The University of North Carolina (NC State) synthesized material for future plasmonic devices responsive to radiation in the middle infrared range. He was the first known materials provides effective work in this part of the spectrum, which opens up for him numerous applications ranging from high-performance computers, to solar and biomedical equipment.

The interaction of light with a new material based on the effect of the plasmon resonance. When light is incident on the interface between the conductor and the insulator, the electrons begin to oscillate in a conductor. The result is an intense electric field penetrating into the dielectric, which can be used for various applications.

The resonant frequency of the incident light is determined by the characteristics of the conductive material. Metals having a high density of electrons respond to short-wavelength ultraviolet range. Traditional semiconductors with lower density than the metal electrons have a resonance frequency corresponding to the far infrared spectrum. But the gap between the two wavelengths is still empty: scientists could not find materials with an efficient plasmon resonance in the mid-IR range.

NC State research team synthesized the desired material doped cadmium oxide rare earth elements dysprosium.

“Usually, when the doping material mobility of electrons is reduced. But in this case, we found the opposite effect – increase in the number of dysprosium this critical characteristics increase, “- noted in an article published on February 16 in the journal Nature Materials. Technically, the experiment showed that reducing the amount of doping dysprosium oxygen vacancies in the crystal CdO. These defects strongly scatter electrons and reduce their flexibility.

There are at least three practical reasons that make such a material is demanded in industry and science. Firstly, it allows to transform a part of solar electricity, typically leaving a loss. Secondly, will create more advanced technology molecular sensors for biology and medicine. And thirdly, to help develop a more rapid and effective device optoelectronics.

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In early October of this year, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have managed to create several miniature robots, which had the power to carry out self-assembly. Currently something like that was developed by engineers from ETH Zurich.

A device called Cubli performed predominantly in the cubic form of metal elements and contains several flywheels mounted on three faces of a cube, a DC motor, an embedded processor, and a battery in a few sensors.

Nova the strength not only to balance on the verge of, or in one of the corners, but also roll unaided.

Will Cubli revolutionize robotics and space industry or simply become another high-tech toy – time will tell.

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NASA experts have created a robot that will take part in competitions DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) with a prize fund of $ 2 million

Humanoid robot Valkyrie growth 183 cm and a weight of 125 kg has 44 degrees of freedom and is equipped with all kinds of sensors. According to the space agency, a mobile robot and agile enough to perform rescue missions in disaster areas.

During the interview with the resource IEEE Spectrum project manager in Valkyrie Space Center. Nicholas Johnson Radford said that Valkyrie is designed especially for the contest and DRC differs strong legs that allow the robot to move easily over rough terrain. As mentioned above, the robot is equipped with a plurality of sensors that help him determine the location, speed and applied to objects mechanical force. In addition, almost all parts of the robot’s body (head, arms, knees, legs, torso) placed camera sensors that provide visual information. Additional information on the sensors comes from hydraulic joints and laser scanner LIDAR.

Unlike other contestants – ATLAS robot , “Valkyrie” is equipped with a built-in battery capacity of 2 kWh, not cables that severely restrict freedom of action. The battery is located in a compartment on the back of the robot. In terms of autonomy Valkyrie creators promise to work for about an hour in the intensive mode. By the way, the modular design allows the robot to replace in a matter of minutes, not only the battery, but also my hands.

It is worth noting that Valkyrie is based on other humanoid systems NASA, in particular exoskeleton Robonaut. However, it differs completely new technology, and its lightweight body and legs make it stable aimed at performing tasks on earth, not in space.

Mr. Radford also said that the team has paid due attention and a lot of time designing the robot design. Metal components Valkyrie covered with special material, which in addition to protective functions gives Valkyrie aesthetic appearance.

It should be noted that NASA is funding another project codenamed Valkyrie – «kriorobot”, which works on the creation of the company Stone Aerospace, equipped with a special laser to penetrate through the thick bowl of ice on the satellite in Europe. However, this mission will not mated with “Valkyrie”, developed by a team of Nicholas Radford. According to him, at the moment comic agency more interested in Mars and perhaps, Valkyrie will soon become a full-fledged member of the team colonists.

Finally it is worth mentioning that the creation of Valkyrie team from 55 people took nine months.

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Recently online top500.org published new (42 in a row) editing the list of the world’s most high-performance computers.

Topping the list of the 500 supercomputers in the world are still system Tianhe-2 , launched by the National Institute for Defense Technology of China in the early summer of this year. Recall peak performance supercomputer Tianhe-2 at 33.86 petaflops (test Linpack). This is almost twice the total performance of supercomputers Titan (17,59 petaflops), and IBM BlueGene / Q Sequoia (17,17 petaflops) – second and third place Top 500 list. The system of Titan, set in the National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy at Oak Ridge, is still the most energy efficient in terms of power density at 1 watt of power – 2,143 gigaflops to 1 watt.

The fourth and fifth positions are still occupied by the system Fujitsu K (10,51 petaflops) and BlueGene / Q Mira (8,59 petaflops). “Fresh blood” in the top ten is a system with a pretty funny name Piz Daint, installed in the Swiss National Supercomputing Center in Lugano, which shows in the Linpack benchmark performance of 6.27 petaflops. By the way, the supercomputer Piz Daint also among the ten most energy-efficient systems – 2.7 gigaflops at 1 W power consumption.

It is worth noting that the total performance of all 500 systems on the list of 250 petaflops, 223 petaflops against six months ago. In this case, the first 17 supercomputers generate more than 125 petaflops.

The new version of the list allows you to make some interesting conclusions. For example, for six months, the number of systems to measure performance over 1 petaflop increased from 26 to 31. It is also known that 53 supercomputers in the list use coprocessors. At the same time the most popular CPU for supercomputing makes Intel – 82,4% of the list of systems are built on the basis of their processors. It is also noteworthy that the supercomputer, which six months ago, he held the position of 363, the new version of the list was in last place.

The largest number of supercomputers is the U.S. – 265 of 500. In this system 115 arranged in Asia and 102 in Europe (10 less than half a year).

We should also mention that the 482 system from the list of running on Linux.

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In contrast to existing 3D-displays, creating a stereo image that appears to surround the viewer, researchers from the Laboratory of tangible user interfaces at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a device that allows you to display the material objects that literally can touch.

Instead of lengthy explanations, I suggest just to see how the InForm.

In fact, no fantastic elements in inFORM not – projector, Microsoft Kinect, a large number of pins, playing the role of physical voxels, a similar number of actuators and managing all this good computer.

The current display resolution – 30х30х15 voxels, but imagine if the size of studs to reduce to a fraction of a millimeter, we get a full 3D-display, which is already now would not refuse to designers, engineers and doctors. What are the prospects of such a device is for the entertainment industry, to present scared.

inFORM not the only project on the site Laboratory material interfaces , be acquainted with other prospective studies. Perhaps some of these solutions, we will have a few years of use in everyday life.

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Star Trek has inspired a lot of engineers and researchers to create fantastic devices shown in the series, in reality. It seems that after the mobile phones and tablets, we’ll soon get an analog medical tricorder, which enjoyed the movie Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy.

It all started with the announced X Prize Foundation and sponsored by the manufacturer Qualcomm ARM-chip competition Tricorder X PRIZE to create a simple diagnostic medical device that ordinary people can use at home. Prize money Tricorder X PRIZE – $ 10 million, so willing to compete for the award were many.

One of them, a small company Scanadu, launched a month ago on the website Indiegogo fundraising on its own analog tricorder – Scanadu Scout . The campaign was a success, and instead of the planned $ 100 million collected $ 1,664,375.

A small device that is comparable in size to thereby McCoy’s tricorder, 10 seconds of contact with the skin in the area of ​​the main temple scans of life parameters – temperature, pressure, respiratory rate, heart rate, and changes in it, blood oximetry, ECG base. In addition, an optional module Scanaflo can hold a simple urine test. All information is transmitted to a smartphone based on Android or iOS to collect the analysis of statistical data and, if necessary, – the transmission in health care facilities.

Specifications Scanadu Scout have not been disclosed, but it is known that the device is equipped with a 32-bit processor and runs on Micrium, used including NASA, for the Mars rovers. Scout comes with a set of sensors from the accelerometer to the infrared sensor and microphone, but, as the developers say, the new features can be added by simply updating the firmware.

The earliest campaigners on Indiegogo Scanadu Scout can receive only $ 150, others will have to shell out $ 200. Deliveries of the first medical tricorder will start in March 2014 Will Scanadu win the $ 10 million Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE, we learn later.

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Constantly rising energy demand, new, extremely voracious consumers of electricity – a giant data centers and electric cars for the mass market – forcing mankind to seek alternative sources of energy. It is important that they are not only highly effective, but also environmentally friendly.

Branches of alternative energy
The traditional sources of energy include thermal (coal, gas, oil), hydro and nuclear power plants. And regarding the “green” is only the third type of power plant, while the first two deal of harm the atmosphere and hydrosphere, respectively.

Eco-friendly (again, relatively) solar, wind and geothermal power plants in several countries produce half of electricity, but they are still referred to as the alternative. In addition, there is an alternative hydropower, implying wave, tidal power plants and waterfalls.

The very same controversial alternative energy industry is perhaps the biofuel. Against the background of a possible global food crisis sow fertile land crops are processed into biofuels – a crime against humanity.

But let’s talk about each alternative energy industry in order.

Solar energy
Solar power stations (SPS) – one of the most widespread on the planet, because they use an inexhaustible source of energy (sunlight). In the process of generating electricity, and if necessary, even heat to heat the living room and the hot water supply, they do not harm the environment. But there is a downside: Dispose of your solar panels costly process, and certainly not environmentally friendly.

Solar panels are often inserted directly into the roofs of houses

Solar power is heavily dependent on the weather and time of day: a rainy day, and even more so at night electricity is really something not his head. We have to stock up on batteries, doubling the cost of installing solar panels, for example, in the country.

The leaders in the promotion of solar energy are Germany, Spain and Japan. It is clear that there are advantages southern countries, where the sun shines hot almost all year round. Germany is traditionally a leader in alternative energy, so even in the SES as a whole-is a cold country to make big bets.

Solar farm Okhotnikovo: picturesque Crimea glistened like a huge mirror

It’s nice that in matters of solar energy Ukraine is not tending the rear. In Crimea, located several large SES: Perov (100 MW, 11 in the world ranking) Okhotnikovo (80 MW, 22 place) and the lake (55 MW, 42 place). The undisputed leaders are the same American Agua Caliente and the California Valley, with a capacity of 250 MW each.

The most powerful in the world of solar power Agua Caliente (Ariz.)

Wind power
Curbed the power of the wind humanity quite a long time: windmills for centuries served as a faith-true for peremolki grain into flour. Now it’s time to find a “mill” new use – the giant blades, driven by the power of the wind power generators are able to rotate and thereby effectively generate much-needed electricity.

Wind generator independently adjusts to the changing wind direction, freely rotating on the mast

Three leaders in the global production of electricity from wind are China, the U.S. and Germany. If we compare the share of vetroelekstrostantsy (WEC) in each country, the leaders Denmark, Portugal and Spain. Then again, a lot depends on the climatic conditions: in some countries, the wind does not die down for a second, in the other the opposite most of the time is calm. Ukraine in this respect is not very lucky: we have mild weather and malovetrenaya. Although still in the 30s in the Crimea was built the world’s first commercial wind farm, and in 1934 under the leadership of Yuri Kondratyuka (the one that calculated the trajectory of the moon) developed the project of building a huge 12-megawatt wind farm on the mountain Ai-Petri with a tower height of 165 meters and two 80-meter turbines, placed on two levels .

The world’s largest wind farm London Array is built in the sea off the coast of the UK (630 MW)

There is a strong wind at the advantages and disadvantages just as good. In comparison with solar panels “windmills” are inexpensive and do not depend on the time of day, so often found in suburban areas. A significant disadvantage of the wind turbine, only one – they are pretty noisy. The installation of this equipment will have to coordinate not only with family, but also the residents of nearby houses.

Geothermal Energy
In areas with volcanic activity, where underground water is heated above the boiling point, it is rational to build a geothermal power plant (GPP). Perhaps the most famous country where geothermal power plants are widely used, is Iceland. It is not strange: boiling water and steam circulates through the pipes throughout the year without interruption, allowing the process to generate electricity without costly and difficult recyclable batteries.

Nesyavellir (Iceland) – Europe’s largest geothermal power plants (120 MW)

Rely on geothermal energy and in other countries that have managed to curb the volcanic activity of the Earth: USA, New Zealand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Rich in thermal waters and Russia: here only new geothermal power plants in Siberia, not very long ago built. Recent progress in this area date back to Soviet times.

Geothermal power “Geysers” (California, USA) originally was 2 MW, but gradually falls

Alternative hydropower
Unconventional use of water resources of the planet for energy involves three types of power: the wave, tidal and waterfalls. Moreover, the most promising of these are considered the first average power disturbances oceans is estimated at 15 kW per meter, and at a height of two meters above the waves peak power can reach as much as 80 kW / m

The main problem of wave power – the complexity of the transformation of wave movement (up and down) to rotate the blades wheel generator. However, the recent development of the British (draft Oyster) and Russian scientists (project Ocean RusEnergy) should solve the problem.

Oyster – a highly effective wave power generator, developed in the UK

Tidal power plants have significantly less power than the wave, but its a lot easier and more convenient to build in coastal waters. Looney and gravitational forces of the sun twice a day, change the water level in the sea (the difference can be up to twenty meters), allowing you to use the energy of the tides to generate electricity.

In France, nearly half a century operated tidal power “La Rance” (capacity 240 MW), which is built at the mouth of the Rance River, near the town of Saint-Malo. For a long time it has been the world leader in power, but in 2011, it bypassed the South Korean Sihvinskaya TPP (254 MW).

“La Rance” – one of the oldest and at the same time the most powerful in Europe PES

Waterfall power are perhaps the most unpromising in the hydropower industry. The fact is that the really powerful waterfalls in the world is not so much. Is it worth to remember that the power plants, “Sir Adam Beck 1” and “Sir Adam Beck 2”, built at Niagara Falls, and more specifically on the Canadian side of it.

The complex power “Sir Adam Beck” (USA), with capacity of 2 MW is built on the border of the United States and Canada

Biofuels
Liquid, solid and gaseous biofuels can be a substitute for traditional sources of not only electricity, but also gasoline. Unlike oil and natural gas reserves are restored is not possible, biofuels can produce in vitro.

The simplest biofuel is wood, or rather waste wood processing industry – wood chips and shavings. Compacted into briquettes are perfectly lit, and the heated water through them can produce electricity and heat, even on a small scale.

Corn – a food product and at the same time the raw material for biofuels

But the future for liquid and gaseous biofuels: biodiesel, bioethanol, biogas and syngas. All of them are based on a rich sugar or fat plants: sugar cane, corn, and even marine phytoplankton. The last option and does have boundless prospects: algae grow in artificial conditions it’s not tricky.

Phytoplankton (tiny algae and bacteria) – the perfect raw material for the production of liquid and gaseous biofuels

The future of alternative energy

The concept of orbiting solar power station NASA Suntower

Given the rise in prices of energy resources and undermined the credibility of the nuclear power plants, the development of alternative energy is gradually accelerated. Well, if you look at the very very distant future, it is worth mentioning the cosmic energy.

The concept of orbiting solar power station NASA SERT

This industry involves placing solar panels on the Earth’s orbit and on the surface of the moon. This will produce approximately one-third more energy than is possible in the earth’s atmosphere. The Earth has also generated electricity will be transmitted via radio waves.

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