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Just to let you know, our former speaker Eric
Lerner from COFE3 has been making steady progress with his pB11
(proton-boron) fusion research at Lawrenceville Plasma Physics
Foundation (LPPF), which we are excited about as well, since it
is the most powerful (4X) as compared to D-D and D-T fusion
experiments (tokamak-ITER, laser, etc.). Here is a quote from his
regular email newsletter:
The
exciting CBC documentary on fusion, “Let There be Light” is
now available for free on Vimeo, courtesy of the
producers, EyeSteelFilm. This is the best overall introduction to
the state of fusion research today, and focuses not only on the
giant ITER project, but also on LPPF, General Fusion and W-7X as
examples of alternative approaches.
Our Story #1 is an important one marking the
milestone for NASA and its history of research into supersonic
flight. An upcoming supersonic transport (SST) model is pictured
here which is planned for commercial construction in the next
couple of years, after the testing of its silent sonic boom is
verified with unsuspecting civilians in the cities below.
Story #2 is one of those articles that make us
wonder since the electron has previously been shown to be one of
only two fundamental particles (proton is the other one) which
seems to never decay (Borexino underground facility 18-month
report) and has a theoretical lifetime (about 1028 years) from the Standard Model to be five
quintillion times the current
age of the universe . Now the sphericity or “roundness” of
the electron has come into question, so physicists who have
unlimited funding resort to testing if it has any tiny amount of
dipole moment (and therefore a slightly oblong shape), since then
it may decay and not qualify as a Standard Model eternal
particle. So far they failed to an even greater degree of failure
than ever before, so the ancient Greeks would be happy that a
perfect sphere is still the best model for the mysterious
uniformly charged electron!
Story #3
may be a new photoelectric effect since hitting a semiconductor
like graphene having quantum dots with light has now been shown
to generate electricity, as reported in NASA Tech Briefs. It may
therefore enhance standard solar photovoltaics. Also, it is
analogous to the latest developments at several institutions that
engage in solar energy harvesting with nanorectennas .
Story #4
gives us cause to celebrate since the phrase “green plastic” has
rarely been used before and biodegradable plastics are not as
mainstream as they should be to protect the environment, including
our precious ocean. Made from fructose and a plant-derived
solvent, the new discovery is a 100% bio-based renewable plastic
(a recyclable form of FDCA) to replace petroleum-based plastics.
Appearing as well in the latest (10/1/18) NASA www.TechBriefs.com it
was developed at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the
contact person there is James Dumesic at jdumesic@wisc.edu;
608-262-1095.
Our final Story #5 is a glimpse into the future of
electric clothing since self-powering functionality can now be
provided by flexible photovoltaics that can adhere to moveable
and complex three-dimensional biological tissues and skin. As
reported in Nature ( 561, p. 516–521, 2018) less
than a month ago, the authors predict that “the next-generation
biomedical devices will need to be self-powered and conformable
to human skin or other tissue.” Therefore, the researchers
fabricated integrated organic electrochemical transistors used as
sensors with organic photovoltaic power sources (with 10%
efficiency) on a one-micrometer-thick ultra-flexible substrate.
The illustrations prove its ultra flexibility too which is quite
exciting.
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If you enjoy this service, please
consider becoming a member. If you join now, we will
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10% savings on all our products, conferences and access to our
members only page. You also receive a FREE GIFT each December!
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1) NASA at 60: The First Aeronautics
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The
first “A” in NASA stands for aeronautics — the science of travel
through the air. It's as much about flying on airplanes and
arriving safely at a destination as it is about astronauts in
space. NASA's roots go back to the National Advisory Committee
for Aeronautics, established in 1915 to “supervise and direct the
scientific study of the problems of flight.”
NASA
engineers also created and tested novel re-entry systems for
returning space vehicles, helped develop tiltrotors, and
renovated the nation's air traffic control system. NASA has also
tested all types of aviation-related problems such as acoustics,
aerodynamic drag, icing, vibration, crash survivability, and
engine efficiency.
The X-15
high-speed research aircraft explored the possibilities of a
piloted, rocket-powered, air-launched aircraft capable of speeds
about five times that of sound. Developed in a joint program
among the Air Force, NASA, Navy, and North American Aviation, the
X-15 program demonstrated the human desire to fly higher, faster,
and beyond Earth's atmosphere. Between 1959 and 1969, the X-15
completed 199 flights, and in August 1963, the X-15 set an
altitude record of 67 miles. Four years later, the aircraft set a
speed record of Mach 6.7 (4,520 miles per hour).
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2) Electron Has No Dipole Moment & Now a New
Limit to its Non-existence!
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“Now, the
Advanced Cold Molecule Electron Electric Dipole Moment, or ACME,
search, based at Harvard University, has probed the electron’s EDM
with the most precision ever — and still found no sign of
smooshing, the team reports online October 17 in Nature.”
Electrons
are still almost perfectly round, a new measurement shows. A more
squished shape could hint at the presence of never-before-seen
subatomic particles, so the result stymies the search for new
physics.The finding improves the team’s last best measurement (SN
Online: 12/19/13) by a factor of 10 to find an EDM of 10-29 electron charge centimeters. That’s as round as if
the electron were a sphere the size of the Earth, and you shaved
less than two nanometers off the North Pole and pasted it onto the
South Pole, says Yale University physicist David DeMille, a member
of the ACME team.
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3) Light-Induced Electrical Current into Nanomaterials
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When hit
with light, semiconductors (materials that have an electrical
resistance in between that of metals and insulators) generate an
electric current. Semiconductors that consist of one layer or a few
layers of atoms — for example, graphene, which has a single layer
of carbon atoms — are of particular interest for next-generation
optoelectronics because of their sensitivity to light, which can
controllably alter their electrical conductivity and mechanical
flexibility. But the amount of light that atomically thin
semiconductors can absorb is limited, thus limiting the materials’
response to light.
A
field-effect transistor (the device) containing molybdenum
disulfide (stick and balls) doped with core-only quantum dots
undergoing charge transfer (left zoom; charge transfer is shown as
sparks), and core/shell quantum dots undergoing energy transfer
(right zoom; energy transfer is shown as a wave moving from the
quantum dots to molybdenum disulfide).
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4) Green Plastic Is Bio-Renewable
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Using a
plant-derived solvent called GVL (gamma-Valerolactone), an
economical and high-yielding way to produce furandicarboxylic acid
(FDCA) was developed. One of 12 chemicals the U.S. Department of
Energy calls critical to forging a “green” chemical industry, FDCA
is a necessary precursor to a renewable plastic called PEF (or
polyethylene furanoate), as well as to a number of polyesters and
polyurethanes.
The new
process begins with fructose, which is converted in a two-step
process to FDCA in a solvent system composed of one part GVL and one
part water. Since sugars and FDCA are both highly soluble in this
solvent, the end result is a high yield of FDCA that easily
separates from the solvent as a white powder upon cooling. The
solvent then can be easily separated and recycled. The system
doesn't require costly mineral acids for catalysis, doesn't produce
waste salts, and the FDCA crystals can be separated from the solvent
by simply cooling the reaction system.
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5) Self Powered Ultra Flexible PV Clothing
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Next-generation
biomedical devices will need to be self-powered and conformable to
human skin or other tissue. Such devices would enable the accurate
and continuous detection of physiological signals without the need
for an external power supply or bulky connecting wires.
Self-powering functionality could be provided by flexible
photovoltaics that can adhere to moveable and complex
three-dimensional biological tissues and skin. Ultra-flexible
organic power sources that can be wrapped around an object have proven
mechanical and thermal stability in long-term operation, making them
potentially useful in human-compatible electronics.
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