tag: MIT

System Bits: Dec. 8
By Ann Mutschler - 08 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 0

Path to quantum transistors An odd, iridescent material that's puzzled physicists for decades turns out to be an exotic state of matter that could open a new path to quantum computers and other next-generation electronics, according to University of Michigan physicists. The researchers have been able to confirm that several properties of the compound samarium hexaboride that raise hopes for... » read more

Energy Harvesting Makes Progress
By Ed Sperling - 04 Dec, 2014 - Comments: 0

The dream of a self-powered device has been around for a long time—thousands of years, in fact. The first windmills and waterwheels date back to ancient Greece and the beginning of recorded history. Self-winding timepieces date back to the late 1700s. The Foucault pendulum has been in motion in Paris, minus some brief hiatuses, since 1851. And it's been 144 years since two French physicists d... » read more

System Bits: Nov. 25
By Ann Mutschler - 25 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

Biological circuits In recent years, researchers have made progress in the design and creation of biological circuits which can take a number of different inputs and deliver a particular kind of output — like electronic circuits. However, while individual components of such biological circuits can have precise and predictable responses, those outcomes become less predictable as more such ele... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 11
By Ann Mutschler - 11 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

Storing solar energy Engineers at Stanford have designed a catalyst that could help produce vast quantities of pure hydrogen through electrolysis – the process of passing electricity through water to break hydrogen loose from oxygen in H2O. Pure hydrogen (H2) is a major commodity chemical that is generally derived from natural gas. Tens of millions of tons of hydrogen are produced each ye... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 4
By Ann Mutschler - 04 Nov, 2014 - Comments: 0

Leveraging error-prone chips MIT researchers reminded that as transistors get smaller, they also grow less reliable, and that while increasing the operating voltage can help, there is a corresponding increase in power consumption. As such, some researchers and hardware manufacturers are exploring the possibility of letting chips botch the occasional computation. The team has devised a system t... » read more

System Bits: Oct. 21
By Ann Mutschler - 21 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

Simplified superconducting circuits Computer chips with superconducting circuits, which means they have no electrical resistance, are said to be 50 to 100 times as energy-efficient as today’s technology. Superconducting chips are also said to have greater processing power: Superconducting circuits that use so-called Josephson junctions have been clocked at 770 gigahertz, or 500 times the spe... » read more

System Bits: Oct. 14
By Ann Mutschler - 14 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

Exotic states of light and matter In research that merges two areas that have only been studied separately, ETH researchers are studying solid-state physics and quantum optics as a potential first step toward quantum computing. Specifically, the physicists are looking between tiny mirrors to a special layer of the semiconductor material gallium arsenide, prepared in such a way that the elec... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 7
By Ann Mutschler - 07 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

Crumpled graphene MIT researchers have now found that crumpling a piece of graphene “paper” — a material formed by bonding together layers of the 2D form of carbon — can yield properties that could be useful for creating extremely stretchable supercapacitors to store energy for flexible electronic devices, such as wearable or implantable biomedical sensors. The team said the new, fl... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Sept. 30
By Ann Mutschler - 30 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

A “perfect” solar absorber According to researchers at MIT, the key to creating a material that would be ideal for converting solar energy to heat is tuning the material’s spectrum of absorption just right: It should absorb virtually all wavelengths of light that reach Earth’s surface from the sun — but not much of the rest of the spectrum, since that would increase the energy that i... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Sept. 23
By Ann Mutschler - 23 Sep, 2014 - Comments: 0

Improved liquid battery Researchers at MIT, led by a materials chemistry professor, have improved a proposed liquid battery system that could enable renewable energy sources to compete with conventional power plants. Professor Donald Sadoway and some colleagues have already started a company to produce electrical-grid-scale liquid batteries, with layers of molten material that automatically... » read more

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