A terahertz version of the single-pixel camera developed by Rice University researchers could lead to breakthrough technologies in security, telecom, signal processing, and medicine. The researchers replaced expensive, multi-pixel sensor arrays used in current terahertz imaging systems with a single sensor. Two keys to the system are the ongoing development of a modulator that would feed a rapid-fire series of randomized images to the sensor, and the compressed sensing algorithm that turns the raw data into an image.

The proof-of-concept prototype uses 600 sheets of copper (which blocks terahertz radiation) through which random holes had been punched as the modulator. Terahertz radiation penetrates fabric, wood, plastic, and even clouds, but not metal or water. Unlike X-rays, T-rays are not harmful, and cheap T-ray cameras may someday be used for security screening in airports, supplementing traditional X-ray scanners, and walk-through portals.

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Yale University researchers have created a blueprint for artificial cells that are more powerful and efficient than the natural cells they mimic. The energy-generating artificial cells could one day power medical implants and provide a big advantage over battery-operated devices.

The scientists began with the question of whether an artificial version of the electrocyte – the energy-generating cells in electric eels – could be designed as a potential power source. “The electric eel is very efficient at generating electricity,” said Jian Xu, a postdoctoral associate in Yale’s Department of Chemical Engineering. Xu and former Yale assistant professor of mechanical engineering David LaVan designed an artificial cell that could replicate the electrocyte’s energy production.

The cell LaVan and Xu modeled can produce 28 percent more electricity than the eel’s own electrocyte, with 31 percent more efficiency in converting the cell’s chemical energy into electricity. “We wanted to see if nature had already optimized the power output and energy conversion efficiency of this cell,” said Xu. “And we found that an artificial cell could actually outperform a natural cell, which was a very surprising result.”

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Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Colorado School of Mines have developed a prototype sensor that quickly detects very small amounts of hydrogen accumulation in coated pipeline steel. Hydrogen can cause gradual embrittlement in conventional pipelines by slowly diffusing into the metal. The new sensor could provide early warning of pipes that have accumulated excessive amounts of hydrogen and avert potentially disastrous failures of pipelines carrying hydrogen fuel.

The nondestructive, non-contact hydrogen sensor is approximately 4 square inches and is designed to be a portable sensor to make measurements on excavated or unexcavated pipeline steels. The sensor sends a current through the pipe, and measures changes in impedance as an indicator of hydrogen content within the steel and the overall steel pipe integrity. The hydrogen sensor generates alternating currents into the pipeline steel, which induces an opposing magnetic field. Any change in the hydrogen content in the steel modifies the current, resistivity, and thus the impedance. The sensor can measure hydrogen content levels in pipeline steel well below 1 part per million.

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Research conducted by material scientists may lead to the ability to extract water from the Moon and possibly Mars by shooting microwave beams into their surface, according to Bill Kaukler, Associate Research Professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The Phoenix Mars lander scratched just two inches below the surface of Mars to expose water ice. In the Moon’s polar regions, satellites have found huge amounts of hydrogen – evidence that water exists. The Moon’s surface is covered with over two meters deep of regolith – soil that has about 5% iron, similar to Earth’s volcanic rock. “Microwaves are not strongly absorbed by the regolith so it can penetrate several feet into the soil and heat it,” says Kaukler.

The scientists have developed a prototype and used simulated lunar regolith to test their ideas. Their prototype has the power of one kilowatt, about the same as a typical home microwave oven. They can remove 99% of water-ice through sublimation, and capture 95% of the liberated water. Kaukler envisions a 10-kilowatt, robotic, roving device powered by a nuclear generator to roam the Moon’s surface. One important factor of this project is not carrying water on a journey, thus saving space and weight on long-distance trips.

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Purdue University researchers have developed a method of using nanoparticles to help treat injured brain and spinal cord cells. A team led by Richard Borgens of the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Center for Paralysis Research and Welden School of Biomedical Engineering coated silica nanoparticles with a polymer to target and repair injured guinea pig spinal cords. The team then used the coated nanoparticles to deliver both the polymer and hydralazine to cells with secondary damage from a naturally produced toxin.

Borgens and his team introduced acrolein into cells and then treated the cells with different combinations of hydralazine and/or PEG delivered by the mesoporous silica nanoparticles. PEG specifically targets damaged cells and heals the injured area, further reducing damage. It also helps restore cell function, Borgens noted.

The team concluded that the use of nanoparticles to deliver both PEG and hydralazine increased the effectiveness of earlier PEG-only treatment by controlling and concentrating release of the drug and the polymer, producing a dual treatment and prolonging the treatment’s duration. The researchers are now testing the PEG/hydralazine treatment on rats with brain injuries. By the year’s end, they hope to test the treatment on naturally injured paraplegic dogs.

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