Friday, May 24, 2013

Scientists growing new crystals to make LED lights useful for office, home

(Network World) When to comes to offering warm yet visually efficient lighting, LEDs have a long way to go. But scientists with the University of Georgia and Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories are looking at new family of crystals they say glow different colors and hold the key for letting white LED light shine in homes and offices as well as natural sunlight...5/23

Transdisciplinary Collaboration: The Future of U.S. Research

(Business Administration Information) An early May report from the Advancing Research in Science and Engineering (ARISE) committee suggests a revolutionary change in the way that science and engineering data is researched in the United States: a switch to full collaboration between multiple fields...Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s recent Innovation Hub, for example, recruits scientists from across the nation through the latest “telepresence” technology, creating digital conference rooms that mimic real, monitored rooms in labs throughout the country...5/23

Previous ORNL Stories

DOE

Energy Department Delays Natural Gas Exports

(Hardhatters) The new US Energy Secretary, Ernest Moniz, announced Tuesday he will be delaying the final approval of about 20 applications to export liquefied natural gas, citing concerns about domestic gas prices...5/23

State & Regional

TN senators have differing views on potential TVA sale

(WBIR) US Senator Bob Corker says he's open to the idea of changing the ownership model for TVA, including cutting ties with the federal government...5/23

TN legislative committee approves fracking regulations

(The Tennessean) The Tennessee General Assembly’s joint committee on government operations on Wednesday signed off on new fracking rules after more than two hours of testimony from state regulators, environmental groups and gas industry officials...5/23

National

Obama To Limit Drone Strikes, Renew Effort To Close Guantanamo

(NPR) President Obama on Thursday unveiled a major pivot in White House counter-terrorism policy, calling for a limiting of CIA drones strikes and for a renewed effort to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba...5/23

East Tennessee

Harriman site named as a Superfund site by EPA

(WATE) The site of a former pulp and paper mill in Harriman has been listed as a hazardous waste site and added to the EPA's list of priorities within the Superfund program...5/22

Knoxville prepares for two weeks of music and movies

(WVLT) Organizers are busy putting the final touches on the newly expanded Knoxville Film & Music Festival. Stretching over two weeks now, the event will feature over 80 bands, seven feature films, and 40 short films, all spread across nearly a dozen downtown hotspots...5/23

science & technology

3-D printer helps save dying baby

(CNN) When he was 6 weeks old, Kaiba Gionfriddo lay flat on a restaurant table, his skin turning blue. He had stopped breathing. His father, Bryan, was furiously pumping his chest, trying to get air into his son's lungs...5/22

Origins of Human Culture Linked to Rapid Climate Change

(Science Daily) Rapid climate change during the Middle Stone Age, between 80,000 and 40,000 years ago, during the Middle Stone Age, sparked surges in cultural innovation in early modern human populations, according to new research...5/21

Physicists Create Quantum Link Between Photons That Don't Exist at the Same Time

(Science Magazine) Now they're just messing with us. Physicists have long known that quantum mechanics allows for a subtle connection between quantum particles called entanglement, in which measuring one particle can instantly set the otherwise uncertain condition, or "state," of another particle—even if it's light years away...5/22

The Wheels Come Off Kepler Planet-Finding Mission

(Scientific American) NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is not only the most prolific exoplanet detector ever; it is — or was — a marvel of engineering. Its 1.4-meter mirror funnels starlight to a 95-megapixel camera, capable of discerning dips in brightness as small as 10 parts per million — clues to the mini-eclipses caused by an exoplanet crossing the star’s face...5/22

Out there

This 23-Ton, 5.3-Million Brick X-Wing Is the Biggest Lego Model Ever

(WIRED) The newest addition to the grand list of Coolest Things Ever is being unveiled in New York today: the Lego X-Wing, the largest Lego model ever built. The model of the classic Star Wars fighter being unveiled in Times Square has a wingspan of 44 feet and comes complete with R2-D2 and a full range of sound effects...5/23