NEW NUCLEAR: The US is building two new nuclear reactors in Georgia — the first to be approved in over 30 years. They'll be built on the same site as two older reactors, cost $14 billion, and will generate enough power for a million homes. With more than 130 million homes in the USA they need a lot of power generators. Details at CNN
HOT WINGS: A team at GE Global Research studied the scales on Morpho butterfly wings. They found that when enhanced with single-walled carbon nanotubes, structures in the wings were extremely sensitive to heat changes. The wings can sense temperature changes down to .02 degrees Celsius, at a response rate of 1/40 of a second. The team believe their findings will help improve consumer electronic products that use heat sensors. You have to blow on the butterfly. More details here and video here.
YOU'VE GOT CASH: Barclay's bank in the UK is giving its customers a free smartphone app called Pingit so they can easily send and receive cash. After installing the app and registering, customers choose a contact from their address book, or enter a phone number, then enter the amount to pay. People who aren't customers of the bank can receive but not send payments. The app is protected with a 5 digit PIN. This
should be specially helpful for anyone whose uncle needs help sorting out their millions of dollars. Details at Barclays.
BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL: Scientists from the University of Cambridge in the UK have developed a more efficient solar cell that absorbs red light and harnesses the extra energy of blue light to boost the electrical current. The cells include pentacene, an organic semiconductor so they generate two electrons instead of one for every photon they absorb from the blue light spectrum. Two for one's a good deal. Click Green has more.
DROPS TO DRINK: Although we're surrounded by oceans, they don't
directly provide us with drinking water. Now a Stanford University team has designed an electrochemical cell that can desalinate seawater. The cell draws ions from seawater into a pair of electrodes. An electric current drives chloride and sodium ions to different
electrodes. The desalinated water can be retrieved and the salts released as waste. The team still need to find a way to remove sulfates and to improve the efficiency. At the moment the device removes only 50% of the salt, instead of the desired 98%. And let's
also find a way to stops the salts from being 'waste'. Details at American Chemical Society.
