New Understanding of Natural Silk's Mysteries Could Lead to Stronger, Lighter Materials

Science

New Understanding of Natural Silk's Mysteries Could Lead to Stronger, Lighter Materials

By Clay Dillow


Posted 03.15.2010 at 5:30 pm


1 Comment

Natural silk, as we all know, has a strength that manmade materials have long struggled to match. In a discovery that sounds more like an ancient Chinese proverb than a materials science breakthrough, MIT researchers have discovered that silk gets its strength from its weakness. Or, more specifically, its many weaknesses. Silk gets its extraordinary durability and ductility from an unusual arrangement of hydrogen bonds that are inherently very weak but that work together to create a strong, flexible structure.

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read more about > biology, engineering, materials science, MIT, silk, spider silk

Technology

New Lithium Batteries Could Remove Pesky Explosion Problem

By Jeremy Hsu


Posted 03.15.2010 at 4:59 pm


1 Comment

Lithium-ion batteries used in hybrid cars, laptops and cell phones have occasionally undergone recalls and false scares concerning the possibility of exploding. Stanford University scientists have created lithium-sulfide electrodes that could create batteries that last four times longer and avoid any risk of possible explosions, Technology Review reports.

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read more about > anodes, batteries, cathodes, electrodes, laptops, li-ion, Lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfide, lithium-sulfur, phones

Science

Better Meds: Scientists Identify Key Genetic Components for Morphine Synthesis

How poppies do their thing

By Clay Dillow

Posted 03.15.2010 at 4:16 pm


1 Comment

Morphine is potent, effective and in many cases the only pleasant aspect accompanying a visit to the surgeon. But the opium from which it is derived is the base ingredient for heroin and a politically problematic cash crop in places like Afghanistan.

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read more about > codeine, genetics, health, morphine, opiates, opium, oxycodone, painkiller

Science

Rolling Martian Avalanche Greets the Spring

By Jeremy Hsu


Posted 03.15.2010 at 3:28 pm


1 Comment

Springtime on Mars means the thaw of carbon dioxide ice in the northern hemisphere. And when the dry ice goes, the party's over for any trapped debris that then goes tumbling down Martian cliffs in spectacular images such as this.

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read more about > avalanche, carbon dioxide ice, debris, dry ice, Mars, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, Red Planet, red rocks, rolling rocks, space

DIY

Build a Miniature Electric Hub Motor

By Vin Marshall


Posted 03.15.2010 at 2:45 pm


0 Comments

A few months ago, we brought you the "You Built What?!" feature about Charles Guan's Electric Death Trap Shopping Cart Contraption. More recently, he released an excellent Instructable about making your own miniature electric hub motor.

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read more about > electric, electricity, hub motors, instructables, motors

Technology

An Autonomous 'Bot that Burrows Underground to Deliver Deadly Payloads

Something big is happening underground

By Clay Dillow

Posted 03.15.2010 at 2:01 pm


10 Comments

There's been a lot of talk lately about what's happening underground, from DARPA's Transparent Earth program to subterranean navigation systems (for real). Not to be out-DARPA'd by DARPA, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency is seeking a "one-time use, air-delivered, highly mobile vehicle" that can tunnel into the earth and deliver a munitions payload underground.

The idea is for the Robotic Underground Munition to make a soft landing after being dropped from an aircraft, at which point it would traverse surface terrain to a predetermined point and start tunneling, autonomously navigating underground until it locates its target. The RUM could then deliver a payload, which could range from a strongly worded letter to a warhead.

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read more about > bunker busters, DTRA, military, robots, Thunderbirds, underground, WMD

Technology

South Korean Scientists Transmit Broadband Signals Through Human Arm

The experiment transmitted 10 Mbps through a person

By Jeremy Hsu

Posted 03.15.2010 at 1:19 pm


2 Comments

Human skin is apparently a very energy-efficient conduit for transmitting data. A recent experiment achieved a rate of 10 megabits per second, which may put my Internet connection to shame. The experiment used small, flexible electrodes and took place at Korea University in Seoul, New Scientist reports.

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read more about > arms, electrodes, mbps, medical monitoring, network, south korea, transmission, wireless, wireless communication

Technology

SpaceX Successfully Test-Fires Falcon 9 Rocket Motors, Could Launch Next Month

By Clay Dillow


Posted 03.15.2010 at 12:28 pm


5 Comments

President Obama likely faces a tough crowd when he attempts to articulate his vision for NASA in Florida next month, but in the meantime the private space industry he's thrown his support behind continues to make strides. Private space tech company SpaceX just completed its first successful test-fire of its Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad, meeting a critical benchmark in its mission to launch cargo and astronauts into orbit.

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read more about > aviation, Elon Musk, falcon 9, private spaceflight industry, rocket, space, SpaceX

Technology

Astronomers Want You to Help Spot Dangerous Solar Storms

Only you can tip off scientists about coronal mass ejections

By Jeremy Hsu

Posted 03.15.2010 at 11:42 am


0 Comments

Solar storms could wreak havoc on satellites and power grids, and so scientists have humbly turned to netizens across the world to help watch our sun for possible signs of such storms. Anyone who can spare some time from YouTube and Facebook also gets to peer at nifty 3-D images of the sun, according to BBC.

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read more about > coronal mass ejections, solar flares, solar radiation, solar storms, space, stars, sun

Science

Tested: A Reboot for the Immune System

The ability to reprogram the immune system is one of the most sought-after goals in medicine. Now researchers are closer than ever to pulling it off in patients with Type 1 diabetes, one of whom happens to be our correspondent

By Catherine Price

Posted 03.15.2010 at 10:46 am


6 Comments

A sign rests on the windowsill in the office of Jeffrey Bluestone, director of the Immune Tolerance Network and the Diabetes Center at the University of California at San Francisco. Measuring nearly three feet across, it reads “Club Bluestone” in pink and blue neon. It’s the sort of artifact you’d expect to find in a bar. But Bluestone is a world-renowned immunobiologist; his father-in-law had the sign made for him in the late 1980s when Bluestone was working long hours in his lab at the University of Chicago.

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read more about > CD3 receptors, diabetes, Frontiers of Medicine, health, immune system, Jeff Bluestone, March 2010, medicine, T Cells

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