Medicine

Mon 19 Sep 2016. New cyclotron used for fundamental and applied research in radiopharmaceutical chemistry. A new particle accelerator is further enhancing the research landscape. It will be used to generate isotopes with a short half-life, which are important for fundamental research but are also required for the medical imaging technique known as positron emission tomography (PET). As it is able to accelerate protons to an energy of 9.6 MeV, the cyclotron can be used to generate the two radioactive elements F-18 and C-11. These will be mainly employed for chemical and pharmaceutical research purposes but are also required for the PET medical diagnostic imaging technique. F-18 and C-11 have short half-lives of just 2 h and 20 min, respectively, which makes it necessary to generate them near the location at which they are to be used to ensure that they are available in sufficient quantities. More

  Physics

Thu 15 Sep 2016. Peculiar metals; Insulator or conductor. The electronic energy states allowed by quantum mechanics determine whether a solid is an insulator or whether it conducts electric current as a metal. Researchers have now theoretically predicted a novel material whose energy states exhibit a hitherto unknown peculiarity. This little known and, so far, not particularly useful solid could be the prototype for a new kind of material with potentially technologically interesting properties. For instance, it is predicted that the electric conductivity of such solids should be influenced by magnetic fields in a characteristic way. This phenomenon is also known as magneto-resistance and plays an important role in modern data storage technologies. More

  Energy

Thu 28 July 2016. New tool calculates emissions impacts and energy benefits from smart grid investments. Power Smart grid technologies significantly reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions resulting from power production and usage. Taken together, smart grid and intelligent buildings mechanisms could reduce US carbon emissions by 12 percent by 2030. The free web-based tool (EQT, Emissions Quantification Tool) enables power utilities and industry to evaluate not only the environmental impacts of adopting smart grid technologies, but can give organizations the operational data to sift through factors to justify the investment. EQT calculates the resulting changes to carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and the energy and financial savings that may be achieved by integrating smart grid technologies. The evaluated technologies include coordinated electric vehicle charging schedules, battery-stored energy, and devices that enable integration of solar generation into the power grid. More

  Medicine

Mon 11 Jul 2016. New microfluidic device offers means for studying electric field cancer therapy. Reseachers observed that a range of low-intensity, middle-frequency electric fields effectively stopped breast and lung cancer cells from growing and spreading, while having no adverse effect on neighboring healthy cells. For the past decade, scientists have been experimenting with the use of electric fields to treat malignant cells, in an alternative cancer treatment called tumor treating field, or TTF. The therapy stems from the interaction between key cellular structures in tumors, and an external electric field. More