Advanced Concepts Team

We present the design and experimental implementation of a power harvesting metamaterial. A maximum of 36.8% of the incident power from a 900 MHz signal is experimentally rectified by an array of metamaterial unit cells. We demonstrate that the maximum harvested power occurs for a resistive load close to 70 Ω in both simulation and experiment.

Towing an iceberg from Newfoundland to the Canary Islands: how 3D computer simulations are used to study iceberg melting and fuel consumption in this concept.

ever wanted to feel an important extremist to be of interest to big brother - just google for tor :-) it was never easier to be come an "extremist" what are the consequences of this? new opportunities for secure space-based communication services?

A new method of separating nuclear isotopes that exploits the slight differences in their electronic energy levels has been developed by physicists in the US. The energy-efficient separator was used to create isotopically pure lithium-7, which is used in some nuclear reactors. Good news for any future nuclear powered space missions perhaps? It could potentially replace the current (and much less energy efficient) methods that were developed in the 1950's

StarTiger: similar, yet different from the way the ACT does things. Seems like a very interesting programme.

Nice initiative and also a good approach, problem-oriented within a fixed time frame. Could definitely be a highly motivating approach, similar to GTOC... I think the ACT should do this more often, targeted at future technologies and/or missions. The team could be structured around 'problems' instead of 'research areas', this will promote multidisciplinary work as well, plus it will also focus activities more. The problems, or more broadly concepts, are identified by the team and a few get chosen as main activities. Subsequent RF and YGT hiring is then done to strenghten the research team. These projects have a maximum lifetime maybe of 1 year? Thoughts?

I'm impressed already by what an innovative group of experts and researchers was able to achieve when resourcefully targeted at coming up with the project's name...

Responding to calls from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), a working group of the American Statistical Association has developed a whitepaper detailing how statisticians and computer scientists can contribute to administration research initiatives and priorities. The whitepaper includes a lot of topics central to machine learning and data mining, so please take a look.

I guess Norvig is trumping Chomsky big time if this is the attitude of the NSF :)))

The first complete theory of how plasmons produce "hot carriers" has been developed by researchers in the US. The new model could help make this process of producing carriers more efficient, which would be good news for enhancing solar-energy conversion in photovoltaic devices.

I did not read the paper but what is further down written in the article, does not give much hope that this actually gives much more insight than what we had nor that it could be used in any way to improve current PV cells soon: e.g. "To fully exploit these carriers for such applications, researchers need to understand the physical processes behind plasmon-induced hot-carrier generation. Nordlander's team has now developed a simple model that describes how plasmons produce hot carriers in spherical silver nanoparticles and nanoshells. The model describes the conduction electrons in the metal as free particles and then analyses how plasmons excite hot carriers using Fermi's golden rule - a way to calculate how a quantum system transitions from one state into another following a perturbation. The model allows the researchers to calculate how many hot carriers are produced as a function of the light frequency used to excite the metal, as well as the rate at which they are produced. The spectral profile obtained is, to all intents and purposes, the "plasmonic spectrum" of the material. Particle size and hot-carrier lifetimes "Our analyses reveal that particle size and hot-carrier lifetimes are central for determining both the production rate and the energies of the hot carriers," says Nordlander. "Larger particles and shorter lifetimes produce more carriers with lower energies and smaller particles produce fewer carriers, but with higher energies."

Summary of the critics: the project cannot but fail, its a waste of money that will dry funds for serious research and will thus create an enormous disappointment in the public opinion that is, ultimately, the real funder of the project

Told you from the very beginning...

not sure what to make of this. seems like an odd change of direction "Spaceports will be key to us opening up the final frontier of commercial space travel," said Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander at the announcement of the new sites. Mr Alexander hinted that the plans could lead to Scotland becoming the home of the UK's commercial space ambitions, even as the Scottish government warns that only independence will secure a successful space industry for the country.

That thing combined with the Oculus Rift must be an awesome experience...

This is the interesting master project of a good friend from my university, not really related to space though. Replacing the drone's wifi antenna by an Avalanche Victim Detector, it could be a very promising tool to deploy the first avalanche searches.

A British company has produced a "strange, alien" material so black that it absorbs all but 0.035 per cent of visual light, setting a new world record. To stare at the "super black" coating made of carbon nanotubes - each 10,000 times thinner than a human hair - is an odd experience.

Finally! Nowadays blacks were always too bright for my taste...

"No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." I will keep waiting for my darkness-emitting diodes...

Jul 13, Nanotechnology/Nanomaterials Researchers have shown that clusters of 40 boron atoms form a molecular cage similar to the carbon buckyball. This is the first experimental evidence that such a boron cage structure exists. Credit: Wang lab / Brown UniversityThe discovery 30 years ago of soccer-ball-shaped carbon molecules called buckyballs helped to spur an explosion of nanotechnology research.

The wisdom of crowds breaks down when people are biased. Now researchers have discovered a simple method of removing this bias-just listen to the most confident.

So, those who insist know better? I reckon that an ignorant can also insist on his opinion.

Ok, who tested the laser SPS?

or who was responsible for the calibration and testing?

A dwarf-planet candidate called UX25 and its tiny satellite could provide the first evidence of a new cosmological model that includes antigravity, say Alberto Vecchiato and Mario Gai of the Astrophysical Observatory of Turin in Italy.

Lasers + diamonds --> simulate pressure of thousands of atmospheres on planetary cores!

As a side note, this is also being used as method to create a hypothetical substance called 'metallic hydrogen'. At such high pressures, hydrogen itself should become superconducting at room temperature and thus of tremendous interest...

An oldie but a goodie, " As you will never be sure which are the right problems to work on, most of the time that you spend in the laboratory or at your desk will be wasted. If you want to be creative, then you will have to get used to spending most of your time not being creative, to being becalmed on the ocean of scientific knowledge"

already forwarded it to other researchers in desperation phase :-D :-D

Energy harvesting device taps into atmospheric humidity - basically by exploiting the behaviour of water droplets when they come in contact with a superhydrophobic surfaces. Could it be exploited for other atmospheres?