silica
Latest
Engadget and Silica Magazine are partnering for a week-long takeover
Over the past few years, Engadget has put more of an emphasis on longform stories. Some have come from our reporters, others from talented freelance writers, but all have matched our mission to explore technology and its relationship with science, entertainment and culture. Engadget is not alone in its desire to tell these stories.
Stanford researchers 'cool' sunlight to improve solar cell efficiency
A team of researchers from Stanford University have devised an ingenious means of boosting the efficiency of solar panels by exploiting a fundamental physics phenomenon. Solar panels lose efficiency as they heat up. Just as the top of your head radiates excess body heat as infrared light, the researchers have developed a translucent overlay comprised of patterned silica that does the same for solar panels. The overlay separates the visible spectrum of light (which generates electricity) from its thermal radiation (aka heat), effectively "cooling" the incoming light, radiating the heat away from the panel while allowing more photons to be converted into electricity. The team, led by Stanford professor Shanhui Fan, recently published their findings in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
UCSB engineers proteins that make silicon, leads hipsters to insist on organically-grown computers
Organic circuits have been in development for awhile, but it's still rare that the organics are producing the circuitry themselves. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara plan to break that silence with genetically engineered proteins that can make silicon dioxide or titanium dioxide structures like those used in the computer chips and solar cells that we hold dear. The trick, the university's Daniel Morse found, is to attach silica-forming DNA to plastic beads that are in turn soaked in the silicon or titanium molecules they're looking for: after some not-so-natural selection for the best genes, the thriving proteins can produce not only substantial minerals, but whole fiber sheets. Much work is left to get the proteins producing the kind of silicon or titanium dioxides that could run a computer or power your house, but the dream is to have synthetic creations that organically produce what would normally need a mining expedition -- imagine something akin to the glass-like Venus' Flower Basket sponge (pictured above) sitting in an Intel factory. We're half-expecting organically-grown smartphones at Whole Foods, right next to the kale chips and fair trade coffee. [Image credit: Ryan Somma, Flickr]
German researchers create smudge repellent coating from candle soot
While they're working on the lack of feedback, and need for exposed skin problems for touch screens, that other gripe -- dirty smudges -- could soon be wiped-out permanently. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz obviously had enough of sleeve-cleaning their devices and created a coating that could usher in a smudge-free world. The discovery comes after the team applied candle soot to glass and then coated it in silica to keep it in place. The glass is then heated to a bratwurst-baking 600 ºC for calcination, which makes the soot transparent -- somewhat handy for screens. To test, different oils and solvents were applied, but the glass' superamphiphobic properties soon fended them off. A resilient coating sounds a little more straight-forward than what Apple recently applied to patent, but until either of these see the light of day, you'd better keep that Brasso close by.
Dry water absorbs greenhouse gases, boggles the mind
Apparently, something called dry water has been kicking around since 1968, although it wasn't until recently that scientists at the University of Hull and, later, the University of Liverpool, have begun to take it seriously. It's made by encasing a water droplet in sand that's been modified to be hydrophobic -- that is, it won't absorb water, giving this "water" the consistency of powdered sugar. There seem to be a gazillion potential uses for the stuff, all of which our friends who are chemical engineers will undoubtedly find fascinating, including: soaking up carbon dioxide (it's three times more effective at absorbing the greenhouse gas than "wet" water), storing methane, and as a catalyst to speed up production of succinic acid, which is used to make a wide array of drugs, food ingredients, and consumer products.
Nano-solution could clean water in developing nations
Hard to say if this solution will be cheaper than the bordering-on-free LifeStraw, but a team at the University of South Australia has developed a low-cost method for removing bacteria and other contaminants from water "using tiny particles of pure silica coated with an active nano-material." Professor Peter Majewski is pretty proud of the all new system, stating that it can "remove bacteria, chemicals, viruses and other contaminants from water much more effectively than conventional water purification methods." Due to its ability to function sans additional energy and its low overall cost, the team is hoping to see the creation bring clean water to developing countries. The best part? It should be available within two years.[Via Protein OS]
Silica hack "tester" perhaps too good at its job
As if we didn't have enough cause to be paranoid about WiFi hacking, Justine Aitel has worked out a way to do it completely automatically -- your ports will never be safe again. Justine's Immunity Inc. has developed a tool it calls Silica, which runs a custom version of CANVAS, Immunity's point-and-click attack tool, on a Nokia 770. The 770's touchscreen displays three simple buttons: "Scan," "Stop" and "Update Silica." As soon as you hit Scan, Silica can start hopping onto WiFi networks, search for open ports, and automatically launch code execution exploits. For instance, you could set Silica to download anything of interest off of exploitable file shares, then put the 770 in your pocket and walk through an office, gleaning all sorts of fun files to peruse later, or even have the device actively penetrate machines and have them hook up to an external listening port via HTTP / DNS at your bidding. Sounds pretty malicious, but it's all in the name of safety -- Immunity sells the $3,600 device to penetration testers to have a quick and automated way of testing network security on the spot. Once you're done running the scan, you get an HTML report of Silica's findings, meaning even a noob can get their hack on with this thing. Immunity keeps track of new exploits, and sends out updates about once a month to Silica users. Of course, Immunity also tries to be careful who they sell the device to to make sure it doesn't fall into malicious hands, but there's no way to be 100 percent sure, so we recommend unplugging your router now, selling the house and kids and moving to a mountain cave before it's too late.[Via Slashdot]
Automated penetration testing on the sly
Security minded Immunity corp is developing a wireless handheld device dubbed Silica, meant to help security professionals conduct mobile penetration, or pen, tests on the sly. The device is fitted with Bluetooth and WiFi and comes pre-loaded with hundreds of automated exploits to simulate a malicious attack. So instead of conspicuously setting up shop with a laptop and cantenna, the (hopefully) white hat hacker just slips the Silica into a pocket to scan every WiFi and Bluetooth device while strolling about the office, campus, or city streets. The device will then download "items of interest" from penetrated systems before connecting 'em to an external listening post -- good times! Immunity is currently beta testing Silica with hopes of launching the device for right around $3,000 in October... and then shortly thereafter on eBay. Let the warpenning begin!
