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POPSCarbon nanotube radio I guess you'd have to know a bit about electronics and radio fields and stuff to fully appreciate this, but it's real and it's beautiful!
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POPSTop 10 American Innovations There's a lot missing here: vaccines, phonograph,mimeograph, synthetic rubber, TV, laser, VCR, computers, supercomputers, air conditioning, nylon, DNA, atomic energy, mapping the human genome....OMG I could go on and on....and yes, I'm bragging. The world would be a much different place had America not come along - a much worse place.
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POPSCheaper fuel cells with carbon nanotubes
Big leap in efficiency. Carbon nanotubes, which are known to be electrically and mechanically robust, could overcome other issues that platinum faces. Carbon monoxide can stick to platinum's surface and make it less effective, Dai says. Also, platinum is not very durable, and its properties degrade over time. "Carbon nanotubes have long-term operational stability and do not suffer from carbon-monoxide poisoning," Dai says. The researchers have shown that the nanotubes work for the chemistry that takes place in a type of highly efficient fuel cells known as alkaline fuel cells. These cells have so far been limited to use for power generation on spacecraft, but the new advance could open the doors for their entry into the vehicle market. The nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes should also work in the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells that are being considered for vehicles, Dai says. Conventional PEM fuel cells for cars contain two platinum-coated electrodes. The catalyst s
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POPSResearchers Generate Hydrogen Without The Carbon Footprint Grimes and his team produce hydrogen from solar energy, using two different groups of nanotubes in a photoelectrochemical diode. They report in the July issue of Nano Letters that using incident sunlight, "such photocorrosion-stable diodes generate a photocurrent of approximately 0.25 milliampere per centimeter square, at a photoconversion efficiency of 0.30 percent." "It seems that nanotube geometry is the best geometry for production of hydrogen from photolysis of water," says Grimes
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POPSNanotubes give pre-cancer symptoms in mice Every silver lining has a cloud behind it. There are perhaps thousands of prospective uses for nanotubes, from medicine to engineering. We may have to work out exactly where the line is. Asbestos was once considered an essential fire retardant. After the dangers that have been discovered recently, we've found that there are very few places it can be used safely. Asbestos is inorganic, and will not break down, however Carbon is the basis for organic chemicals, with which we are more likely to be compatible. There will be places that nanotubes will not break down quickly. Perhaps not until long after we are dead. Maybe there is a microorganism natural, or designed, that will clean them up. Meanwhile it's good the alarm bells have started to ring early, so, now wary of the dangers, we can do more specific investigation and learn exactly where they are safe to use. If there are any doubts they should be resolved first
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