New battery design could help solar and wind power the grid

Apr. 24, 2013 ? Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have designed a low-cost, long-life battery that could enable solar and wind energy to become major suppliers to the electrical grid.

"For solar and wind power to be used in a significant way, we need a battery made of economical materials that are easy to scale and still efficient," said Yi Cui, a Stanford associate professor of materials science and engineering and a member of the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, a SLAC/Stanford joint institute. "We believe our new battery may be the best yet designed to regulate the natural fluctuations of these alternative energies."

Cui and colleagues report their research results, some of the earliest supported by the DOE's new Joint Center for Energy Storage Research battery hub, in the May issue of Energy & Environmental Science.

Currently the electrical grid cannot tolerate large and sudden power fluctuations caused by wide swings in sunlight and wind. As solar and wind's combined contributions to an electrical grid approach 20 percent, energy storage systems must be available to smooth out the peaks and valleys of this "intermittent" power -- storing excess energy and discharging when input drops.

Among the most promising batteries for intermittent grid storage today are "flow" batteries, because it's relatively simple to scale their tanks, pumps and pipes to the sizes needed to handle large capacities of energy. The new flow battery developed by Cui's group has a simplified, less expensive design that presents a potentially viable solution for large-scale production.

Today's flow batteries pump two different liquids through an interaction chamber where dissolved molecules undergo chemical reactions that store or give up energy. The chamber contains a membrane that only allows ions not involved in reactions to pass between the liquids while keeping the active ions physically separated. This battery design has two major drawbacks: the high cost of liquids containing rare materials such as vanadium -- especially in the huge quantities needed for grid storage -- and the membrane, which is also very expensive and requires frequent maintenance.

The new Stanford/SLAC battery design uses only one stream of molecules and does not need a membrane at all. Its molecules mostly consist of the relatively inexpensive elements lithium and sulfur, which interact with a piece of lithium metal coated with a barrier that permits electrons to pass without degrading the metal. When discharging, the molecules, called lithium polysulfides, absorb lithium ions; when charging, they lose them back into the liquid. The entire molecular stream is dissolved in an organic solvent, which doesn't have the corrosion issues of water-based flow batteries.

"In initial lab tests, the new battery also retained excellent energy-storage performance through more than 2,000 charges and discharges, equivalent to more than 5.5 years of daily cycles," Cui said.

To demonstrate their concept, the researchers created a miniature system using simple glassware. Adding a lithium polysulfide solution to the flask immediately produces electricity that lights an LED.

A utility version of the new battery would be scaled up to store many megawatt-hours of energy.

In the future, Cui's group plans to make a laboratory-scale system to optimize its energy storage process and identify potential engineering issues, and to start discussions with potential hosts for a full-scale field-demonstration unit.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Yuan Yang, Guangyuan Zheng, Yi Cui. A membrane-free lithium/polysulfide semi-liquid battery for large-scale energy storage. Energy & Environmental Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1039/C3EE00072A

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/dKbtCcUUT2g/130424140603.htm

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Google Adds Dropdown Menu to Search Results, Hides Cached Pages Inside

Google recently updated their search results format, again moving the link for cached page access somewhere else. Now it hides in a convenient menu next to the page's URL. Just click it and you can select the cache page, share the link, and find similar results.

For a demo, watch the video above.

New Drop-Down Menu for Google Search Results | Google Operating System

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/b0HpG4GlPXU/google-adds-dropdown-menu-to-search-results-hides-cach-479850507

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'Big cat' was on loose in UK in 1903

24 April 2013 Last updated at 21:13 ET By Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC World Service

A "big cat" was on the loose in the English countryside at the turn of the last century, scientists say.

They believe a Canadian lynx was prowling around the fields of the South West in 1903 before being shot after attacking two dogs in Devon.

Tests on the animal revealed it had probably spent some time in captivity before escaping or being set free.

The animal had been donated to Bristol Museum at the time of its death and kept in its stores for decades.

The scientists' findings are published in the journal Historical Biology.

Dr Ross Barnett, a molecular biologist from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Durham, said: "I've seen one of these cats in the wild.

"They are pretty impressive cats - they are a reasonable size, and they have lots of fluffy fur which makes them look even bigger. They have sharp claws, teeth and strong muscles."

Beast of Bodmin

From blurry photos of the Beast of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, to reports of a lion on the loose in Essex in 2012, the UK has a long tradition of spotting big cats.

Most of these claims are dismissed as misidentifications, hoaxes or even hallucinations, but not in this case.

In 1903, the unusual cat was donated to the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. The museum's records state that it had been shot after attacking and killing two dogs close to Newton Abbot in Devon.

Unsure of exactly what it was, the exotic beast was stuffed, its skeleton preserved, and then the remains were tucked away in the museum's stores.

More than a century later, the cat was unearthed by a scientist who thought the find might be significant.

An analysis of the skeleton and mounted skin revealed that the animal was a Canadian lynx, which is about the size of a dog and usually found in Canada and the northern states of the US.

The researchers found that the animal's teeth were badly decayed.

Dr Barnett said: "We think it had probably been in captivity at some point in its life.

"It had lost all of its incisors, which would have been a pretty debilitating injury for a wild cat, but not a problem for one in captivity.

"It also had massive amounts of plaque on its molars, which are indication of it not having a wild diet - something with lots of wet cat food, essentially ready-processed meat like steaks."

The researchers believe that the lynx had been in captivity for some time, but they were unable to find any records of the cat's owner.

"Was it someone's pet? Was it part of a small menagerie that was travelling through the area? There aren't really any zoos nearby where it could have escaped from," Dr Barnett said.

The team is also unsure how long the animal had been at large in Devon before it was killed.

Its decayed teeth would have limited its chances in the wild, but the lynx is an adaptable animal, and may have been able to survive by preying on small mammals.

Felicity the Puma

While many big cat sightings remain unverified, sometimes the rumours do turn out to be true, and the team believes that the Canadian lynx is the earliest recorded example of an exotic cat on the loose in the UK.

Another case relates to a live puma that was captured in Inverness-shire in 1980 and had been living in the wild for a long period of time. It was called Felicity, and placed in a zoo.

But Dr Barnett said that these cases were few and far between.

He said: "It's all very good saying you saw a lion in Essex or a tiger in Shropshire, or wherever. But it is very difficult to estimate size of a species from a distance - especially if you are unfamiliar with them.

"So I would argue for continued scepticism, unless you have a body or specimen you can analyse."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22263874#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Opting for a Partner or Going Solo ? What Agents ... - RealEstate.com

If you?re running your business intelligently, you?re bound to get to a point where you can no longer handle everything by yourself. At this point, most agents decide to delegate the administrative tasks and consider hiring an assistant to take them on. With an assistant to take over these tasks, the agent becomes more productive, generates additional business, and thus makes more money.

That ?success builds on success? is never more apparent than in the trajectory of a real estate agent?s business when she is set free from the mundane.

Which is why, after a while, busy agents feel pressured to balance this increase in business with the very real needs of a personal life. An overwhelming amount of business means that vacations go by the wayside, weekends with the family no longer exist, and date nights with the significant other are a thing of the past. Eventually, the time will come to evaluate your priorities and consider bringing on more help.

Deciding on the Ultimate Alliance

Your choices are varied when you need help. Hiring a personal assistant is an option. Perhaps a buyer?s agent can relieve some of the pressure. The only consideration, however, when it comes to trying to balance professional and personal needs is that ultimate alliance ? a full-time partner.

?What a partner brings is quality of life improvement and stability of income, rather than an increase in income,? says real estate trainer and coach Kelle Sparta. ?You?ll have more transactions, but you end up splitting everything 50-50,? she continues, ?so your income doesn?t necessarily change, it just doesn?t fluctuate as much.?

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, real estate trainer and author of ?Sell with Soul,? says that ?vacation coverage is a prime benefit to having a partner.? ?It?s blissful actually, especially if you?ve been selling real estate a long time,? she explains. ?Your first vacation when you truly don?t have to worry about business? You?ll wonder why you didn?t get a partner before,? she concludes.

There is a fine line, however, between finding the partnership that offers relief from some of the pressures of a busy practice and one that does nothing but add stress.

What to Look for in a Business Partner

Before setting out to find a partner, it?s important to get clear on your expectations, according to Allan-Hagedorn. ?I promise you, bringing another warm body into your business world will not simplify your life ? it might improve it, but it definitely won?t simplify it,? she cautions in a blog post at ActiveRain.

She goes on to suggest that you look for someone who actually enjoys doing the tasks that you find distasteful. ?The best partnerships are those where the members of the partnership specialize in different areas,? she explains. ?If each partner has his or her individual responsibilities, directly linked to his or her skills and interests, the partnership has a great chance to thrive.?

Rule number one, according to Sparta, is to ?only partner with someone you trust. This person will be in charge of your income. If you think they are irresponsible or a slacker in any way, don?t partner with them.?

When St. Augustine, Florida agent Peggy Gatchet decided to make the move from management and part-time sales into full-time sales, she decided to take on a business partner. After a lot of deliberation, she decided that what was most important to her was finding someone who worked as hard as she did.

?The moral compass has to be strong, and the work ethic has to be strong,? she explains. ?You have to feel like that person is going to meet you toe-to-toe, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute. If they don?t, there?s going to be some resentment that will build,? Gatchet cautions.

While most of the agents we spoke with agree that the person you partner up with should have a different skill set than you, they also agree that your partner should have similar personal and work habits.

Having to share space with someone who is very disorganized, for instance, when clutter and chaos drive you nuts, is probably the kiss of death for the partnership. In fact, Sparta suggests that you check out the potential partner?s desk before even approaching him or her with an offer.

?Take a look at their desk because one day you will have to find something on it,? she jokes.

In a nutshell, then, here are some qualities to look for in a business partner:

• Someone who enjoys doing the tasks you find distasteful.
• An agent who is trustworthy and honest.
• Someone with your same work ethic and moral compass.
• A person with a production level that matches yours.

All Good Things

There?s an old radio DJ dictum: It?s OK to ad-lib when you open the mic, but ?always know how you?re going to get out of it.? There?s nothing worse than to be talking over the intro of a song and suddenly figure out you don?t know how to end your rap.

Taking on a business partner is similar. Like all things, the partnership may someday end. While it?s difficult to consider this, especially in the beginning, it?s something both of you need to face and prepare for. Get real clear on how you?re going to end.

?You don?t want to think about it; you don?t want to talk about it, but that doesn?t change the fact that the partnership will end,? Allan-Hagedorn says. Not preparing for it in advance leaves your business open to some major disruption. As an example, she offers a frightening one-sentence summation of something that occurred when she and her former real estate partner parted ways. ?We both felt that we were entitled to the partnership?s client database.? Can you imagine?

Sparta recommends drawing up a formal partnership agreement at the start. ?A partnership agreement is like a prenuptial agreement,? she explains. A good partnership agreement should set expectations about fundamental issues such as:

• Who will do what and how much of it they will do.
• How compensation will be shared ? in both regular instances and in unusual instances like referral fees and lawsuit settlements.
• What happens to the business if someone is incapacitated, retires or dies?
• How the partnership will be dissolved in the event that things don?t work out.

?In the latter instance,? Sparta warns, ?make sure you address not only who will get the current clients and listings, but also who gets the ownership of the past client database and any training, tools, equipment, and materials that were jointly purchased.?

Sparta is now a real estate trainer and coach but looks back fondly on her partnering days. ?Having been a solo practitioner and having been part of a team, I really must confess to preferring the latter. I loved not having to do things alone. I loved having someone I could call and say ?I?m not going to make it for the appraiser, can you meet him??

Allan-Hagedorn, on the other hand, prefers flying solo. ?I am not a good partner. I am happy to be the boss and to take all the responsibility; I am also happy to be told what to do and have no responsibility. However, I am not happy sharing the power and the responsibility. Actually, I suck at it,? she confesses.

Gatchet, on the other hand, has no intention of ever trading her business partner for the solo practitioner role. Partners for seven years now, she chose her partner from among her rookie agents when she was a broker. Sort of a build-the-perfect-partner model, it has worked out perfectly for both of them.

Not every agent will fit well in a partnership. If your entire life has become about your business, however, it just might be something to consider.

Tagged as: business, management, partner, partnership

Source: http://www.realestate.com/advice/opting-for-a-partner-or-going-solo-what-agents-should-consider-31803/

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Scientist identifies protein molecule used to maintain adult stem cells in fruit flies

Scientist identifies protein molecule used to maintain adult stem cells in fruit flies

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Understanding exactly how stem cells form into specific organs and tissues is the holy grail of regenerative medicine. Now a UC Santa Barbara researcher has added to that body of knowledge by determining how stem cells produce different types of "daughter" cells in Drosophila (fruit flies). The findings appear today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Denise Montell, Duggan Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at UCSB, and colleagues studied the ovaries of fruit flies in order to see stem cells in their natural environment. Because these organisms are excellent models for understanding stem cell biology, researchers were able to shed light on the earliest stages of follicle cell differentiation, a previously poorly understood area of developmental biology. "It is clear that the fundamental principles that control cell behavior in simple animals are conserved and control the behavior of our cells as well," she said. "There is so much we can learn by studying simple organisms."

Using a nuclear protein expressed in follicle stem cells (FSCs), the researchers found that castor, which plays an important role in specifying which types of brain cells are produced during embryonic development, also helps maintain FSCs throughout the life of the animal. "Having identified this important protein molecule in fruit flies, we can test whether the human version of the protein is important for stem cells and their daughters as well," said Montell. "The more we know about the molecules that govern stem cell behavior, the closer we will get to controlling these cells."

Her research team placed the evolutionarily conserved castor (Cas) gene, which encodes a zinc finger protein, in a genetic circuit with two other evolutionarily conserved genes, hedgehog (Hh) and eyes absent (Eya), to determine the fates of specific cell progeny (daughters). What's more, they identified Cas as a critical, tissue-specific target of Hh signaling, which not only plays a key role in maintaining follicle stem cells but also assists in the diversification of their progeny.

The study also shows that complementary patterns of Cas and Eya reveal the gradual differentiation of polar and stalk precursor cells at the earliest stages of their development. In addition, it provides a marker for cell fates and insight into the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which FSC progeny diverge into distinct fates.

Follicle cells undergo a binary choice during early differentiation. Those that turn into specialized cells found at the poles of egg chambers go on to make two cell types: polar and stalk. The three genes, Cas, Eya and Hh, work in various combinations, sometimes repressively, to determine which types of cells are formed. Cas is required for polar and stalk cell fate specification, while Eya is a negative regulator of these cells' fate. Hh is necessary for Cas to be expressed, and Hh signaling is essential to repress Eya.

"If you just had one of these markers, it was hard to tell what's going on," explained Montell. "All the cells looked the same and you had no idea when or how the process occurred. But now we can actually see how the cells acquire different identities."

Hh also plays many roles in embryonic development, adult homeostasis, birth defects, and cancer. Hh antagonists are currently in clinical trials for the treatment of several types of cancer. However, Hh signaling is important in so many different cell types and tissues that systemic delivery of such inhibitors may cause serious side effects. Therefore identifying the essential, tissue-specific effectors of Hh has the potential to lead to the identification of more specific therapeutic targets.

Someday, targeted inhibition of Hh signaling may be effective in the treatment and prevention of many types of human cancers.

###

University of California - Santa Barbara: http://www.ucsb.edu

Thanks to University of California - Santa Barbara for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127866/Scientist_identifies_protein_molecule_used_to_maintain_adult_stem_cells_in_fruit_flies

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Nothing bugs these NASA aeronautical researchers

Apr. 24, 2013 ? NASA's gutsiest scientists say they don't get bugged no matter what kind of sticky situation they find themselves smashed into.

The preceding dose of hyperbole is brought to you by a team of folks at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia who are studying ways to prevent the remains of insect impacts from adhering to the wing of an aircraft in flight.

While the effort is undeniably a goldmine for puns, the research is serious and positive results could help NASA's aeronautical innovators achieve their goals for improving the fuel efficiency of aircraft cruising across the country.

"We are the bug team," said Mia Siochi, of the Advanced Materials and Processing Branch at Langley. "It's important work, but we also have a lot of fun with it."

Anyone who has driven through a cloud of insects knows how quickly the bug guts build up on the vehicle, causing problems with visibility, clogging the air intake and radiator, and ruining the car's exterior finish.

The problem for an airplane is that its aerodynamic design is meant to have air move very smoothly across the body and wing surfaces, which is called laminar flow. When there is a disruption in that laminar flow, such as from the accumulation of dead bug parts, you induce the opposite of laminar flow, which is turbulence.

Finding ways to maintain laminar flow through all phases of flight is a big deal for the aviation community because it could save millions in fuel cost, while also reducing the amount of noxious emissions released into the atmosphere.

"It's major enough that people have been trying to solve this as far back as the 1960s," Siochi said.

The key to the solution of preventing insect residue build-up in flight is to find a non-stick coating or material of some kind that can be applied to an airplane's body and wings, and that will work with the unique chemistry present in a typical bug splat.

Not only is the intent to limit or prevent the initial adherence to the wing, but to increase the chances the bug residue will more easily erode or sheer off during the flight and leave the wing smooth again.

Understanding that insect biology and its interaction with airplane parts, and then coming up with a decent anti-stick coating is not as easy as you might think. For example, you can't use the same spray you might apply to your car's windshield to make rainwater bead up and roll off.

It's not just water you have to deal with.

"Yes, there's a lot of water in a bug, but there's also some biological components that actually impart the stickiness, and we have to deal with preventing those from sticking even though we know how to prevent water from sticking," Siochi said.

To help them learn more about insect adhesion to materials treated with various coatings, the bug team relies on a unique desk-sized wind tunnel -- the Basic Aerodynamic Research Tunnel, or BART -- equipped with tubing that connects from what they affectionately call "the bug gun."

It has proved to be a very effective tool for examining materials, coatings and insect splats, but the small wind tunnel doesn't exactly copy what's happening in real life.

"We're shooting bugs at about 150 mph as we try to mimic takeoff and landing speed, but the bug is moving and the target is stationary. In reality it should be the other way around," Siochi said.

Either way, the result is the same: sticky bug guts coat small wing surfaces.

Early tests show certain coatings can shrink the area that insect remains adhere to by 90 percent, and reduce the build-up, or height of the sticky bug guts, by 40 percent. But tests continue as there has been no "Eureka!" moment -- yet.

"We don't have the answer yet. We have some potential candidates, but we still have more work to do," Siochi said.

Part of the challenge, Siochi explained, is to make sure that the solution not only works, but that it is also practical.

For example, the coating should not have to be applied before every flight as that would be too time-consuming. Long term exposure of the coating on the wing or aircraft surface should not do any damage. The coating must not add so much weight that it costs more in fuel than it saves.

At least on that last point, Siochi doesn't see a problem.

"These are very, very thin coatings that we spray on, so the weight penalty is probably not there," she said.

The bug team is working toward conducting flight tests within the next two years.

All of this research by NASA does beg the question, how does a material scientist procure the insects she needs?

"By the thousands. In a tackle shop. With a credit card," Siochi explained with a smile. "After checking with our procurement officials and the legal office to make sure there were no regulations against using insects like this."

Initially, the bug team used crickets -- procured from a local tackle shop -- which were convenient to shoot uniformly in the bug gun, but also turned out to be too big for their small wind tunnel apparatus. So they switched to fruit flies.

"We get fruit flies from a fruit fly shop and we propagate them, so we have a supply of bugs that we've kept going for a couple of years now," Siochi said.

Siochi remembers one occasion when a shipment of fruit flies was delivered from California in the overnight mail, and she wasn't in the office to receive them, so they were delivered somewhere else instead.

So one of her colleagues was dispatched to hunt down this container of several hundred fruit flies and wound up searching all over Langley before finding them.

"Just another day of work for the bug team," Siochi said. "There's no doubt it's a real different kind of lab experience."

The effort is part of NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation project, which is managed by the agency's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/njQJJ78wipo/130424170125.htm

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FedEx signs new $10.5 billion contract with USPS

BOSTON (Reuters) - Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bombing suspect killed in a shootout with police, had bought two large packages of fireworks in February from a store in Seabrook, New Hampshire, the company that runs the store said on Tuesday. The amount of explosive powder in the purchased fireworks would not have been "anywhere near enough" to build the bombs used in the April 15 attack as they have been described publicly, said William Weimer, vice president at Phantom Fireworks. More potent powdered explosives could be readily obtained at a gun store, he said. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fedex-signs-10-5-billion-contract-usps-212727553--sector.html

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