cells into an ape, anything could happen.  Honestly, I believe that something like that could accidentally happen in the future.

Now I find this article very interesting for many reasons.  The advancements of medical research are extraordinary today, it is only going to get better.  However, it concerns me that something like this could happen in the future.  Science is almost capable of achieving such a thing if they wanted to.  Also, I wouldn’t want my world overthrown by an army of apes.

You can read the full article here.

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Superlens Development: cheap, simple lens to let us see a single virus

January 12, 2012 by bakerca · Physics

Ever wondered what a single virus looked liked? I’m not into physics and I can say that even I have wondered what it looks like. Its something we’ve all thought of at least once. What do viruses look like exactly? Well believe it or not you don’t have to have a Ph.D. in physics to find out. In fact, science is getting so put into a normal persons life that everyday people can find out for themselves. Thanks to a new invention called the SUPERLENS we can find out easily. Anyone can buy these cheap superlens and we can identify viruses with ease.

This really makes us realize something.  Its makes us realize just really how far science has come. We’ve come from in the 20′s not knowing how to cure a common flu to now anybody can be in there own home and see what a virus looks like up close and personal. I am just truly ecstatic to see what awaits us in the future with the crazy world of  physics revolving around it. Get a quick glance of the article here.

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Matching Chromosomes

January 12, 2012 by schultzac · Biology

According to the studies at Missouri college, female frogs are pretty picky about there love songs. Researchers have found out that some incredibly attuned female frogs can hear differences in chromosomal structures though the love call. “To the naked eye – human and frog – the two frogs look exactly alike,” Gerhardt said. “The frogs differ only in the number of chromosomes. The eastern grey tree frog has double the number of chromosomes.” This is pretty straightforward. The frogs are indistinguishable from each other. Mitch Tucker also explains how the females can tell the difference. “The males are both singing the same love song – just one frog is singing it slower. It’s kind of like the difference between Eric Clapton’s original and unplugged versions of Layla,” Tucker said. so that must mean the sounds are at a fairly close speed, but one is slightly slower. The more chromosomes a frog has, the larger cells it has. This, in turn, slows down the trill rate of the song.

Man, can female frogs hear, or what? Click here for full story.

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Inventing Self-Repairing Batteries

January 12, 2012 by bakerca · Chemistry, Physics

Scientists have yet again invented something new. What is it today? Batteries that repair themselves automatically. How do these scientist make these kind of batteries? Well, the scientists have created these things called metacapsules that repair the battery. These microcapsules, filled with liquid metal, sit on a gold conductive layer. If the circuit is mechanically damaged, the capsules burst to restore the conductive pathway. Each is just 10 microns across. In the article it says that 10 could fit side by side in a human hair.

This is really boss. Imagine a world where batteries, instead of dying out, they just recharge themselves. this would definitely save us some money. Or think bigger by putting something like this in a car battery. We would have batteries lasting seemingly forever. Bringing a whole new meaning to the world of Duracell. To read the article click here.

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