2014-04-28

Graphene

'Graphene is the strongest, thinnest material known to exist. A form of carbon, it can conduct electricity and heat better than anything else. And get ready for this: It is not only the hardest material in the world, but also one of the most pliable. Only a single atom thick, it has been called the wonder material. Graphene could change the electronics industry, ushering in flexible devices, supercharged quantum computers, electronic clothing and computers. While the material was discovered a decade ago, it started to gain attention in 2010 when two physicists at the University of Manchester were awarded the Nobel Prize for their experiments with it. More recently, researchers have zeroed in on how to commercially produce graphene.

 

The American Chemical Society said in 2012 that graphene was discovered to be 200 times stronger than steel and so thin that a single ounce of it could cover 28 football fields. Chinese scientists have created a graphene aerogel, an ultralight material derived from a gel, that is one-seventh the weight of air. A cubic inch of the material could balance on one blade of grass. "Graphene is one of the few materials in the world that is transparent, conductive and flexible — all at the same time," said Dr Aravind Vijayaraghavan, a lecturer in nanomaterials at the University of Manchester. "All of these properties together are extremely rare to find in one material."

 

So what do you do with graphene? Physicists and researchers say that we will soon be able to make electronics that are thinner, faster and cheaper than anything based on silicon, with the option of making them clear and flexible. Long-lasting batteries that can be submerged in water are another possibility In 2011, researchers at Northwestern University built a battery that incorporated graphene and silicon, which the university said could lead to a cellphone that "stayed charged for more than a week and recharged in just 15 minutes." In 2012, the American Chemical Society said that advancements in graphene were leading to touch-screen electronics that "could make cellphones as thin as a piece of paper and foldable enough to slip into a pocket."'

 

http://main.omanobserver.om/?p=74412

 

ABCNews.com - 15 Dead as Tornadoes Reduce Neighborhoods to Rubble

http://abcnews.go.com/US/deadly-tornadoes-hit-central-southern-us/story?id=23493933

2014-04-20

Fwd: Headlines

Fwd: rail gun

Fwd: Budget

'The Congressional Budget Office warns of a terrifying, unprecedented level of national debt in the coming decade....

 

The CBO's new budget projections contain an eerie warning that we are on path from today's already unfathomable $17.7 trillion in gross federal government debt to more than $27 trillion in 2024. 

 

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2014/04/16/cbo_dire_debt_warnings_show_nations_democrat_future_101010.html

 

Fwd: Six months

'Six months may be history.

 

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, in her speech today, emphasized that the central bank is maintaining maximum flexibility on monetary policy and moving away from schedules for raising the benchmark interest rate.

 

"We need to be alert to what is happening in the economy and to respond to what we see happening, and not a fixed idea that we perhaps held at some earlier time about what will come to pass," she said 


http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-16/yellen-s-six-months-fade-as-she-emphasizes-policy-flexibility

Fwd: China

'There is something very wrong in China at the moment. China, I believe, has just passed an inflection point. Until recently, everything was going its way. Now, however, it seems all its problems are catching up with the Chinese state at the same time.

 

The country has entered an especially troubling phase, and we have to be concerned that Beijing-out of fundamental weakness and not out of strength-will lash out and shake the world.

 

So what happened in the past decade?

 

To understand China's new belligerent external policies, we need to look inside the country, and we might well start with the motor of its rise: its economy.

 

Everyone knows China's growth is slowing. Yet what is not obvious is that it is slowing so fast that the economy could fail.

http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2014/04/16/china_on_the_edge-2.html

 

 

 



2014-04-18

Fwd: Exoplanet

'Meet Kepler-186f, the most 'Earth-like' planet ever found

 

Sifting through observations from tens of thousands of distant stars, astronomers say they have discovered the first definitive Earth-sized planet that orbits in a habitable zone where water could exist in liquid form — a necessary condition for life as we know it.

 

Experts don't know if the planet, described in Friday's edition of the journal Science, actually has water or a protective atmosphere. They don't even know its mass. But they said the landmark discovery raises the distinct possibility that a bumper crop of Earth-like planets is waiting to be found much closer to home, including around temperamental stars that until recently were considered inhospitable to life.'

 

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-kepler-186f-earth-sized-like-habitable-zone-planet-20140417,0,7889576.story

 

Fwd: Keystone


'The Obama administration once again has punted on a final decision for the Keystone XL pipeline, announcing ahead of the holiday weekend it is extending a key review period indefinitely -- a move that could push off a determination until after the midterm elections.

 

Republicans, as well as red-state Democrats who want the proposed Canada-to-Texas pipeline approved, slammed the administration for the delay. Democrats even threatened to find ways to go around the president to get the project approved.

 

"It's absolutely ridiculous that this well over five year long process is continuing for an undetermined amount of time," Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said in a statement.'

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/18/obama-administration-extends-review-period-for-keystone-xl-oil-pipeline/

 

Fwd: Misdiagnoses


'Roughly 12 million adults who visit U.S. doctors' offices and other outpatient settings, or one in 20, are misdiagnosed every year, a new study has found, and half of those errors could lead to serious harm.'

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/17/us-usa-health-misdiagnosis-idUSBREA3G1S820140417

Fwd: headlines

Fwd: Herbivores


'New research demonstrates how carnivores transitioned into herbivores for the first time on land. Previously unknown, the 300-million-year old fossilized juvenile skeleton of Eocasea martini is less than 20 cm long. Found in Kansas, it consists of a partial skull, most of the vertebral column, the pelvis and a hind limb. By comparing the skeletal anatomy of related animals, scientists discovered that Eocasea martini belonged to the caseid branch of the group Synapsid. This group, which includes early terrestrial herbivores and large top predators, ultimately evolved into modern living mammals. Eocasea lived nearly 80 million years before the age of dinosaurs.'

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140416172243.htm

Fwd: Ukraine


'President Obama today expressed skepticism that Russia would change its behavior in Ukraine, even after a day full of talks in Geneva, Switzerland, yielded an agreement from the nation to help de-escalate the standoff with its neighbor.

 

"My hope is that we actually do see follow-through over the next several days, but I don't think, given past performance, that we can count on that, and we have to be prepared to potentially respond to what continue to be, you know, efforts of interference by the Russians in Eastern and Southern Ukraine," Obama said during an impromptu press conference in the White House briefing room.'

 

http://abcnews.go.com/International/obama-raises-doubts-russia-de-escalation-intents-ukraine/story?id=23365333

2014-04-02

Prediction

Now that it is recommended that we 7 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, I am wondering how many fast food restaurants are going to start offering fried vegetables on the menu?   I have eaten many tempura fried vegetables at Japanese restaurants and they are delicious.