This 132-ft ship can travel on its own, hunt for stealth submarines

                It’s not only drones and driverless cars that may become the norm someday. Ocean-faring ships might also run without captains or crews. The Pentagon on 2 May showed off the world’s largest unmanned surface vessel, a self-driving 132 foot ship able to travel up to 10,000 nautical miles on its own to hunt for stealth submarines and underwater mines.

                The US military’s research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, or DARPA, in conjunction with the navy will be testing the shop off the San Diego coast over the next two years. Unlike smaller, remote-controlled craft launched from ships, the “Sea Hunter” is built to operate on its own.

                SARPA spokesman Jared B. Adams said the ship relies on radar, sonar, cameras and GPS for movement and detection. Unmanned ships will supplement missions to help keep service members out of harm’s way, Adams said. With its twin diesel engines, it could go as far as Guam from San Diego on a mission.

                Maritime companies of Europe and Asia have been looking into developing fleets of unmanned ships to cut down on operation costs and get through areas plagued by pirates. The idea in the commercial sector has sparked debate over whether it’s possible to make robotic boats safe enough, while others have expressed concern about hackers taking control.

New material to take net data speed to 2 GB/s

                Researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia have developed a new material that may not only provide efficient lighting, but also power wireless internet with data speed of up to 2 Gigabytes per second. The nano-crystalline material rapidly makes white light out of blue light. Earlier inventions like visible-light communication makes use of parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that are unregulated and is more energy-efficient, but the conversion process is not fast enough to match the speed at which LEDs can be switched on an off. The researchers created nanocrystal of cesium lead bromide that were eight nanometers in size. They were able to show uptical processes in the nanocrystals occurs on a time-scale of seven nanoseconds. This meant they could modulate the optical emission at a frequency of 491 megahertz.

Ultra-thin flexible solar cells to power e-wearables

Scientists have developed new solar cells thinner than human hair and flexible enough to wrap around a pencil, that could power wearable electronics like fitness trackers and smart glasses. The thin cells can be integrated onto frames of glasses or fabric and might power the next wave of wearable electronics.

                “Our photovoltaic is about 1 micrometer thick,” said Jongho Lee, an engineer at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea. One micrometer is much thinner than an average human hair. Standard photovoltaic are usually hundreds of times thicker, and even most other thin photovoltaics are 2 to 4 times thicker. The researchers made the ultra-thin solar cells from the semiconductor gallium arsenide.

                The researchers tested the efficiency of the device at converting sunlight to electricity and found that it was comparable to similar thicker photovoltaics. They performed bending tests and found the cells could wrap around a radius as small as 1.4mm.

Flying Observatory SOFIA detects Atomic Oxygen in Martian Atmosphere

                Atomic Oxygen was detected in the upper layer of the Martian atmosphere known as Mesosphere. This presence of Atomic Oxygen for the first time since observation 40 years ago was detected by an instrument onboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Atomic oxygen affects how other gases escape Mars and therefore has a significant impact on the planet’s atmosphere. The research was published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

A tiny implant to connect Human & Machines

                A tiny implant the size of a grain of sand has been created that can connect computers to the human body without the need for wires or batteries, opening up a host of futuristic possibilities. The devices, dubbed “neural dust”, could be used to continually monitor organs like the heart in real time and if they can be made even smaller, implanted into the brain to control robotic devices like prosthetic arms or legs.

                It is believed that they could help treat conditions like epilepsy by stimulating nerves and muscles, help people width incontinence control their bladder and ev

en suppress appetite. They could also potentially either be used to prompt the immune system into action or reduce inflammation. One of the inventors, Professor Michel Maharbiz, of University of California, Berkeley, said: “I think the long term prospects for neural dust are not only within nerves and the brain, but much broader.

                Ultrasound vibrations, which can penetrate almost every part of the body, are used to power the sensors, which are about a millimeter across. They contain a special crystal that converts ultrasound into electricity to power a tiny transistor. If there is a voltage spike in a nerve or muscle fibre this alters the vibration of the crystal, changing the way the sound echoes back to an ultrasound receiver.

                So far, experiments have been carried out on muscles and the peripheral nervous system of rats, but the researchers believe the dust could also work in the central nervous system and brain to control prosthetics. The researchers are currently building neural dust that could last in the body for more than 10 years. And because they are wireless there is no need for holes to remain in the skull.

Cleaner fuel made from plastic waste

                Scientists have found a way to use plastic trash to create a cleaner diesel-like fuel that could power vehicles, an advance that may turn landfills into potential energy sources in future. The researchers from the Chinese Academy of Science and University of California in the US hope to scale up the technique to allow for it to be used in actually reducing plastic trash. The new method involves mixing the plastics with organometallic catalyst, made from readily available molecule that were then doped with metal iridium. The reaction caused the bonds holding the plastic together to weaken, allowing them to be more easily torn apart. Researchers were able to use the broken down material to create a diesel-like fuel.

Aeroplanes to be lighter, stronger

                Scientists have found a new way to make aeroplane frames lighter and more damage-resistant by reinforcing materials using carbon nanotubes – atom-thin rolls of carbon that are incredibly strong. Passenger jets today are made from advanced composite materials such as carbon fibre reinforced plastic-extremely light, durable materials that reduce the weight of the plane by 20% compatred to aluminium-bodies planes.

Lightweight airframes translate directly to fuel savings, which is a major point in advanced composites’ favour. However, composite materials are vulnerable. While aluminium can withstand relatively large impacts before cracking, composites can break apart due to small impacts. Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found a way to bond composite layers in such a way that the resulting material is substantially stronger and more resistant to damage.

They fastened the layers of composite materials together using carbon nanotubes. They embedded tiny “forests” of carbon nanotubes within a glue-like polymer matrix, then pressed the matrix between layers of carbon fibre composites. The team found that, compared with existing composite materials, the stitched composites were 30% stronger, withstanding greater forces before breaking apart.