Tech

Writing in the journal NanoResearch, a team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst reports this week that they have developed bioelectronic ammonia gas sensors that are among the most sensitive ever made. The sensor uses electric-charge-conducting protein nanowires derived from the bacterium Geobacter to provide biomaterials for electrical devices. More than 30 years ago, … [Read more...] about A new, highly sensitive chemical sensor uses protein nanowires

Wind plants in the United States -- especially the newest models -- remain relatively efficient over time, with only a 13% drop in the plants' performance over 17 years, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report in the May 13 issue of the journal Joule. Their study also suggests that a production tax credit provides an effective incentive to maintain the … [Read more...] about US wind plants show relatively low levels of performance decline as they age

Nuclear bomb tests during the Cold War may have changed rainfall patterns thousands of miles from the detonation sites, new research has revealed. Scientists at the University of Reading have researched how the electric charge released by radiation from the test detonations, carried out predominantly by the US and Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s, affected rainclouds at the … [Read more...] about Cold War nuke tests changed rainfall

Allowing users to create objects from simple toys to custom prosthetic parts, plastics are a popular 3D printing material. But these printed parts are mechanically weak -- a flaw caused by the imperfect bonding between the individual printed layers that make up the 3D part. Researchers at Texas A&M University, in collaboration with scientists in the company Essentium, Inc. … [Read more...] about Technology to remedy 3D printing's 'weak spot'

Rice University researchers have found evidence of piezoelectricity in lab-grown, two-dimensional flakes of molybdenum dioxide. Their investigation showed the surprise electrical properties are due to electrons trapped in defects throughout the material, which is less than 10 nanometers thick. They characterize these charges as electrets, which appear in some insulating … [Read more...] about 2D oxide flakes pick up surprise electrical properties