carbon
Latest
Researchers pluck carbon from the sky, turn it into diamonds
Carbon's the perfect material to build strong yet lightweight materials, but it's also the reason we're running head-first into an ecological apocalypse. Wouldn't it be great if we could snatch the excess CO2 from the air and use it to cheaply build aircraft fuselages, modern cars and artificial synthetic diamonds? That's what a group of researchers from George Washington University claim to have achieved at a recent meeting of the American Chemical Society. Not only would it mean that future engineering projects would have an abundant source of cheap materials, but it also has planet-saving consequences.
Indian airport now runs entirely on solar power
If humanity is to survive, it's going to have to embrace alternative forms of energy and ditch carbon at double-quick speed. India's making a pretty big stride in that direction after declaring Cochin International Airport as the world's first facility of its kind that runs entirely on solar power. All of the airport's energy requirements are met thanks to a roof-mounted installation on the terminal, as well as a solar plant beside the cargo warehouse. The plant comprises 46,150 panels that spread across 45 acres and generates 12MW -- with any excess power being pushed back into the local grid. Over the next 25 years, it's expected to save roughly 300,000 metric tons of carbon, which is a start.
Packing peanuts are the key to fast-charging batteries
Hate buying some new gadget, only to wind up with a sea of packing peanuts that do little more than spill on to the floor? Don't be too quick to toss them out -- they may be the key to a new generation of lithium-ion batteries. Purdue University researchers have developed a heating process that converts these shipping leftovers into anodes (where lithium ions are stored during charging) made from carbon. On top of eliminating waste, this technique should lead to batteries that recharge much faster. The carbon anodes are only a tenth as thick as their commercially available counterparts, so they don't produce nearly as much electrical resistance.
Deep-fried graphene may be the key to long-lasting batteries
The deep frying process isn't just useful for livening up your food -- it might also be the ticket to better batteries in your mobile devices. South Korean researchers have created highly conductive, stable electrode materials by spraying graphene oxide droplets into a very hot blend of acid and organic solvent, much like you'd dip chicken into oil. The resulting "pom-poms" (what you see above) aren't at all tasty, but their open 3D structure makes them far better for transferring electrical charges than plain graphene.
US and China will tackle climate change together under new pact
Climate change is still real, still happening and still terrifying, but thankfully it looks as if the US and China are listening to the UN's advice. The pair has announced a historic pact that sees both nations agreeing to begin reducing their carbon emissions by 2030 at the very latest. The US is going further, pledging to reduce its emissions by up to 28 percent of 2005 levels - which would bring annual emissions down from six billion tonnes per year to just over four. China, on the other hand, is promising to "peak" its emissions by 2030 or earlier, meaning that the number will start to fall after that point. The downside of that, of course, is that China could be pumping up to 12 billion tonnes of CO2 before it starts to make a dent.
Next-generation lithium cells will double your phone's battery life
The lithium ion batteries in your mobile devices are inherently limited by the "ion" part of their name; they can safely use lithium only in the part of the cell that supplies ions, wasting a lot of potential energy. It's good news, then, that researchers at Stanford have developed a new lithium battery that could last for much, much longer. The technique allows for denser, more efficient lithium in the battery's anode (which discharges electrons) by using a nanoscopic carbon shield that keeps the unstable chemical in check -- uncontrolled, it can quickly shorten the device's lifespan.
Oculus to acquire Xbox 360 controller designer Carbon
Virtual reality company Oculus VR announced the acquisition of Carbon Design team this week. Carbon Design is best known as the designer of Microsoft's Xbox 360 controller, and will continue working from its studio in the Seattle area. Oculus said it has been working with Carbon "for nearly a year on multiple unannounced projects." Carbon also designed the transforming d-pad for the follow-up Xbox 360 controller that launched in November 2010 and contributed its mechanical engineering expertise to the Xbox 360 version of the Kinect. Carbon Design will become a "key component of the product engineering group" for Oculus, which itself was acquired by Facebook in March for $2 billion. Oculus continues to bring industry talent into the fold, such as former Valve VR head Atman Binstock in March, Steam pioneer Jason Holtman earlier this month and ID Software Co-Founder John Carmack in August 2013. [Image: Carbon Design]
Scientists use lasers to imitate an exploding star here on Earth
It could be centuries (if ever) before humans can observe the behavior of a supernova first-hand, but scientists at the University of Oxford may have delivered the next best thing. They've recently simulated an exploding star by zapping an extremely thin carbon rod with a powerful laser; the resulting extra-hot blast (1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit) ripped through a chamber much like the real thing, as you can see pictured here. To add an extra dose of realism, the team added a plastic grid that replicated interference from dust and gases.
BBC will soon show you how green its TV programmes are
In an effort to reward programme makers for doing their bit for the planet, the BBC will soon start displaying a seal of approval on shows that are greener than most. In partnership with BAFTA, the Beeb will award TV programmes that "meet higher environmental standards" with a new "Albert+" certification badge on the credits. To be eligible for the badge, content producers need to have a strong focus on sustainability, share those goals with cast and crew, measure their carbon footprint and take the necessary steps to reduce carbon emissions when filming. Quite the list, but two programmes (From There To Here and Springwatch) have already earned their green (or should it be gold?) stripes and are set to air in the next week. Despite its small beginnings, the BBC and BAFTA hope that other UK producers and broadcasters will follow suit, making Albert+ "the expected standard for all publications."
UN: fixing climate change is affordable
One of the biggest arguments against fixing climate change is that it would cost too much. Not so, says the UN's climate change panel, which has found that abandoning fossil fuels would only knock around 0.06 percent off the world's GDP. According to the report, if low-carbon energy quadruples by 2050, then the planet may only warm by two degrees -- the upper limit before The Day After Tomorrow-style catastrophes are commonplace. The panel recommends switching to renewables like solar, wind and hydropower, with nuclear the next best option and biofuels in third, since the latter uses the same land and resources needed for growing crops. Maybe it's time that we all started cycling to work.
MIT's bionic plants could be used as energy factories and sensors
In many ways, plants are ideal technology hosts -- they're outdoor-friendly, self-healing and pollution-free. It only makes sense, then, that MIT scientists want to harness that potential by augmenting our leafy friends with nanotechnology. The researchers have found that injecting nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes into a plant can extend its natural abilities, or add functions that would be tricky to replicate with purely synthetic devices. One lab test supercharged photosynthesis, extracting much more energy than normal; another introduced gas sensors that could detect the nitric oxide from a car's exhaust. There's a lot of necessary refinement before bionic plants are practical, but we won't be surprised if our gardens eventually double as energy sources and air quality monitors.
Crowdfunded Project News: The best of Kickstarter, Indiegogo and the rest
Every week, TUAW provides readers with an update on what new or significant crowdfunded Apple-related projects are in the news. This update is designed to give readers a heads-up on projects they might find interesting enough to back. Note that we're not covering those "projects" on Indiegogo where people are trying to get someone else to cough up money for a new computer or tablet... If a project reaches at least 80 percent of total funding and provides us with review material, we may choose to write a detailed post about it. Here are some of the fun and fascinating products we're following this week. From Kickstarter: Oscar is no longer a grouch. Now, he's an Open Screen Adapter, designed by a group of engineering students from the University of Southampton with software support from a Joint Mathematics and Computing student at Imperial College London. OSCAR is marketed as a "super high resolution 9.7" LCD panel with an Arduino-compatible adapter that connects to your computer." Think of it as a small Thunderbolt Retina display that you can connect to your Mac, and you've got the picture. I could envision using one of these as a portable side display to a MacBook Pro with Retina display. At this point, the team really needs your support -- they're at 52 percent funding with eight days to go. While this idea isn't in Kickstarter yet, it's something that makes a lot of sense. Those little Mac Pros are just packed with power and would make excellent Mac-based servers, but the cylindrical design keeps them from being mounted in racks in server rooms. The ModeMount Mac Pro Rack Mount can hold the device in 4U of rack space when mounted horizontally (what I think of as a "wine barrel" mount), and can also be positioned vertically. The design is open on both ends for optimum cooling of the Mac Pro. You can sign up to be notified when the company's Kickstarter campaign begins. Remember the Carbon, a solar charger that looks like a wristwatch? Well, I was kind of dubious about it, since the last thing I want to put on my wrist is a big solar charger that doesn't do anything but charge my gear. Well, the company did something that I think makes it quite worthwhile -- they've added an analog watch display to it so it's actually a working watch and a solar charger. EnergyBionics, the team bringing Carbon to life, still needs your support. With 18 days to go, they're at 27.2 percent funding. TUAW reader Hal Sherman is always looking out for Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects for us to cover, and this week he found the Prescient AudioCase for iPhone 5/5s. This one has a long way to go, at only 3 percent of its funding goal with about five weeks remaining. The idea? A smartphone case that's also a speaker -- no more carrying around a Bluetooth speaker when you have a speaker protecting your phone. This one got my attention very quickly -- an app-controlled winemaking set up called The Miracle Machine (it turns water into wine...). The description says it all: "The Miracle Machine is the world's first affordable accelerated winemaking device for the home that reproduces great wine with minimal effort and within days." You can sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter campaign goes live. The Miracle Machine is expected to retail for $499. And now, some Aussies want you to clean up your desktop with DeskPal, a beautiful wood desk accessory that holds pencils, wristwatches, keys, and -- unsurprisingly -- acts as a smartphone or tablet dock as well. It's already funded with a month to go, but you can get some of the action starting at AUD$30. On Indiegogo this week: SunSprite is a funded (110 percent with 24 days left) project that is a wearable, solar-powered light tracker. It tracks how much light you're exposed to, letting you boost your energy (most people don't get enough sunlight), improve your sleep, or avoid high UV intensities. Of course, there's an app for that -- developed by the same team that wrote the RunKeeper app. You can pre-order one at a 34 percent discount for US$99, with June delivery planned. And some other crowd funding favorites from outside of the Kickstarter/Indiegogo world: Hey, guys -- if you're going to make a Star Trek: The Next Generation communications badge, at least make it look futuristic. The CommBadge is a $89 Bluetooth 4.0 speakerphone that you can wear, avoiding the dreaded Bluetooth headset while giving you hands-free access to your phone and Siri. Here's video showing why you apparently need one: Our last entry this week is Plink, which isn't the garbage disposal cleaning tablet you're thinking of. This Plink is "an iOS app that lets you upload images and insert them into your blog posts using Markdown or HTML. You can help me build it." Right now the project is 41 percent funded with 16 days to go. If you do a lot of blogging, you should check out Plink and help provide funding starting at just $10. If you're aware of any other crowdfunded Apple-related projects, be sure to let us know about them through the Tip Us button at the upper right of the TUAW home page for future listing on the site.
Heat-sensitive solar cell could lead to much more on-demand energy
It's tough to build solar cells that capture both heat and light -- most of these multi-talented devices can't trap more than one percent of the energy they receive. However, MIT has just blown past that limitation with a prototype chip that absorbs warmth through an outer layer of carbon nanotubes. The tubing heats up photonic crystals so much that they glow with an intense light, giving an attached solar cell more energy than it would collect through sunlight alone. The technology is already efficient enough to extract 3.2 percent of the energy it gets, and MIT believes that it could reach 20 percent with more development. While that's not necessarily more effective than conventional technology, it's much easier to store heat than electricity; a future nanotube-based panel could provide a lot more on-demand energy than we typically get today. There's no estimate for when a finished product might reach the market, but it might not be long before solar panels have plenty of reserve power.
How would you change Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon?
Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon is such a beautiful piece of hardware that we're having trouble concentrating. With that carbon fiber chassis, the Ultrabook is thin, light and classily understated. Even packing Ivy Bridge internals, it still managed to crank out five hours of battery life and, aside from its slightly weak display, stands head and shoulders above other skinny carbon laptops we could mention. But what about you high-rollers who splashed out upwards of $1,400 on one of these things? Here's the time for you to share your experiences and tell us what you would change.
Stanford researchers create 'world's first' all-carbon solar cell, do it on the cheap
Harnessing the awesome power of the Sun isn't just dependent on the efficiency of solar cells, but also on making them affordable. Current techniques aren't exactly cheap, but researchers from Stanford University think they've made a bit of a breakthrough by producing a relatively inexpensive photovoltaic cell using nothing but carbon. We're sure other scientists might disagree with the 'world's first' claim, but those at Stanford think it's a matter of language, and that these other pretenders are "referring to just the active layer in the middle, not the electrodes." The team selected a trio of carbon types to use in their cell: a mixture of nanotubes and buckyballs make up the light-absorbing layer, while graphene is being utilized for the electrodes. The carbon amalgam can be applied from solution using simple methods, meaning the flexible cells could be used to coat surfaces, although you won't be seeing it smeared over anything too soon. The prototype only touts a "laboratory efficiency of less than 1 percent," so it can't compete with traditional solar cells just yet. Also, it only absorbs a sliver of the light spectrum, but the researchers are looking to other forms of the wonder element which could increase that range. They are hoping that improving the structure of the cells will help to boost their efficiency, too. They might never generate the most energy, but the all-carbon cells can remain stable under extreme conditions, meaning they could find their calling in harsh environments where brawn is a little more important than status, or looks.
IBM Labs develops 'initial step' towards commercial fabrication of carbon nanotubes
Commercialization of carbon nanotubes is one of the holy grails of next-gen computing, and IBM thinks it's made crucial steps toward making this a reality. This isn't the first time that we've heard such a claim, of course, but IBM's considerable resources will make this particularly interesting. The specific problem it's been tackling is placing enough semiconducting nanotubes together to be useful in commercial chips, with current attempts being more in the hundreds, rather than billions that would be required. The new approach uses ion-exchange chemistry that allows controlled placement of nanotubes at two orders of magnitude greater than before, with a density of roughly a billion per square centimeter. To achieve this, the nanotubes are mixed with a soap-like substance that makes them water-soluble. Next, a substrate comprising two oxides and a hafnium oxide "trench" is immersed in the soap-solution, which results in the nanotubes attaching to the hafnium oxide canals with a chemical bond. Simple when you think about it! IBM hopes that as the materials and method are readily accessible now, that industry players will be able to experiment with nanotube technology at a much greater scale. Though, as we've become accustomed, there's no solid timescales on when this might realistically unfold.
BMW i3 sheds its skin, shows off carbon skeleton
Want to know how the BMW i3 electric car can be so light (2,800 pounds) despite hauling around a massively heavy battery pack? A lot of it has to do with its carbon chassis. BMW uses something called CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) to create a material that is light, strong and, crucially, cheap enough to actually be used in production. The car is still on track for its 2013 release, where it will be sold out of posh i Stores like the one recently opened in London. Steve Dent contributed to this post.
Green House's lantern runs on salt and water, powers your gadgets via USB
Japanese company Green House Co Ltd has quite an eclectic product portfolio, what with its women-only camcorder and peripherals like a PCI Express interface card with USB 3.0 support. Its latest device falls under another category entirely: the rivetingly named GH-LED10WBW is an LED lantern that runs on just water and salt; no batteries required. The light source provides eight hours of electricity per dose of saline water, and the lantern comes with a dedicated water bag for mixing the solution. The salt / water combo acts as an electrolyte with the magnesium (negative electrode) and carbon (positive electrode) rods inside the lantern. Users can get about 120 hours of power with the Mg rod before they'll need to buy a replacement (the rod is sold separately to begin with). More than just supplying a battery-free source of light, though, the lantern can function as a charger, thanks to a USB port built into the casing. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the GH-LED10WBW will be available by mid-September.
Alt-week 8.4.12: buckyballs, bosons and bodily fluids
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. Remember when we told you last week that we live in a strange world? Well, we had no idea what we were talking about. Seriously, things are about to get a whole lot weirder. High school is certainly a head-scratcher, no matter how old you are, but the mathematics of social hierarchies can't hold a candle to the mysteries of the buckyball. And, if the strange behavior of the familiar carbon molecule isn't enough for you, we've got an entirely new molecule to contend with, while the once-elusive Higgs Boson is getting us closer to unlocking the secrets of the universe. It's all pretty heady stuff, which is why we're also gonna take a quick detour to the world of human waste. This is alt-week.
Panasonic Photosynthesis System converts carbon dioxide to organic material with plant-like efficiency
Greenery may fulfill a superficial need to improve the landscape aesthetic, but plants play a much more critical role in regular life function, converting carbon dioxide to oxygen through a process called photosynthesis. Panasonic is among the companies attempting to replicate this natural procedure through artificial means, and it looks like the Japanese electronics maker is well on its way towards a viable solution. Presenting at the International Conference on the Conversion and Storage of Solar Energy this week, Panasonic announced the development of an Artificial Photosynthesis System, which uses a nitride semiconductor to convert water and carbon dioxide -- a byproduct of factories and power plants -- into an organic material called formic acid, which is used in the manufacturing of dyes and fragrances. Covering the planet in formic acid wouldn't necessarily represent progress, but assuming demand isn't exceeded, it certainly beats CO2. Best yet, Panasonic claims that the system converts the substances at plant-like efficiency rates, or 0.2 percent. Hit up the PR after the break for a more granular look at the company's creation.
