Researchers build molecules using a laser beam
A combined team of researchers from Israel’s Hebrew University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Germany’s Universität Kassel has succeeded in demonstrating coherent control of bond-forming between atoms using a laser beam. In their paper published in Physical Review Letters, the team describes their experiments with molecule-making and outlines future possible applications.
http://phys.org/news/2015-07-molecules-laser.html#jCp
Antiburp compound could reduce methane emissions from cows
A simple supplement to a cow’s feed could substantially decrease a major source of methane, a planet-warming greenhouse gas, a new study suggests. Each year worldwide, the methane produced by cud-chewing livestock warms Earth’s climate by the same amount as 2.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide, a little more than 4% of the greenhouse gas emissions related to human activity. That makes cows tempting targets for methane reduction efforts. In a new study, researchers added the chemical 3-nitrooxypropanol, also known as 3NOP, to the corn-and-alfalfa-based feed of 84 milk-producing Holsteins and monitored their methane production for 12 weeks—the largest and longest such trial of its type in lactating cows, the scientists say. For cows whose feed included 3NOP, methane emissions dropped, on average, by 30%, the researchers reported online yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
http://news.sciencemag.org/chemistry/2015/07/antiburp-compound-could-reduce-methane-emissions-cows
This new 3D XPoint memory could last forever
Intel and Micron this week unveiled a new type of memory they plan to mass produce that is purportedly 1,000 times faster than NAND flash and has 1,000 times the endurance.
The new product, 3D XPoint, is essentially a mass storage-class memory that, while slower, is still cheaper to produce than DRAM and vastly faster than NAND. Most importantly, it’s non-volatile. So when the power goes off, the data remains intact — just as it does with NAND flash.
“It’s more expensive than NAND and cheaper than DRAM, and faster than NAND but slower than DRAM,” said Jim Handy, an analyst with Objective Analysis. “This suits it well to create another layer in the memory hierarchy. That’s a hard sell, though.”
Ebola vaccine is ‘potential game-changer’
A vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus has led to 100% protection and could transform the way Ebola is tackled, preliminary results suggest.
This trial centred on the VSV-EBOV vaccine, which was started by the Public Health Agency of Canada and then developed by the pharmaceutical company Merck.
It combined a fragment of the Ebola virus with another safer virus in order to train the immune system to beat Ebola.
