Dear Human, Scientists Create New Invisible Material Man Successfully Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings | Wired Science Update 1:06pm PDT: A Dutch artist named Floris Kaayk has admitted that “Human Birdwings” was an elaborate hoax 8 months in the making. Update 2:15 pm PDT: We have a follow-up report documenting inconsistencies both in the video and Smeets’ online resumes. Update 11:15 am PDT: The headline of this post has been changed to reflect that we have not confirmed Smeets’ claim. Editor’s note (March 21, 8:15 am PDT): The authenticity of this video has been questioned (Gizmodo, The Register), but Wired’s preliminary analysis by physicist Rhett Allain found nothing in the video that indicates it must be a fake. We are contacting other experts and will update this post when we have more information. Jarno Smeets has not yet responded to several interview requests. Using videogame controllers, an Android phone and custom-built wings, a Dutch engineer named Jarno Smeets has achieved birdlike flight. “I have always dreamed about this. The design is based on mechanics used in robotic prosthetics.
Scientists transform cement into liquid metal It's not the same as turning lead into gold, but scientists at the Illinois-based Argonne National Laboratory and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute/SPring-8 have developed a method for turning cement into a liquid metal semiconductor. The process sounds like a mad scientist's invention. It involves equipment like an aerodynamic levitator and a carbon dioxide laser beam. The material in question is mayenite, a calcium aluminum oxide material that is part of alimuna cement. "This new material has lots of applications, including as thin-film resistors used in liquid-crystal displays, basically the flat panel computer monitor that you are probably reading this from at the moment," Argonne physicist Chris Benmore said Monday in a statement. The results is being published under the title "Network topology for the formation of solvated electrons in binary CaO-Al2O3 composition glasses" in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. Score one for modern alchemy.
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Graphene Is The Strongest Material In The World Even When It Has Defects, Research Finds Clean Power Published on June 2nd, 2013 | by James Ayre June 2nd, 2013 by James Ayre Graphene is the strongest material in the world, even when it has notable defects, new research has found. Even when stitched together from numerous small crystalline grains, rather than being created directly in its perfect crystalline form, the material possesses its trademark and remarkable strength. This new research contradicts previous theoretical simulations which predicted that such defect-containing graphene would be much weaker than graphene in a perfect lattice. Image Credit: Illustration by Andrew Shea for Columbia Engineering It’s been said that graphene is so strong that “it would take an elephant, balanced on a pencil, to break through a sheet of graphene the thickness of Saran Wrap.” Graphene is — essentially — just a single atomic layer of carbon that is structured as a honeycomb lattice. The primary way that graphene is currently manufactured is via chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
Study: Stem cells may aid vision in blind people The first use of embryonic stem cells in humans eased a degenerative form of blindness in two volunteers and showed no signs of any adverse effects, according to a study published by The Lancet on Monday. Publication in the peer-reviewed journal marks an important step for embryonic stem cells, which were hailed as a miracle cure after they were discovered in 1998 but then ran into technical and political hurdles. The results of the cautious first-stage test, designed to evaluate whether the treatment is safe, had been previously announced by Massachusetts biotech firm Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) Inc. The positive outcome in the United States opened the way to the first trials in Europe, which began on Monday. Embryonic stem cells are extraordinarily versatile cells, found in early-stage embryos, that can differentiate into any tissue of the body. Scientists have been hoping to turn them into replacement for tissue lost through disease or lost in accidents or war.
Researchers spin a yarn into a muscle An unusually simple approach to artificial muscles – based on high-strength polymer fibres – has been developed by an international team of researchers. Rather than needing sophisticated or expensive materials, the muscles can be produced from simple polymers that are used to make fishing-line or sewing threads. When heated, these fibres can shorten or lengthen far more than biological muscle, and could be used for applications as diverse as temperature-sensitive window shutters, "smart" clothing and robotics. Synthetic sinew Materials that expand and contract in response to some form of stimulus are useful for robotics, where they are used to make "actuators" or artificial muscle fibres, and on smaller scales where they can produce sensors for lab-on-a-chip devices. In the new research, Ray Baughman and colleagues at the University of Texas at Dallas, together with collaborators in Canada, South Korea, Turkey, China and New South Wales in Australia, took a simpler tack. Twisted tendons
Amazing optical illusion or "glitch in the Matrix"? - The Feed Blog (CBS News) Watching this video is a bit like seeing a "glitch in the Matrix". Is it impressive? Without a doubt. Is it science? You know it. The video was posted by YouTube user brusspup, who has been featured here on The Feed a few times for amazing optical illusions and art, and who writes about it: This is really simple but has such an awesome effect. Another amazing video that has earned a big triple-rainbow salute from all of us here at The Feed! © 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. Graphene Gives You Infrared Vision in a Contact Lens It sounds like something from a spy thriller movie: putting on a contact lens that gives you infrared vision without the need for a bulky contraption that covers your face. But now, thanks to research at the University of Michigan, such a contact lens is a real possibility. The Michigan researchers turned to the optical capabilities of graphene to create their infrared contact lens. Graphene is capable of detecting the entire infrared spectrum, with visible and ultraviolet light thrown in. "The challenge for the current generation of graphene-based detectors is that their sensitivity is typically very poor," said Zhaohui Zhong, assistant professor at the University of Michigan, in a press release. In research that was published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology ("Graphene photodetectors with ultra-broadband and high responsivity at room temperature"), the Michigan researchers devised a new method for generating the electrical signal.