Saturday, July 30, 2011

Proposed "Real Life Death Star"

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The proposed Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre in the UAE has a very similar resemblance to the famous  Death Star. It was designed by Rem Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf as part of their collaboration with OMA. The sphere plans to hold a convention center, hotel rooms, apartments, offices and retail space all under its magnificent roof and make the people inside have a one of a kind experience.

I can’t imagine this building being accepted or even being considered for construction but there is always that one possibility. Personally I think it looks amazing and is truly unique. It offers both a dark yet light filling surrounding that would truly make this single place be the only kind of it in the world.


Sources: Skycrapercity, Wired, Nakheel



Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Transparent Battery for the Future

A Standford researcher has undertaken the incredible task of looking into the field of transparency for the next power source. While looking at other major electronic components and noticing displays, transistors, and other circuitry, he noticed the lack-off a transparency power source.



So researcher Yi Cui along with his team, took the novelty of implanting an electrode pattern into  a superfine mesh, which in turn allowed an energy dense battery. Building a new frame work for the soft mesh material, they build a complete battery only needing two layers filled with electric material. They used that standard lithium-ion battery with a gel electrolyte (also clear) and made the whole battery see through. So with this new research the possibility of see through batteries in our future gadgets has become a possibility and they could become commercialized in four years time.



Sources: Standford University, Popsci, MSN




Monday, July 25, 2011

Lockheed Martin Laser Tech (Prism)

The United States continued dominance for new and bigger weapons has led to the many companies that create such things to get into the Laser Field. One of them is Lockheed Martin; most widely known as the company that built the F-22 Raptor, SR-Blackbird and an array of other incredible weapon systems. Trying to fulfill the call for a new generation of weapons based on Lasers and light energy, Lockheed Martin has inverted a prism as a way to build a more practical Military Weapon.




It works by combining multiple wavelengths into a single line of laser generating much more power and energy into that single line. It won 14$ Million as a contract to build a working weapons based laser system from the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command. In five years time they must demonstrate a capable weapon but by the looks of things it appears Lockheed is going in the right direction.

Similarly works just like the famous Pink Floyd Symbol.




(Sources: Lockheedmartin.com, DARPA.mil, smdc.army)




Thursday, July 21, 2011

Invisibility Cloak

Scientists and researches in recent times have been putting an extraneous amount of time  and effort into successfully achieving the impossible; Creating an invisibility cloak. The technology is very tricky to handle and incredibly difficult, it is like trying to create something in real life using a guide from a science fiction novel. One thing for certain is that many advances in this field have been made particularly with the U.S DAARPA branch, aligning a great deal of funds to research this technology. Several Universities around the world have been also taking part into this research but recently the people over at Cornell have actually created an invisibly cloak even though it only lasted for 110 nanoseconds. Called "Space Time Invisibly Cloak", what has been theoretically possible for a couple of years has been achieved for an instant, but this means the technology is there, just a matter of mastering it and extending for vast amounts of time. It requires researchers/scientists to play with space itself to hide an event from the average person and upon doing so an invisibility cloak is being created.

                                          (Paul Kinsler, Imperial College of London)

This graph from Paul Kinsler, Imperial College of London, demonstrates the main overview of how this works. Light continues in sort of a highway pattern and the invisibly cloak happens when that break separates its path thus making it invisible.

Source: DAARPA, NIS.gov.




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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

DNA and Quantum Dots?

Well it appears researchers, this time form the university of Toronto, have engineered what they call an "artificial molecule" that can be assembled into a whole new range of nano-materials. This is big, especially when one of those nano-materials can be turned into one that controls and directs energy it absorbs from light. In other words, it is basically a self-assembling antenna for "light" out of quantum dots that can lead to new ways to harvest energy from light.

                                                  (University of Toronto Engineering)

Quantum Dots are like small semi conductors which can be customized to absorb energy efficiently and emit light in finely-tuned ways. Using DNA allows for a high degree of specificity and coaxing them with Quantum dots allows for a new generation of materials that are composed of completely new applications.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Silver Ballpoint Pen Can Draw Functional Electronic Circuits on Paper

[Found this recently new invention that is just amazing. You gotta read this.]

["A plain rollerball pen filled with a conductive ink can draw circuits on a sheet of paper, where they can provide power to an LED display and an antenna, among other potential uses.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign made a new type of liquid metal ink that stays liquid in a pen, but dries after being applied to paper, wood or another surface. The liquid consists of silver nanoparticles that were reduced in size using acid, and then modified with cellulose so the fluid has a more inky viscosity. Draw a line, and when it dries, the result is a silver wire that can conduct electricity. Researchers built an LED display with their school’s initials, UIUC, and the lovely sketch below depicting a house and trees. The ink serves as wiring for the LED mounted on the roof of the house, and it’s powered by a five-volt battery connected to the edge of the painting, according to a UI press release."
"While 3-D printers can also create customized circuitry, a handheld pen is a cheaper, more portable method, materials scientist Jennifer Lewis said. There’s no software required — just a steady hand. The pen would enable circuits to be drawn on small, oddly shaped surfaces, and it can work as fast as someone can move his or her hand."]


The ink research, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, was described in an early online version of the journal Advanced Materials.

Source: All sources POPSCI, US Department of Energy,