<p><div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image"><p class="source on-image">Applied Physics Letters</p><p class="caption">The schematic for the new junction design.</p></div></div>Physicists at North Carolina State say they've come up with a way <a href="http://www.ece.ncsu.edu/news/24277/new-connection-between-stacked-solar-cells-can-handle-energy-of-70000-suns">to drastically improve solar cell efficiency.</a></p>
<p>Most <keyword id="45681" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Solar">solar</keyword> panels are actually composed of a bunch of photovolatic cells stacked on top of each other.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The problem is that a lot of <keyword id="6357014" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="energy">energy</keyword> gets lost when the electrons hit the connective or "junction cells" that sit between each photovoltaic cell.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The researchers found that by adding a thin film of gallium arsenide to the junction cells, they could practically eliminate voltage loss.</span></p>
<p>Gallium aresnide is naturally more resistant to heat.</p>
<p>The new design would address one of the biggest problems concentrated photovoltaic [CPV] solar cells face: once solar energy is intensified to the equivalent of 700 "suns," the rate of energy dissipated begins to accelerate. </p>
<p>But the new design is capable of handling 70,000 suns without significant entropy. </p>
<p>"...That is more than sufficient for practical purposes, since concentrating lenses are unlikely to create more than 4,000 or 5,000 suns worth of energy," <a href="http://www.ece.ncsu.edu/news/24277/new-connection-between-stacked-solar-cells-can-handle-energy-of-70000-suns">lead researcher Dr. Salah Bedair said in a release</a>. "This discovery means that solar cell manufacturers can now create stacked cells that can handle these high-intensity solar energies without losing voltage at the connecting junctions, thus potentially improving conversion efficiency."</p>
<p>The only problem is that gallium arsenide <a href="http://www.logitech.uk.com/applications/gallium-arsenide.aspx">is somewhat expensive</a>. </p>
<p>That would be blunted, though, if the technology were to become more widespread.</p>
<p>(<a href="azizonomics.com"><em>Story found by John Aziz.</em></a>)</p>

New Solar Cell Design Can Handle The Power Of 70,000 Suns

<br /> <keyword id="3519744" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jayant-Baliga">Jayant Baliga</keyword>, the electrical engineer who is best known for his work in power semiconductor devices, has a lot of other achievements that he can justifiably claim to take pride in. The list, however, is topped by a theory that related the properties of semiconductor materials to the performance of power devices, way back in 1979.<br />
 <br />
The theory resulted in an equation that bears his name, using which engineers can predict the outcome of replacing silicon with other materials. <br />
 <br />
Baliga was then working at GE, and had got a small team to work on gallium arsenide, a well-studied material. However, his global fame was to come for a different reason. He had also invented the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) around the same time. The device combined the virtues of two other kinds of transistors.<br />
It was because of using IGBT that power devices multiplied all around the world, and on an estimate, the device is supposed to have saved the world $24 trillion because of improved energy efficiencies. The uses range from electric cars to household appliances.<br />
 <br />
Baliga won several awards because of this invention, including the prestigious Global Energy Prize, with his name being mentioned in some science circles as a potential Nobel Prize winner.<br />
 <br /> However, his original equation is what still sits in his mind, as it predicted that a material called <keyword id="1437475" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="silicon-carbide">silicon carbide</keyword> will be a hundred times more efficient than silicon. Even though the said material was not well understood then, things have significantly improved since the 1980s. <br />
 <br /> Baliga now serves as the director of the Power Semiconductor Research Centre in <keyword id="283601" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="North-Carolina-State-University">North Carolina State University</keyword>, and is putting efforts in developing silicon carbide devices that can be used in commercial applications.<br />
 <br /> Yes, even if it means killing his own invention, the <keyword id="3520416" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="IGBTs">IGBTs</keyword>. <br />
 <br />
"I told them that we would replace the IGBT eventually," Baliga told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/meet-jayant-baliga-the-inventor-of-igbt-who-is-working-to-kill-his-own-invention/articleshow/53424523.cms">ET</a> when he was in India to be the chief of guest of IIT Madras alumni night. "And since I am the father of both it doesn't feel so bad."<br />
 <br />
Silicon carbide could one day replace IGBTs if they are successful, but its chips would cost more than IGBT chips, as much as ten times. Hence, the North Carolina State University is running a programme to bring this cost down to the level of IGBTs.<br />
 <br />
<a href="https://research.ncsu.edu/results/files/2015/07/43-Baliga-small.jpg"><em>Image source</em></a><br />

Jayant Baliga, the IGBT inventor who wants to KILL his own invention

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Scientists create and discover new materials all the time. But few are so jaw-droppingly cool that they deserve to be recognized.</p><p>From mindbendingly lightweight solids used by NASA to metals that melt in your hand, here are a few of the neatest chemicals around, sourced from this <a href="http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-coolest-chemical-substances-ever-created-and-why">Quora thread</a>.</p><h2>Aerogel: The lightest solid known to man</h2><p>This remarkable gel is the <a href="http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-03/new-worlds-lightest-material-super-absorbent-too">world's lightest solid.</a></p><p><a href="http://www.aerogel.com/resources/about-aerogel/">Since its invention in 1931</a> by American scientist Samuel Kistler, it has been used in space missions to collect dust from a comet's tail, by government agencies for developing insulated tents, and even for manufacturing clothing that protects a person from extreme heat.</p><p><a href="http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/aerogel_factsheet.pdf">NASA has nicknamed it "Blue Smoke"</a> because it kind of looks like a hologram.</p><p>What makes this substance so cool lies in its seemingly paradoxical properties, <a href="http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-coolest-chemical-substances-ever-created-and-why/answer/Abhinash-Tummala">Quora user Abhinash Tummala writes</a>. This hard gel is mostly air and therefore extremely lightweight, not unlike a sponge. But it is also very good at repelling heat. As you can see in the image below, it can protect a flower from a strong flame.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The individual molecules that make up aerogel can also act like mini baseball gloves - they can capture fast-moving particles without damaging them. This was really useful during NASA's <a href="http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/tech/aerogel.html">Stardust mission</a>.<p>Scientists fashioned <a href="http://www.aerogel.org/?p=16">silica-based aerogel</a> onto a massive tennis-racket-shaped collector that sat outside its Stardust spacecraft. Its purpose was to capture fragile particle fragments trailing behind the Comet Wild 2 without damaging them. Because aerogel is strong and relatively transparent, scientists were then able to easily find and extract the particles later for analysis.</p><p>Aerogel's precursor is <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/aerogels.html">structurally similar to Jell-O</a>. The gelatin powder in Jell-O forms a flexible, liquid solution when mixed with warm water, which then cools into a <a href="http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=423">stiff, tangled network</a> that chemically looks like an unruly ball of yarn and sets into a shape. But, if you heated the set Jell-O, it would dry out and you'd be left with a lump of Jell-O powder once again.</p><p>Aerogel, on the other hand, isn't made of gelatin but is made from <a href="http://www.aerogel.org/?p=3">one of a variety of substances</a>, depending upon its desired use. <a href="http://www.aerogel.org/?p=16">Most commonly it is manufactured from silica</a>, <a href="http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-silica-properties-definition-quiz.html">the most abundant mineral in Earth's crust</a>. Unlike the process of making Jell-O, wet aerogel is put through a cycle of pressurized cooling and heating, which makes it retain its shape after drying out<em>.</em></p><p>The resulting aerogel is mostly air, making it still a solid but extremely lightweight. It is often described as feeling like Styrofoam or that flaky, green foam that fake plants are potted in.</p><p>You can make your own aerogel by following <a href="http://www.aerogel.org/?cat=41">one of these recipes</a>.</p><h2>Gallium: The metal that melts at room temperature</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><a href="http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-coolest-chemical-substances-ever-created-and-why/answer/Xu-Beixi">As Quora user Xu Beixi? writes</a>, this soft, shimmering solid metal is quite unusual. At low temperatures, it exists as a brittle, hard structure. But when warmed to just above room temperature, it melts into a shiny puddle.<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>By far its main use has been in the manufacture of smartphones and aerospace and telecommunications industries.<p>While this chemical element exists in the periodic table, <a href="http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2013/3006/pdf/fs2013-3006.pdf">it doesn't occur in nature all that much</a>. Trace amounts can be found in zinc ores and <a href="http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/bauxite/">bauxite,</a> which is the main source of aluminum. It does, however, exist <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gallium-99-99-grams-GalliumSource-LLC/dp/B0051GWA3S">on Amazon</a>, where you can buy it for only $10.</p><p>If you splurge on some, make sure to keep it away from your iPhone - as it degrades other metals.</p><p>This is especially true if the aluminum backing on your phone is scratched, which allows the gallium to penetrate more deeply into the metal lattice. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=114&amp;v=9AR5ZIEYqT4">This YouTube video by TechRax</a> demonstrates what happens if you pour melted gallium onto the scratched aluminum backing of an iPhone:</p><p><div></div></p><p>A few hours later, the back of the iPhone had completely decomposed:</p><p><div></div></p><h2>Diamond Nanothreads: Possible basis for a space elevator?</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>This new manmade fiber composed of carbon atoms <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/liquid-benzene-squeezed-to-form-diamond-nanothreads/">arranged into a zigzagging structure</a> reminiscent of that of a diamond's may be the strongest, stiffest nanomaterial ever made.<p>Discovered in 2014, its strength appears to surpass that of carbon nanotubes, which is another ultra-strong and lightweight material.</p><p>Shockingly, it is also extremely thin. It measures only three atoms across and is much thinner than a strand of hair.</p><p>Since this structure was discovered only recently, its composition must be confirmed with higher resolution images.</p><p>Its properties and behavior also need to be understood more deeply before it can be scaled up for use commercially.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>But if everything checks out, it's possible that diamond nanothreads could theoretically be strong yet light enough to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/diamond-nanothreads-make-space-elevator-2014-10">build an elevator to space.</a> Other candidates, such as steel, would eventually break under their own weight if stretched long enough.<h2>Ferrofluid</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>This porcupine-like suspension of super-fine magnetic particles - usually iron - is a liquid that begins to dance and form mind-boggling structures after a magnetic field is applied to it, <a href="http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-coolest-chemical-substances-ever-created-and-why/answer/Richard-Tabassi">Quora user Richard Tabassi? notes</a>.<p>Each individual tiny particle in ferrofluid is coated with a surfactant, a chemical that prevents the particles from glomming together, and is suspended in <a href="http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=1821">a liquid - water for instance.</a> The particles aren't like the magnets that you stick on your refrigerator. They're what scientists call "paramagnetic," meaning that when they're near a magnetic field, they turn into tiny magnets that move around and stick to other tiny magnets suspended in the field.</p><p><a href="http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19680020572.pdf">Ferrofluid was created in 1963 by NASA scientist Steve Pappell</a> as a prototype for rocket fuel that would propel a spacecraft after a magnetic field was applied to it. The weird thing about ferrofluids is that they behave like both a liquid and a solid at the same time.</p><p>This <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXvar-4M6VA">video</a> by YouTuber <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvX5kDFJN23RtZK6Akqyx3Q">Ferrofluidvideos</a> shows the stunning shapes and movements that ferrofluid can make when under the influence of magnetism.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>You can watch the full video here:<p><div></div></p><h3>Check out the <a href="http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-coolest-chemical-substances-ever-created-and-why">full Quora thread</a> for more awesome things.</h3>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/adderall-add-adhd-amphetamine-drug-effects-body-2015-6">What Adderall is actually doing to your body</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="QydW90dTrMMLC-N8Zp3xy-8D59REs3OH" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

4 unbelievable chemical substances humans have discovered

<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><p class="source">Jordan Silverman </p></div></div>Every state in America <a href="http://www.sba.gov/nsbw/2013-award-winners">picked one small business owner</a> as its <keyword id="6359222" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="small-business">small business</keyword> person of the year as part of <a href="http://www.sba.gov/nsbw/nsbw">National Small Business Week</a>. Each one of them was up for the national award as well. </span></p>
<p>One of these, John Stonecipher, President and CEO of Guidance Aviation Inc has just <a href="http://www.exponent-telegram.com/news/press_releases/arizona-aviator-named-national-small-business-person-of-year/article_3326e47a-daa6-11e2-9a3b-0019bb2963f4.html" target="_blank">won the award of Small Business Person Of The Year</a>. </p>
<p>These people are doing amazing things, from contracting with the Department of Homeland Security to making silver-gallium nanoneedles. </p>
<p>Here are 18 of the winners, along with the one piece of advice they have for current and aspiring business <keyword id="6425322" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="owners">owners</keyword>. </p>

Invaluable Advice From 18 Of America's Top Small Business Owners

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>New, high-tech chips constructed out of wood may be coming to smartphones.</p><p>In <a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150526/ncomms8170/full/ncomms8170.html">a new paper published in Nature Communications</a>, a group of scientists from the University of Wisconsin at Madison announced that they'd successfully built a <span>semiconductor computer chip made</span> almost entirely out of wood-based material.</p><p>The new chip replaces the bulky backbone of current chips - referred to as "the substrate" - with a wood-based nanomaterial, and could eventually make cell phones, tablets, and other mobile devices more affordable.</p><p>"If commercializing the wooden chips, tremendous material cost will be saved," lead researcher Zhengiang Ma said, <a href="http://www.itworld.com/article/2927115/servers/computer-chips-made-of-wood-promise-greener-electronics.html#tk.ITWNLE_nlt_countdown_2015-05-28">according to IT World</a>. "We actually reduced the use of semiconductor material by 99.9 percent."</p><p>The substrate replacement material is called cellulose nanofibril, a common, wood-based substance used to make paper. After building the cellulose replacement, researchers coated it with epoxy, which waterproofs the chip and keeps it from expanding and contracting.</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">More importantly, the new chips could also reduce the <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-snap-together-cell-phones-will-never-work/">growing environmental impact</a> of smartphones and mobile devices. Currently, chips</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> in phones, tablets, and computers contain non-biodegradable materials such </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">gallium arsenide which can have harmful effects, particularly in large quantities.</span></p><p>Due to Americans appetite for new cellphones and other portable electronics - most Americans replaces their cell phone around <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-smartphone-upgrade-cycle-gets-longer-2013-9">every two years</a> - the researchers said that their chip has the potential to dramatically reduce environmental pollution.</p><p>"Now the chips are so safe you can put them in the forest and fungus will degrade it," Ma said. "They become as safe as fertilizer."</p><p>Though optimistic about the outcome, Ma said that the chips are still a long way from the production line.</p><p>"Mass-producing current semiconductor chips is so cheap, and it may take time for the industry to adapt to our design," Ma said, according to the University of Wisconsin. "But flexible electronics are the future, and we think we're going to be well ahead of the curve."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/private-texts-iphone-privacy-2015-5">How to make texting on your iPhone as private as possible</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BxNjg3dTo73kIzIhwTPedZQIQ9yjHDZT" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Scientists just created a biodegradable computer chip out of wood that could make cell phones cheaper

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The results are in for the 2014 Nobel Prize in physics. If the brilliant light show above doesn't give it away, then let me enlighten you.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Oct. 7, <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/redirect/links_out/prizeawarder.php?from=/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2014/press.html&amp;object=kva&amp;to=http://www.kva.se/en/" target="_blank">The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences</a> announced that they awarded the prize to Isamu Akasaki of Meijo University in Nagoya, Japan, Hiroshi Amano of Nagoya University in Japan, and Shuji Nakamura of the University of California, Santa Barbara for:</p>
<p>"...having invented a new energy-efficient and environment-friendly light source - the blue light-emitting diode (LED). In the spirit of Alfred Nobel the Prize rewards an invention of greatest benefit to mankind; using blue LEDs, white light can be created in a new way. With the advent of LED lamps we now have more long-lasting and more efficient alternatives to older light sources."</p>
<p>That's all well and good, but it seems like a pretty simple invention - a better light bulb - and simple inventions don't win Nobel prizes. So why was their work so special?</p>
<p>Why is a blue lightbulb worthy of the world's most prestigious physics award? Let's start with all of the important applications that the blue LED led to, specifically.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h2>Important Applications</h2>
<p>The blue LED was so highly coveted because with it, <strong>companies could combine blue with red and green light to produce white light</strong> and compete with the other commercially-available white incandescent lights.</p>
<p>White LED lamps are 50% more efficient at converting electrical energy into light compared to incandescent light bulbs. The result is that LEDs last for about 100,000 hours, which is 100 times longer than your average incandescent lights and 10 times longer than fluorescent lights.</p>
<p>If the U.S. replaced all of its lights with LEDs, it would <a href="http://www.insidescience.org/content/three-physicists-share-physics-nobel-prize-blue-leds/2146">reduce energy consumption by about 20 percent,</a> Christian Wetzel, a professor of physics at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York told <a href="http://www.insidescience.org/">Inside Science</a>. This reduction would mean that utility companies would not need to invest in building new power plants.</p>
<p>That also means a lot less waste: Since the bulbs last longer, we would throw fewer dead light bulbs out. And since LEDs use less energy, it's easier to power them with renewable energy sources like solar power, which has huge applications in areas of the world where power is scarce. </p>
<p>"The LED lamp holds great promise for <strong>increasing the quality of life for over 1.5 billion people around the world</strong> who lack access to electricity grids: due to low power requirements it can be powered by cheap local solar power," The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences stated in their <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2014/press.html">press release</a>.</p>
<p>But, today's white LED-emitting technology are more than just better light bulbs.</p>
<p>Multi-color LEDs light up the screens on your smartphone, tablet, and laptop computer. The advent of the blue LED has also led to higher-energy LEDs called ultraviolet LEDs that offer an <strong>inexpensive way to sterilize water, which is especially useful in developing countries with limited access to clean drinking water.</strong></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h2><strong>Why blue claims the Nobel Prize</strong></h2>
<p>But why does the blue LED, specifically, get the prize, as opposed to red or green LEDs?</p>
<p>LEDs, unlike incandescent or fluorescent lights, generate light through a phenomenon called electroluminescence: A material emits light in response to an electric current passing through. The wavelength of the light emitted depends on the materials used.</p>
<p>In 1962, Nick Holonyak, Jr., who was then a consulting scientist at General Electric Company, developed the first visible-light LED: Red. Five years later George Craford invented <a href="http://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/components/led-lighting/50-year-history-of-the-led-2012-10/">the green LED</a>. But the blue LED would not come easily.</p>
<p><strong>It took another 27 years to create a blue LED.</strong></p>
<p>The reason it took so long to produce this color of LED was because the technology and materials just weren't there until the 90s.</p>
<p>"At the risk of oversimplifying all of solid-state physics, the key to building any LED is to find the right material to serve as the semiconductor 'die' in the diode," <a href="https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/why-blue-leds-are-worth-a-nobel-prize-2b5ff8c22803">Ethen Siegal</a> writes in Medium. "...while many different types of materials emitted red, yellow and green light, a blue LED was elusive."</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>The material used to make these other LEDs was gallium arsenide phosphide, but this material can't produce the higher-energy blue light. It was not until 1994, after years of research, when Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura discovered that gallium nitride held the key. The three scientists succeeded where many had failed.</p>
<p>"A lot of big companies really tried to do this and they failed. But these guys persisted and they tried, and tried again, and eventually they actually succeeded," said Per Delsing, the chairman of the Nobel Committee, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6qnXWbt2PE">in an interview</a>.</p>
<p>These LEDs do have one downside: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/smartphones-effect-on-vision-and-health-2014-9">All of this blue light is messing with our sleep</a>.</p>

Why Did A Lightbulb Win The Nobel Prize?

<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source"><a href="&lt;a href="></a>"&gt;Daniel Goodman / Business Insider</p></div>Broken wires are about to be a thing of the past.</p>
<p><a href="http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/01/24/welcome-to-the-future-researchers-develop-stretchable-self-healing-liquid-metal-wires/">Researchers at North Carolina State University</a> have developed elastic, self-healing wires that could be used in technologies that are exposed to high-stress environments. </p>
<p>They made these wires by first creating tiny tunnels in a self-healing polymer sheath. They then filled the tunnels with a liquid metal alloy made of indium and gallium, which they used to make a liquid metal wire in an elastic sheath. </p>
<p>If the wire gets cut, the liquid metal oxidizes and forms a skin to prevent leakage. When the severed edges of the wire are put back together, the liquid metal is able to reconnect and the sheath re-forms a molecular bond.</p>
<p>"We're also excited about this work because it allows us to create more complex circuits and rewire existing circuits using nothing more than a pair of scissors by cutting and reconfiguring the wires so that they connect in different ways," Dr. Michael Dickey, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State and co-author of the report, <a href="http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/wms-dickey-healing-wires-2013/">said in a press release</a>.</p>
<p>Check out a video of the process below. <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p></p>

THE FUTURE IS HERE: These Wires Repair Themselves

<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source"><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Singapore_Skyline.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></p></div>The FT's Raymond Bonner and Christine Spolar this weekend published <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/afbddb44-7640-11e2-8eb6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2LMroIooj">a mega-deep dive</a> into the mysterious death of American materials engineer Shane Todd.</p>
<p>It's a strange, heart-breaking read.</p>
<p>Todd was barely 30 years old when he was found hanging in his bathroom at his <keyword id="6356662" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Singapore">Singapore</keyword> apartment last spring. </p>
<p>He'd been working for a Singapore-based company called IME developing products using a substance called Gallium Nitride.</p>
<p>It has since emerged that IME was working with China-based <keyword id="6357456" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Huawei">Huawei</keyword> to develop "an amplifier device." </p>
<p>Huawei <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-rare-look-inside-huawei-2012-10">has been accused of spying on its customers</a>, although a White House report concluded merely that its products were susceptible to hacking. </p>
<p>However, Bonner and Spolar talked to experts who say that while <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">GaN devices "have commercial use in lighting as well as high-powered transistors for mobile phone base stations," they also possess "tremendous military potential."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">They wrote:<br /></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">... major US defence contractors – including Northrup-Grumman and Raytheon – have pursued significant research and development in GaN for use in radar and satellite communications.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">In the weeks prior to his death, Todd seemed stressed by his work, his mom told the FT.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Mrs Todd said she didn’t ask specifics about Shane’s work. She didn’t even know the name of the Chinese company until after his death. But the stress made him come back to God, she said. “Mom, can we pray?” Shane asked in April. “If I survive this, Father, I want to live my life to serve you.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Upon his death, Todd's family flew to Singapore and began pointing out numerous holes in the original investigation undertaken by Singapore authorities: The holes police claimed Todd had drilled to install a pulley did not exist, and the toilet was not where the police had said. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">That's just the beginning of the intrigue.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/afbddb44-7640-11e2-8eb6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2LMroIooj">Read the full story on FT.com &gt;</a></p>

Mysterious Death Of A Young American Engineer Working In Singapore Could Become An International Incident

The world's youngest self-made billionaire hopes to power every future self-driving car with a technology that Elon Musk says is 'doomed'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Nature/Hunter, et al</span></p><p class="caption">An artist's conception of the dropleton. A dropleton is a new kind of quasiparticle cluster in solids. It's created by light and is dependent on the light's intensity.</p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p>Scientists have discovered a new quasiparticle that they've dubbed the "dropleton."</p>
<p>Quasiparticles are a useful way to think about how real particles move through a solid. Essentially quasiparticles are real particles - like an electron - that are interacting in a really complicated way that makes them display a strange characteristic or behavior - like an electron that's heavier or lighter than it should be.</p>
<p>Quasiparticles are a simple way for scientists to discuss and explain these complicated interactions. For example, they help scientists explain the way electrons move in an electric current as they flow through a solid.</p>
<p>In this case, a dropleton quasiparticle is a group of electrons (the real particle) and the bond they form with corresponding positively charged "holes" (the weird behavior) they leave behind as they move through a solid as they repel other electrons.</p>
<p>The dropleton is described in detail by scientists from the Joint Institute for Lab Astrophysics in Colorado and scientists from Philipps-University in Germany in a paper published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature12994" target="_parent">Nature</a> on Feb. 26.</p>
<p>This is the first quasiparticle discovered in the last two years.</p>
<p>Scientists had already observed these bonds that form between electrons and the "holes" they leave behind as they travel through solids. These simple quasiparticles are called excitons. Dropletons, however, are a little more complex.</p>
<p>Dropletons are clumps of electrons and holes, but the electrons aren't bound to their hole like they are in an exciton. "Electrons and holes are organized in a completely new way in a dropleton," Mackillo Kira, one of the authors of the paper, told Business Insider.</p>
<p>The electrons and holes have a much looser attachment so they move in a more fluid way. Structurally they are more like a water droplet, hence the name dropleton.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_left"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Nature/Brad Baxley</span></p><p class="caption">Artist's conception of a dropleton.</p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p>Scientists created the particles by using an ultrafast red laser that sends 100 million pulses per minute into a semi-conductor. Semi-conductors are the middle ground between conductors - materials that electric currents zip through and insulators - materials that electricity can't pass through at all. Researchers can control electricity passing through semi-conductors by slowing the flow or changing its direction. Specifically the scientists used gallium arsenide, a semi-conductor similar to silicon used in laser pointers and DVDs.</p>
<p>Once the light particles from the laser are fired into the semi-conductor, they turn into the electron-hole pairs that make up excitons. But it requires a huge concentration of electron-hole pairs for the dropletons to form, and therefore you need an ultrafast laser.</p>
<p>The dropletons exist for a mere 25 picoseconds - that's 25 trillionths of a second. But the scientists were able to make the dropletons form and examine them because the laser they used sends a pulse every tenth of a picosecond - the dropletons linger over twice as long as it takes to fire one pulse. These quasiparticles are so transient because the negatively charged electrons and positively charged holes recombine almost instantaneously.</p>
<p>The dropleton could give us more insight into how electrons move through with different materials, and a better understanding of how light and matter interact.</p>
<p>"Most importantly, each found quasiparticle acts a building block of more complicated structures in the same way as elementary particles eventually form molecules, polymers, cells, and so on," Kira said. "In a sense, our dropleton discovery adds a new element to the 'periodic table' of existing quasiparticles of solids."</p>

Scientists Have Discovered A New 'Quasiparticle' 

<p class="source"><span>Luminar</span></p>There's a race to the bottom in making self-driving cars more affordable than ever, but Austin Russell has been running an entirely different race.<p>The 22-year-old college dropout has been sitting quietly for the last five years and watching as manufacturers rush to create cheaper versions of Lidar, a laser-based radar system that's a key component in self-driving cars since it allows cars t0 "see" the road. </p><p>Russell, now the CEO of self-driving car technology startup Luminar, decided to skip working on a cheap system, instead spending the last five years with cofounder Jason Eichenholz putting together a Lidar system they hope is better than the rest.</p><p>"There's a reason we've been in stealth so long," Russell said. "If we announced our plans five years ago, everybody would be doing this."</p><h2>Comes down to seconds</h2><p>Just four piers down from San Francisco's famous seals at Fisherman's Wharf is an empty cruise terminal filled with a smattering of fake deer, mannequins, and tires strategically stationed at points on the floor.</p><p class="source"><span>Biz Carson/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Fake deer and abandoned tires litter the floors of an empty cruise terminal where Luminar does its range testing.</p>At one end of the warehouse, <a href="https://www.luminartech.com/">Luminar</a> has installed its Lidar device into a car, pointed at its target: A blackboard as tall as an SUV, sitting next to a "200 meter" sign. <p>This had been Russell's target to hit before publicly debuting his five-year-old startup, Luminar. 200 meters is longer than most Lidar systems for self-driving cars can see, and seeing dark black objects reliably at that distance is even harder.</p><p>During a press demonstration at the pier, Russell and Eichenholz's system zoomed in on the black billboard in the distance. The Lidar was even able to pick up the pigeon walking in the middle of the fake deer on the floor, nearly 100 meters away from the car.</p><p>Russell was a kid of barely legal driving age when he decided to conquer self-driving cars. He'd been a tinkerer most of his life.</p><p>He memorized the periodic table by two, transformed a Nintendo game handset by the sixth grade, and made a holographic keyboard in high school. In 2012, Russell founded Luminar and soon after started doing independent research at the Beckman Laser Institute.</p><p>When he got to Stanford University in 2013, venture capitalist Peter Thiel paid the then-18-year-old Russell $100,000 to drop out of school. His Thiel fellowship bio said he had a "passion for developing innovative optoelectronic technologies". For Russell, being innovative meant having the patience to build a better Lidar that would not only advance an industry, but do it in a field that could save people's lives.</p><p>"We're able to see seven seconds out instead of one second," Russell said. "That's a really big breakthrough."</p><p>While some manufacturers say they can produce a Lidar that sees out to 200 meters, most advertised models can't scan that far ahead. Going highway speeds, that means a car equipped with Luminar's Lidar would have seven seconds of reaction time when it identifies an object at 200 meters compared to the typical few seconds most Lidar systems provide, Russell claims.</p><p class="source"><span>Luminar</span></p><p class="caption">What Luminar's lidar sees from the road.</p><p>Of those that can hit the 200 meter mark, Eichenholz says Luminar is in a class of its own because it can see objects with 10% reflectivity at that distance. That low-reflectivity number is key because objects like black cars and even people wearing black t-shirts can be harder to spot since the color is less reflective. </p><p>"You don't have to say everyone has to wear a white t-shirt," Eichenholz joked.</p><h2>An entirely different system</h2><p>Russell and Eichenholz claim Luminar can do all this because they're not using the same off-the-shelf parts as other Lidar companies. Instead, they spent the last five years designing a system from scratch. </p><p>For starters, the company eschewed traditional Lidar designs and build a new one on a different wavelength than traditional systems. While many Lidars systems operate at a 905 nano-meter wavelength, Luminar is at a 1550 nano-meter wavelength, which means it can emit 68 photons for every single one put out on the traditional wavelength, making it more powerful but still safe for eyes.</p><p>"Eye safety is a really big deal in this industry, It's actually is a limiting factor of a lot of Lidar sensors today," Russell said. "You can't fry people's eyes with sensors."</p><p class="source"><span>Luminar</span></p><p class="caption">Austin Russell installing Luminar LiDAR onto vehicle</p>The decision to switch wavelengths set off a cascade of events for the startup. Namely, there were no off-the-shelf products it could use. It's had to do everything from creating its own chips and circuit design to manufacturing its own indium gallium arsenide, a chemical compound that it's using as a receiver in its Lidar unit instead of silicon. <p>The company tried 2,000 different ways to construct a Lidar system before deciding on one that was both functional and manufacturable, Russell said.</p><p>The company raised $36 million from venture capitalists including GVA Capital, Canvas Ventures, and the 1517 Fund, a venture firm backed by Thiel. With the money, Russell acquired one of Luminar's suppliers to lock up its supply chain from competitors, He also brought on Eichenholz's previous company, Open Photonics, and named him cofounder and CTO. </p><p class="source"><span>Luminar</span></p><p class="caption">Cofounder and CTO Jason Eichenholz (second from right) with Luminar employees</p><p>While Russell oversees the company's Silicon Valley office, a converted tank repair facility in Portola Valley, the majority of the company's 150 employees are based in its Orlando, Florida office, which contains both R&amp;D headquarters and 50,000 square foot manufacturing facility. </p><p>Even though Luminar has stayed quiet for the last five years, it's already produced 100 units for its strategic partners, which include both unidentified automakers and software companies. Now, Luminar is ready to begin its first major commercial run of 10,000 units, set to be distributed among many customers instead of just putting it in the hands of a few. </p><p>"Our plan is to power every autonomous vehicle that's produced and make them so they can truly be safe and autonomous," Russell said of his long-term vision. </p><p>To do that, the college dropout's startup will have to overcome major incumbents like Velodne as well as another onslaught of software companies <span>- </span>like Google and Waymo <span>-</span> that have developed their own in-house Lidar systems. But Russell is confident that Luminar's system will become the new standard, and he's not worried that everyone will soon be joining his race lane now that his company's plans are public. </p><p>"The key thing here is that starting this five years ago we have a huge head start and advantage," he said. "No matter how much money you throw at this problem, you don't need hundreds of millions or billions to develop this. It's about the time it takes."</p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-self-driving-volvo-suv-san-francisco-2016-12">We took a ride in Uber's new self-driving car on the streets of San Francisco - here's what it was like</a></h3>                                    Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Meet the 22-year-old college dropout who wants to power every future self-driving car

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<p><span style="color: #000000; text-decoration: none; font-size: 16px; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em>This post is part of the "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/big-ideas" target="_blank">Small Business, Big Ideas</a>" series, in which business leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators share their stories of overcoming obstacles and achieving success. "<keyword id="6359222" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="small-business">Small Business</keyword>, <keyword id="746202" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="big-ideas">Big Ideas</keyword>" is sponsored by Chase. </em></span><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="color: #000000; text-decoration: none; font-size: 16px; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/big-ideas">See more posts in the series »</a></em></span></strong></p>
</div><p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><p class="source">Nauga Needles</p></div></div>Of all the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/invaluable-advice-from-18-of-americas-top-small-business-owners-2013-6">small business owners nominated for a big national award</a>, b<span>y far our favorite was Kentucky's Mehdi Yazdanpanah and his company Nauga Needles.</span></p>
<p><span><a href="http://nauganeedles.com/">Nauga Needles</a> makes "nano-needles" — incredibly small metal wires sharp points that are being used by researchers to manipulate, probe, and measure things on a microscopic level.</span></p>
<p>The whole thing started after Yazdanpanah, an Iranian immigrant, made an accidental and fortunate discovery in a lab at the University of Louisville, where he was a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"It was actually in 2004 where, by accident I found that silver and gallium react with each other at room temperature. Through this reaction, mother nature makes a nano-needle-like structure," he says.</span></p>
<p>Once the graduate student figured out how to make needles form individually, he immediately saw the potential.</p>
<p>Yazdanpanah didn't come to America to start a business.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"I was a foreign student here on a visa, and I had $500 in my savings account, so there was no way, in my imagination, that I could some day be a businessman," he says.</span></p>
<p>There was a language barrier, a culture barrier, and an experience barrier.</p>
<p>"It was scary at the beginning to come here because it's a very different country, but the transition ended up being so smooth. That's why they call it the land of the American Dream," he says.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">What helped him transition from scientist to CEO was a </span><a href="http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/kauffman-foundation-announces-first-class-of-postdoctoral-entrepreneurship-fellows.aspx">Kauffman postdoctoral fellowship</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> in 2009, which provided funding and taught him the basics of running a business.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 15px;">There are also certain advantages to living in Kentucky, like much cheaper costs than in Silicon Valley.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 15px;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">He was able to hire people from the University of Louisville who were already familiar with the technology, though he says talent can be rough, particularly on the business side.</span></p>
<p><div class="image-container float_left" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><p class="source">Nauga needles</p><p class="caption">The Nauga Needles Team</p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>Nauga Needles already</span> has six full-time and four part-time employees, with some work outsourced. The long-term goal is to manufacture everything in Louisville.</span></p>
<p>The location made finding private funding difficult, however, even as the Internet made it possible to sell product everywhere. Without the luxury of big investments, Nauga Needles had to <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">start selling right away.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 15px;">Eventually the company got a loan from Louisville for equipment, won a business plan competition, got funding from the state of Kentucky, and won a grant from the National Science Foundation.</span></p>
<p>"It took all of this together. The best part of it was because we had the sales that were helping us to grow organically. Now we are at the point where we can raise money, but our backs are not against the wall," Yazdanpanah said. "We have some breathing room and we're looking for the smart money."</p>
<p>Right now, their major customers are researchers in the semiconductor industry, biology, physics, and nano-mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>"W<span>e're making tools that enable researchers to do things in nano-scale," Yazdanpanah said.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He thinks the applications will only grow. Right now, for example, he is working on a blood test kit that can detect and count cancer cells.</span></p>
<p><keyword id="6650018" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nanotechnology">Nanotechnology</keyword> is in its infancy right now, but the potential is huge.</p>
<p>"I like to say that I didn't get a Ph.D. to get a job, I got a Ph.D. to create jobs," he says. "And I hope that some day my company hires thousands of people if not hundreds of thousands. That's my dream come true."</p>

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