The random esoteric science news thread

[kennyc]

This is a bit esoteric, but sounds like it could possibly be the next step in electronics -- electrical circuits -> Tubes (valves for our UK cousins) - Transistors -> MIM (metal-insulator-metal)

Advance Could Change Modern Electronics

ScienceDaily (Oct. 31, 2010) — Researchers at Oregon State University have solved a quest in fundamental material science that has eluded scientists since the 1960s, and could form the basis of a new approach to electronics.

The discovery, just reported online in the professional journal Advanced Materials, outlines the creation for the first time of a high-performance "metal-insulator-metal" diode.

"Researchers have been trying to do this for decades, until now without success," said Douglas Keszler, a distinguished professor of chemistry at OSU. "Diodes made previously with other approaches always had poor yield and performance.

"This is a fundamental change in the way you could produce electronic products, at high speed on a huge scale at very low cost, even less than with conventional methods," Keszler said. "It's a basic way to eliminate the current speed limitations of electrons that have to move through materials."

A patent has been applied for on the new technology, university officials say. New companies, industries and high-tech jobs may ultimately emerge from this advance, they say.

...more here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1029152751.htm

[Javed]

I found this part in the article interesting also:

High speed computers and electronics that don't depend on transistors are possibilities. Also on the horizon are "energy harvesting" technologies such as the nighttime capture of re-radiated solar energy, a way to produce energy from the Earth as it cools during the night.

1. Faster computers!
   
2. Capturing energy as the Earth cools is something I hadn't heard of before. It seems counter-intuitive to get energy from something that is cooling instead of heating. This, however, is a fascinating concept that could be very useful. I wonder how cost effective this would be as a way of obtaining energy.

Interesting article, Kenny!

[ardeegee]

Eris is beginning to look less like Pluto:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/bl...t-a-2010-11-08

[nyrath]

Originally Posted by Javed

Capturing energy as the Earth cools is something I hadn't heard of before. It seems counter-intuitive to get energy from something that is cooling instead of heating. This, however, is a fascinating concept that could be very useful. I wonder how cost effective this would be as a way of obtaining energy.

You obtain energy when there is a heat gradient, that is, when there is one thing that is hot and another thing that is cold. When they are in contact, the hot thing cools down and the cold thing heats up. Eventually they are at the same temperature.

As long as heat is flowing from one object to another, energy can be generated.

It is just that in this case, the hot thing is the earth, and the cold thing is the infinite cold of deep space. In other words, you are getting energy from something that is heating, deep space.

Otherwise, this is just a simple application of the thermocouple, which was discovered in 1834.

[ardeegee]

Gamma bubble roiling trouble:

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/3...ered-milky-way

Damn that thing for not having been discovered by the HST!

[kennyc]

Nice, but dude the Hubble does not detect Gamma Rays!

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Nice, but dude the Hubble does not detect Gamma Rays!

A fact which pales in significance in the face of the lost ability to use the phrase "Hubble bubble roiling trouble."

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

A fact which pales in significance in the face of the lost ability to use the phrase "Hubble bubble roiling trouble."

True.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Gamma bubble roiling trouble:

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/3...ered-milky-way

Damn that thing for not having been discovered by the HST!

Hey, that's the Astronomy Pic of the day:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

[nyrath]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1109152447.htm

[ardeegee]

This just in: Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, and homosexual birds are from Mercury.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80...ds-homosexual/

[TGS]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

This just in: Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, and homosexual birds are from Mercury.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80...ds-homosexual/

And I thought this was an article about cute lesbians from other parts of the solar system.

[kennyc]

But what does arsenic do?

[nyrath]

Originally Posted by kennyc

But what does arsenic do?

goes well with Old Lace?

...ba-dump-CHING!

[ardeegee]

Forget all that-- here's the most important science story, ever-- researchers determine that rats are scared of robotic alligators!

http://boingboing.net/2010/11/30/hun...-vs-a-sca.html