Ceramic Tech Today

Solar sail uses smart glass to steer through cosmos

By / July 27, 2010

Artist’s conception of solar sail. (Credit: JAXA.) Japan has successfully deployed a solar sail on a spacecraft, demonstrating for the first time that such technology can be used to convert…

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Rare earth’s brick wall

By / July 25, 2010

This falls into the “must read” category. A few weeks back, I posted on major cuts in China rare earth exports. Science magazine’s  Robert F. Service provides more context: “.…

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Titania–concrete combination in roadways reduces NOx levels 25-45%

By / July 24, 2010

Credit: TU/e Earlier this month, Jos Brouwers, a professor of building materials at Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), reported that tests on a new stretch of roadway in the municipality…

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Materials stories that didn’t make the cut this week

By / July 23, 2010

At the end of each week, I end up with a list of a bunch of stories I started to write about, or started to investigate or didn’t even get…

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CO2 utilization gets another boost from DOE worth $106M

By / July 23, 2010

Late yesterday, the DOE announced that it is investing another $106 million in six projects to demonstrate the feasibility of employing CO2 in a useful, productive way. This announcement comes…

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50 R&D 100 Awards given to national labs

By / July 22, 2010

Ultrasensitive Nanomechanical Transducers Based on Nonlinear Resonance, one of ORNL’s 2010 R&D 100 award winners. (Credit: ORNL.) R&D Magazine awarded DOE and other federal labs with 50 of its R&D…

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Cal Tech, LBNL, Stanford and UC Berkeley, San Diego and Santa Barbara get $122M for artificial photosynthesis

By / July 22, 2010

With today’s announcement that it will be using $122 million to launch a new energy hub on artificial photosynthesis, the DOE is making a sizable commitment to both renewable energy…

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McLuhan and archaic poster sessions

By / July 22, 2010

[Two notes: The comments below are my opinions. Sometimes convention need to be re-examined, especially as new technology and other conventions around us change. Second, I have replaced the original…

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Sintering nuclear fuel pellets contract to Harper Intl.

By / July 20, 2010

Harper International has been awarded a contract to supply an advanced thermal processing system for the sintering of nuclear fuel pellets. Sintering is the crucial final step in the refinement…

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Because lithium has worked so very well for Bolivia’s economy

By / July 20, 2010

I hope a PIO is to blame for this too-clever headline: “Lithium could be gold mine for Afghanistan.” But, the premise of this story is false and is emerging as…

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