Chronos is one of the many Smalltalk-related blogs syndicated on Planet Smalltalk
χρόνος

Discussion of the Essence# programming language, and related issues and technologies.

Blog Timezone: America/Los_Angeles [Winter: -0800 hhmm | Summer: -0700 hhmm] 
Your local time:  

2009-08-30

World's smallest semiconductor laser heralds new era in optical science

From PhysOrg.com:

The achievement helps enable the development of such innovations as nanolasers that can probe, manipulate and characterize DNA molecules; optics-based telecommunications many times faster than current technology; and optical computing in which light replaces electronic circuitry with a corresponding leap in speed and processing power.
Full article


2009-08-27

Physicist Proposes Solution to Arrow-of-Time Paradox

From PhysOrg.com:

Entropy can decrease, according to a new proposal - but the process would destroy any evidence of its existence, and erase any memory an observer might have of it. It sounds like the plot to a weird sci-fi movie, but the idea has recently been suggested by theoretical physicist Lorenzo Maccone, currently a visiting scientist at MIT, in an attempt to solve a longstanding paradox in physics.
Full article


2009-08-26

Hankering for molecular electronics? Grab the new NIST sandwich

From PhysOrg.com:

The sandwich recipe recently concocted by scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology may prove tasty for computer chip designers, who have long had an appetite for molecule-sized electronic components - but no clear way to satisfy it until now.
Full article


2009-08-24

Low-carb diets linked to atherosclerosis and impaired blood vessel growth

From PhysOrg.com:

...a study led by a scientific team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) [demonstrates] that mice placed on a 12-week low carbohydrate/high-protein diet showed a significant increase in atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the heart's arteries and a leading cause of heart attack and stroke. The findings also showed that the diet led to an impaired ability to form new blood vessels in tissues deprived of blood flow, as might occur during a heart attack.
Full article


2009-08-20

New images capture cell's ribosomes at work, could aid in molecular war against disease

From PhysOrg.com:

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have for the first time captured elusive nanoscale movements of ribosomes at work, shedding light on how these cellular factories take in genetic instructions and amino acids to churn out proteins.
Full article


Let there be light: Teaching magnets to do more than just stick around

From PhysOrg.com:

"This provides a completely new approach to microelectronics, if you can use spin instead of charge to process information and use photons to manipulate that process," Gamelin said. "It opens the door to materials that store information and perform logic functions at the same time without the need for super cooling."
Full article


2009-08-17

New Law of Physics Could Explain Quantum Mysteries

From PhysOrg.com:

Since the early days of quantum mechanics, scientists have been trying to understand the many strange implications of the theory: superpositions, wave-particle duality, and the observer’s role in measurements, to name a few. Now, a new proposed law of physics that describes the geometry of physical reality on the cosmological scale might help answer some of these questions. Plus, the new law could give some clues about the role of gravity in quantum physics, possibly pointing the way to a unified theory of physics.
Full article


New material for nanoscale computer chips

From PhysOrg.com:

Nanochemists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Nano-Science Center, Department of Chemistry at University of Copenhagen have developed nanoscale electric contacts out of organic and inorganic nanowires. In the contact they have crossed the wires like Mikado sticks and coupled several contacts together in an electric circuit. In this way they have produced prototype computer electronics on the nanoscale.
Full article


2009-08-16

New nanolaser key to future optical computers and technologies

From PhysOrg.com:

Researchers have created the tiniest laser since its invention nearly 50 years ago...

Nanophotonics may usher in a host of radical advances, including powerful "hyperlenses" resulting in sensors and microscopes 10 times more powerful than today's and able to see objects as small as DNA; computers and consumer electronics that use light instead of electronic signals to process information; and more efficient solar collectors.
Full article


2009-08-13

Technique enables efficient gene splicing in human embryonic stem cells

From PhysOrg.com:

A novel technique allows researchers to efficiently and precisely modify or introduce genes into the genomes of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, according to Whitehead scientists. The method uses proteins called zinc finger nucleases and is described in the August 13 issue of Nature Biotechnology...this method could open a new phase in human genetics.
Full article


2009-08-12

Hydrogen From Sun And Water

From Chemical and Engineering News:

Sunlight can readily liberate hydrogen from water as a result of a novel solid catalyst that mediates that reaction with unprecedented efficiency, according to researchers in China who developed the catalyst. The study advances the decades-old search for an inexpensive way to produce hydrogen, a versatile fuel, from water, an abundantly available resource.
Full article


2009-08-10

Nanoelectronic transistor combined with biological machine could lead to better electronics

From PhysOrg.com:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have devised a versatile hybrid platform that uses lipid-coated nanowires to build prototype bionanoelectronic devices.

Mingling biological components in electronic circuits could enhance biosensing and diagnostic tools, advance neural prosthetics such as cochlear implants, and could even increase the efficiency of future computers.
Full article


2009-08-06

Sustained quantum information processing demonstrated

From PhysOrg.com:

Raising prospects for building a practical quantum computer, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have demonstrated sustained, reliable information processing operations on electrically charged atoms (ions). The new work, described in the August 6 issue of Science Express, overcomes significant hurdles in scaling up ion-trapping technology from small demonstrations to larger quantum processors.
Full article


2009-08-03

New microchip technology performs 1,000 chemical reactions at once

From PhysOrg.com:

Flasks, beakers and hot plates may soon be a thing of the past in chemistry labs. Instead of handling a few experiments on a bench top, scientists may simply pop a microchip into a computer and instantly run thousands of chemical reactions, with results -- literally shrinking the lab down to the size of a thumbnail.
Full article


DNA computation gets logical

From PhysOrg.com:

Biomolecular computers, made of DNA and other biological molecules, only exist today in a few specialized labs, remote from the regular computer user. Nonetheless, Tom Ran and Shai Kaplan, research students in the lab of Prof. Ehud Shapiro of the Weizmann Institute's Biological Chemistry, and Computer Science and Applied Mathematics Departments have found a way to make these microscopic computing devices 'user friendly,' even while performing complex computations and answering complicated queries.
Full article