Molybdenite to challenge graphene?

January 31, 2011
Mineral molybdenite from collection of Nationa...

Mineral molybdenite: Image via Wikipedia

A new paper from researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne about a new material which could challenge graphene for transistors.

Single-layer MoS2 transistors, by B. Radisavljevic, A. Radenovic, J. Brivio, V. Giacometti & A. Kis, Nature Nanotechnology (2011) doi:10.1038/nnano.2010.279

Physorg reports:

Smaller and more energy-efficient electronic chips could be made using molybdenite. In an article appearing online January 30 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, EPFL’s Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES) publishes a study showing that this material has distinct advantages over traditional silicon or graphene for use in electronics applications.

A model showing how molybdenite can be integrated into a transistor. Credit: EPFL

Research carried out in the Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES) has revealed that molybdenite, or MoS2, is a very effective semiconductor. This mineral, which is abundant in nature, is often used as an element in steel alloys or as an additive in lubricants. But it had not yet been extensively studied for use in electronics.

“It’s a two-dimensional material, very thin and easy to use in nanotechnology. It has real potential in the fabrication of very small transistors, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and solar cells,” says EPFL Professor Andras Kis, whose LANES colleagues M. Radisavljevic, Prof. Radenovic et M. Brivio worked with him on the study. He compares its advantages with two other materials:silicon, currently the primary component used in electronic and computer chips, and graphene, whose discovery in 2004 earned University of Manchester physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.

One of molybdenite’s advantages is that it is less voluminous than silicon, which is a three-dimensional material. “In a 0.65-nanometer-thick sheet of MoS2, the electrons can move around as easily as in a 2-nanometer-thick sheet of silicon,” explains Kis. “But it’s not currently possible to fabricate a sheet of silicon as thin as a monolayer sheet of MoS2.” Another advantage of molybdenite is that it can be used to make transistors that consume 100,000 times less energy in standby state than traditional silicon transistors. A semi-conductor with a “gap” must be used to turn a transistor on and off, and molybdenite’s 1.8 electron-volt gap is ideal for this purpose.

The existence of this gap in molybdenite also gives it an advantage over graphene.

Read Article


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Cyclone Yasi approaches Queensland coast

January 31, 2011

The threat from Cyclone Anthony has passed but Cyclone Yasi is approaching and due to hit the coast on Thursday. One blessing is that it is moving so fast that it may not have time to dump much water over the water-logged regions of Queensland.

BOM advice:

Damaging winds are expected to develop about coastal and island communities between Cooktown and Yeppoon Wednesday morning. People between Cooktown and Yeppoon should consider what action they will need to take if the cyclone threat increases.

The forecast path shown above is the Bureau's best estimate of the cyclone's future movement and intensity: image BOM

 

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Carrefour and Walmart branded as cheats in China

January 31, 2011

Xinhua reports that Carrefour and Walmart have damaged their own reputations by trying to cheat Chinese consumers by overpricing. With the New Year to be celebrated on 3rd February, they are being seen as trying to exploit the traditional Chinese generosity during the festival holiday:

Carrefour and Walmart swindle Chinese consumers

Over the crowds of holiday shoppers in China’s big stores this Spring Festival lingers an atmosphere of suspicion. With charges of price deception hanging over the big chains of Carrefour and Wal-Mart and local authorities moving to levy fines, many Chinese — normally averse to be pinching pennies during the Lunar New Year — are checking their receipts at the tills.

The New Year, which falls on Feb. 3 this year, is normally a time of largesse and excess — all the more reason why many shoppers feel so betrayed. Customers can be seen recording label prices in notebooks or calculating their final bill on their mobile phones as they walk the aisles. At outlets of Carrefour and Wal-Mart in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, the check out queues have grown as customers doublecheck prices at the tills.

“I would never have imagined global firms would do this intentionally and I have to be cautious,” said a woman surnamed Wang, after shopping at a foreign-owned supermarket in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

From KamCity:

Carrefour and Walmart have issued public statements of apology to their customers in China, after local regulators found that several of their outlets were overcharging customers. The National Development and Reform Commission had found several instances of overpricing at 11 Carrefour and three Walmart outlets, on products including tea, underwear, and household products.

Carrefour said it “sincerely apologises” for the errors, and offered to refund customers five times the difference between the price charged and that on the label. Meanwhile, Walmart also expressed its “sincere apology” to those affected, adding that it has “launched self-examinations” and “will strengthen its price monitoring.”

The NDRC ordered local authorities to fine the individual outlets and confiscate their “illegal income”, with fines amounting to five times the amount confiscated, or up to 500,000 yuan if the amount cannot be calculated.

In the Chinese government’s battle against inflation, the Western retailers are building up a reputation for being a significant part of the problem.


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Davos 2011 wraps up: Emerging markets generating the emerging buyers

January 30, 2011

Davos 2011 wraps up somewhat overshadowed by the ongoing revolution in Egypt.

Davos, home of the annual World Economic Forum meeting

Davos, home of the annual World Economic Forum meeting : image The Telegraph

 

But the WEF is turning out to be more than just a talking shop. This year there is no single dominating theme but a number of strong themes were apparent. The Euro is turning the corner, buyers from the emerging markets are on an acquisitions spree and bankers are being rehabilitated after they brought the world to its knees with their greed and profligacy.

There is a clear optimism but also a strong fear of being optimistic. Too many fingers have been burnt.

  1. Emerging market companies buy up the world
  2. Bankers regain power as Davos summit ends with a big fudge
  3. Davos summit leaves David Cameron and George Osborne feeling bruised
  4. Euro zone crisis seen turning corner
  5. At Davos, men outnumber women by over 5 to 1
  6. Sarkozy publicly slams JPMorgan chief at Davos forum

 

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Okhotsk rescue over and icebreakers end operations

January 30, 2011

Ria Novosti today:

Russian icebreakers end rescue effort in Sea of Okhotsk

MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) 18:45 30/01/2011

The Russian icebreakers Krasin and Admiral Makarov have rescued the ice-trapped mother fishery ship Sodruzhestvo ending the month-long operation in the Sea of Okhotsk.

“The operation to rescue the Sodruzhestvo mother ship out of ice trap has been completed,” Russia’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement on Sunday.

The icebreakers resumed towing the vessel, stuck in the Sea of Okhotsk, toward clear waters on Wednesday. The rescue operation was earlier suspended due to poor weather conditions.

The Sodruzhestvo, Bereg Nadezhdy ship and the Professor Kizevetter research vessel, carrying altogether over 400 people, got stuck in two-meter-thick ice in the Sea of Okhotsk on December 31. Two other ships, the Mys Yelizavety and the Anton Gurin, became trapped a few days later.

The Admiral Makarov released the Professor Kizevetter and the Mys Yelizavety vessels from the ice trap, while the Anton Gurin managed to cope on its own. The Bereg Nadezhdy was successfully towed to clear water on January 24.


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Now Queensland faces “David and Goliath” cyclones

January 30, 2011

After the floods (even if some of the flooding in Brisbane was due to poor operation of the Wivenhoe Dam), Queensland faces a cyclone due to cross the coast today and another larger cyclone which could hit on Thursday.

SMH reports:

An infra-red image shows Cyclone Anthony bearing down on the Queensland coast, with a large tropical depression off Vanuatu expected to develop into another, more devastating cyclone.

An infra-red image shows Cyclone Anthony bearing down on the Queensland coast, with a large tropical depression off Vanuatu expected to develop into another, more devastating cyclone. Photo: US National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service

The two cyclones bearing down on the Queensland coast could be a case of “David and Goliath”, with the second system expected to be bigger and more devastating, Premier Anna Bligh said today.

Cyclone Anthony intensified to a category-two system just before 2pm (local time) today and is expected to cross the coast between Ayr and Bowen, in north Queensland, late tonight. …….

Cyclone Anthony was at 5pm located 255 kilometres east of Townsville and 125 kilometres northeast of Bowen, with a warning zone stretching along the coast from Lucinda to Sarina, the Bureau of Meteorology said. The bureau tonight warned of destructive wind gusts up to 130km/h and abnormally high tides between Ayr and Bowen, with large waves likely along the beachfront between Townsville and Sarina. It said heavy rainfall and flooding was developing about the coast near and to the south of the cyclone, extending as far south as Sarina. Gales up to 100km/h were battering Hamilton Island late this afternoon.

However, the bureau is more worried about Cyclone Yasi, lurking near Vanuatu, which could potentially cross the Queensland coast on Thursday morning. The meteorological centre in Fiji this afternoon upgraded the low-pressure system to a category-one cyclone, which was moving west at 13km/h and intensifying.

The prospect of two cyclones crossing the Queensland coast within four days of each other comes after three quarters of the state was recently declared a disaster zone in the wake of devastating flooding. ……. Ms Bligh today described the two cyclones as “David and Goliath”, with Cyclone Anthony expected to be “quite smaller than the second event”.

But Ms Bligh said Anthony should not be underestimated, with wind gusts of more than 120km/h likely and damage expected.

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Somali piracy: How does it continue?

January 30, 2011
Bathymetric map of the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean: Image via Wikipedia

Two contrasting stories about Somali piracy today which makes me wonder whether it continues because technology is not up to it or because of a lack of will or because of legalistic uncertainties on the high seas, or because of something else ?

The Indian Ocean is large and pirate craft are small and Somali war lords are greedy, but is it beyond the capability of all the world’s satellites to detect them and beyond the power of all the world’s navies to put a stop to this? Or are the reported ransoms of many millions being paid out far too readily and far too quickly by  the ship owner’s?

And where does the money trail really lead? And are there any insurance frauds also involved?

Something does not add up.

The Indian Express reports about the sinking of a pirate “mother ship”:

KOCHI: Giving a big blow to Somali pirates, Indian coastal security forces sink Prantalay, a  mother vessel used by the pirates, off the Laskhadweep coast. In a first-of-its-kind mission against pirates in the Indian waters, the Navy and the Coast Guard rescued around 20 fishermen from Thailand and Myanmar, the original crew of Prantalay.

The Coast Guard and the Navy, which had been keeping vigil against the pirates, had identified two skiffs off Lakshadweep coast on Friday morning. It was while responding to a call by MV CMA CGM Verdi, a Bahamas-flagged container ship on Friday morning, that a Coast Guard Dornier aircraft located two skiffs attempting an attack. Seeing the aircraft, the skiffs immediately gave up their piracy attempt and dashed towards the mother vessel Prantalay which hurriedly hoisted the two skiffs on board and set a westerly course to escape from the area. This action cleared all doubts of Prantalay being used by pirates as a mother vessel. While the Coast Guard and the Dorniers continuously tracked Prantalay, Indian Naval Ship Cankarso, a recently commissioned Water Jet Fast Attack Craft which had already been deployed in the area for anti-piracy patrol, was directed  to intercept Prantalay. Around 5 pm, INS Cankarso closed in on Prantalay and made all efforts  to establish communication on the international Mercantile Marine Band, but the vessel did not respond and continued to proceed westwards in its effort to escape.

In keeping with internationally accepted norms, Cankarso fired a warning shot well ahead of Prantalay to compel the ship to stop. Instead of stopping, Prantalay suddenly opened fire on INS Cankarso, which retaliated. Then, a fire broke out on Prantalay and crew were seen jumping overboard. In addition to the fishermen, 15 pirates were also apprehended. INS Cankarso was subsequently joined by INS Kalpeni and CGS Sankalp. Naval and Coast Guard ships and aircraft present in the area searching for any other fishermen/pirates.

And from Germany comes the story of of pirates capturing two ships and attacking a third:

Two sailors on a German ship have been found in a lifeboat after pirates took control of their vessel last weekend in the Indian Ocean. The pirates attacked the Bremen-based Beluga Nomination around 800 sea miles north of the Seychelles, prompting reaction from a Seychelles patrol boat and a Danish warship in the area.
The Seychelles patrol boat fired on the ship killing two pirates and two crew members, reported Der Spiegel on Saturday. Yet it was unable to gain control of the Beluga Nomination, and most of the surviving crew locked themselves into a safe room. At least two others jumped into the free-fall life boat and activated it, plunging into the sea. The day afterwards the Beluga Nomination stopped as the daily fuel ration was seemingly exhausted. A few hours later another captured ship, the York gas ship arrived, and the two ships were last seen heading towards Somalia.
The two men in the life boat were picked up by the Danish frigate and are said to be in as good a condition as could be expected under the circumstances. A Beluga shipping company spokeswoman confirmed that the fate of the rest of the crew remained unknown.
On Friday Somali pirates attacked another German ship, the New York Star tanker which belongs to the Hamburg firm Chemikalien Seetransport. It was attacked by pirates in a speedboat, a firm spokesman said on Saturday. The captain tried avoidance manoeuvres while the crew locked themselves in a safe room. The Dutch frigate De Ruyter came to its aid and soldiers boarded to check for pirates before giving the all-clear. New York Star will continue its journey from Saudi Arabia to Singapore with its load of naphtha.

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Canine jobs threatened by explosive sniffing plants!

January 29, 2011

Canine explosives detectors may soon be unemployed as they are replaced by plants. A new paper in PLos One

Antunes MS, Morey KJ, Smith JJ, Albrecht KD, Bowen TA, et al. (2011) Programmable Ligand Detection System in Plants through a Synthetic Signal Transduction Pathway. PLoS ONE 6(1): e16292. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016292

Coclusions:

Our system is modular and PBPs can theoretically be designed to bind most small molecules. Hence our system, with improvements, may allow plants to serve as a simple and inexpensive means to monitor human surroundings for substances such as pollutants, explosives, or chemical agents.

From dvice.com

Forget those intrusive airport security scanners, within a few years genetically modified plants could be detecting bombs at airports. Developed by Colorado State University biology professor June Medford, the plants have been manipulated so that they turn white almost instantly when certain types of explosives are in the air around them. Medford says that the goal is to make the plants as sensitive as a dogs nose.

Funding for the project has come from DARPA and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, who see the plants as an additional line of defense at airports, sports stadiums and government buildings. Medford says that the plants could be in use within four years.

Bomb detecting plants coming soon to an airport near you

Plants turn white on detecting explosives: image dvice.com

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25 years since Challenger exploded; almost 8 years since Columbia was destroyed

January 28, 2011

The Space Shuttle Challenger’s maiden flight was on 4th April, 1983, and it completed nine missions before breaking apart 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, STS-51-L on 28th January, 1986.

A sombre anniversary today.

A special ceremony is taking place at the Kennedy Space Center’s visitor complex this morning. Members of the NASA family and the public will gather to honor those who died aboard space shuttle Challenger.

Twenty-five years ago the STS-51L crew boarded Challenger for a six-day flight. It was just after liftoff when things went wrong. Challenger was in the air for 73 seconds before the orbiter exploded. …. According to investigators’ findings, the cause of the explosion was an O-ring that failed in one of the solid rocket boosters. Cold weather was cited as a contributing factor.

File:Challenger explosion.jpg

The breakup of the space shuttle Challenger: 28th January 1986: Wikipedia

Challenger crew; El Onizuka,Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judy Resnik, Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, Ron McNair: image christa.org

Today is also 4 days short of 8 years since the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed during rentry.

Space Shuttle Columbia (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-102) was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle inNASA’s orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew members were killed.

The investigation found that 82 seconds after launch a large piece of foam insulating material from the external tank broke free and struck the leading edge of the shuttle’s left wing, damaging the protective carbon heat shielding panels. This damage allowed super-heated gases to enter the wing structure during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere and caused the destruction of the Columbia.

Columbia was commanded by Rick Husband and piloted by William McCool. The mission specialists were Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark; and the payload specialist was Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon: image NASA

Currently the 3 operational orbiters are the

Space Shuttles Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour.


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And Mount Kirishima in Japan is also spewing ash

January 28, 2011

The Japan Times:

News photo

Mount Kirishima's Shinmoedake peak, seen from Takaharu, Miyazaki Prefecture, spews ash Thursday morning. KYODO PHOTO

Mount Kirishima continued erupting Thursday on the border between Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures, spewing columns of smoke up to more than 2,500 meters, the weather agency said.

Rocks were blasted as far as 8 km from Kirishima’s Shinmoedake peak, according to the Meteorological Agency. Volcanic ash disrupted train and flight services in the area. The agency revised the scale of the eruption upward to “medium” from the initial “small,” after the smoke columns reached about 500 meters higher than Wednesday. …. Volcanic tremors indicating magma activities also continued Thursday.

The first in-depth eruption began Wednesday at around 7:30 p.m., when the 1,421-meter Shinmoedake peak began spewing debris in its second outburst since a small eruption Jan. 19, the agency said. According to the Miyazaki Observatory, ash is falling on a wide area that includes the cities of Miyazaki and Nichinan in Miyazaki Prefecture, and has partially closed expressways in Kyushu.

According to Bloomberg:

Japan’s government issued alerts after a volcano on the southern island of Kyushu erupted for the first time in 52 years, causing the evacuation of homes and cancellation of more than 60 flights.

Shinmoedake, in the Kirishima range, erupted yesterday, spewing ash as high as 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) into the air, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said in a statement on its website. A second eruption occurred today at about 1 p.m. local time, national broadcaster NHK reported. Ash from the volcano reached Miyazaki city, 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the east, according to the broadcaster.

Japan Airlines Corp. canceled 37 flights to or from nearby Miyazaki airport, according to its website today. Three additional flights will be scrapped tomorrow, it said. All Nippon Airways Co., Asia’s largest listed carrier, canceled 24 flights affecting 3,350 people, spokeswoman Nana Kon said by phone today.

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