Power/Performance Bits: June 24


Solar-cell efficiency in one step Rice University scientists have created a single-step process for producing highly efficient materials that let the maximum amount of sunlight reach a solar cell. The Rice lab of chemist Andrew Barron found a simple way to etch nanoscale spikes into silicon that allows more than 99 percent of sunlight to reach the cells’ active elements, where it can be t... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: May 6


Litho beam startup A startup has developed a new beam technology for advanced lithography applications. The company, called Digibeam, has demonstrated the ability to shoot a particle beam through a slow wave RF structure to create a train of compressed beam packets for high-throughput lithography. “Synchronized with high-speed deflection, the core technology enables shot rates well into t... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: April 15


Smaller is not always better While Moore’s Law-esque shrinking has allowed for economies of scale in many industries, when it comes to nanomedicine, however, smaller is not always better, according to researchers at UCLA. They have determined that the diminutive size of nanowire-based biosensors -- that healthcare workers use to detect proteins that mark the onset of heart failure, cancer an... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 25


Proving the Big Bang theory A team of cosmologists using the BICEP2 telescope at the South Pole have discovered the first direct evidence of the Big Bang theory. The team includes Harvard University, the University of Minnesota, the California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University/SLAC and others. Using the BICEP2, researchers found direct evidence of a cosm... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: March 4


Shrimp cocktail manufacturing Harvard's Wyss Institute has devised a new degradable bioplastic material, which was isolated from shrimp shells. The shrimp shell-based material could be used in the large-scale manufacturing of cell phones, food containers, toys and many other products. The material is also superior to most bioplastics on the market today. It could be used in place of existing... » read more

System Bits: Nov. 12


3D Printers When thinking about 3D printers, most people probably think about creating small plastic parts or prototypes. 3D printing now can be used to print lithium-ion microbatteries the size of a grain of sand. The printed microbatteries could supply electricity to tiny devices in fields from medicine to communications, including many that have lingered on lab benches for lack of a batt... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 5


Even the world's best supercomputers are staggeringly inefficient and energy-intensive machines. Our brains have upwards of 86 billion neurons, connected by synapses that not only complete myriad logic circuits, but continuously adapt to stimuli, strengthening some connections while weakening others. We call that process learning, and it enables the kind of rapid, highly efficient computational... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Nov. 5


Nano Bulletproof Suit Luxury tailoring house Garrison Bespoke has developed a bulletproof suit based on carbon nanotubes. The Garrison Bespoke bulletproof suit is made with carbon nanotubes, which were originally developed to protect the U.S. 19th Special Forces in Iraq. The patented material is thinner and 50% lighter than Kevlar, which is traditionally used for bulletproof gear. Th... » read more

A Nobel Prize For Modeling And Simulation


This year, a Nobel Prize has been awarded for devising a computer model and simulation process. Bloomberg, which interviewed Marinda Wu by phone, said: “The models let us slow down…and let us look at them one piece at a time.” This enables them to optimize things. At this point you may be thinking one of three things. Either 1) I don’t remember that prize being awarded or, 2) at last ED... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Aug. 27


Möbius strip ties liquid crystal in knots By tying knots in liquid crystals using a miniature Möbius strip made from silica particles, University of Warwick researchers hope to understand how their intricate configurations and unique properties can be harnessed in the next generation of advanced materials and photonic devices. Given that liquid crystal is an essential material in modern l... » read more

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