Buckypaper
Latest
Snail turned into living battery, should have taken the blue pill
You know how those mad scientists at DARPA are obsessed with generating power from insects? A team from Clarkson University, New York and Ben-Gurion University, Israel has gone one better by turning a Snail into a cybernetic power generator. A pair of Buckypaper electrodes were charged by the electro-chemical reactions in the slow-moving invertebrates "hemolymph," its equivalent to blood. Its hoped the Snails will provide a sustainable way to power listening devices for the Department of Homeland Security, so if you suddenly find your crawlspace full of gastropods, be careful what you say. [Image credit: American Chemical Society]
Ultra-tough buckypapers could build planes, trains and automobiles
Not to get too nano-technical on you this Saturday afternoon, but you're probably going to want to be briefed on these newfangled macroscopic aggregates commonly referred to as buckypapers. The devices, which are reportedly involved in a long-term undercover relationship with those buckyballs you discussed in 10th grade chemistry class, are ridiculously tough (albeit lightweight) sheets of matter made from intertwined carbon nanotubes. Put simply, these composites could see uses in making more efficient heat sinks, lighter background illumination material for displays and (at least in theory) transportation of the future. For now, buckypapers are being made exclusively in university laboratories, but Florida State is already in the process of spinning out a firm to make them commercially. Do we see the makings of a new and improved Project Grizzly suit? Our signs are pointing to yes.[Via Yahoo!]
