Stop Bleeding in 15 Seconds

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Hong Kong have found a liquid that can stop bleeding in 15 seconds. If this liquid works on humans, as it worked on rodents, the discovery could be lifesaver.

Uncontrolled loss of blood often means loss of life. But now researchers have discovered a liquid(looking like a water) could stop bleeding anywhere in the body in less than 15 seconds without clotting the blood. This liquid can be poured or sprayed on and it will form a clear gel. The gel uses amino acids, the body's building blocks, to create nano-scale fibers that may be self assembling into a nano-patch. So, the analogy would be is if you have hair and it clogs the drain you actually stop the movement of fluid.

Researchers discovered the liquid by accident and they are still studying its exact mechanisms. One of the researchers says, "There doesn't seem to be any side effects. It doesn't create an immune response for the body because as the amino acids break down they become building blocks actually for the repair of the system, or they're excreted in the urine."

In medicine today people have to stop bleeding by using direct pressure or, in surgery, clamps, sponges, vasoconstrictors, cauterization and even super-glue. But if this liquid works for human, many lives, which might be lost because of access loss of the blood, can be saved. It will be very important in emergency medical situations because of the speed of its action and because it can create a barrier to the outside world. Such a barrier may be effective in reducing or stopping infections.

Fast Rechargable Batteries

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing a battery that could charge your cellphone or laptop in a few seconds rather than hours and also might never need to be replaced.

Joel Schindall and his team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology turned to the capacitor to make long charge times and expensive replacements a thing of the past. Capacitor was invented nearly 300 years ago, but Joel Schindall and his team made the connection between this old product and use of a new technology, nanotechnology, to make that old product in a new way.

Rechargable and disposable batteries use a chemical reaction to produce energy. "That's an effective way to store a large amount of energy," Joel says, "but the problem is that after many charges and discharges ... the battery loses capacity to the point where the user has to discard it."

But capacitors contain energy as an electric field of charged particles created by two metal electrodes. Capacitors charge faster and last longer than normal batteries. The problem is that storage capacity is proportional to the surface area of the battery's electrodes, so even today's most powerful capacitors hold 25 times less energy than similarly sized standard chemical batteries.

The researchers solved this by covering the electrodes with millions of tiny filaments called nanotubes. Each nanotube is 30,000 times thinner than a human hair. Similar to how a thick, fuzzy bath towel soaks up more water than a thin, flat bed sheet, the nanotube filaments increase the surface area of the electrodes and allow the capacitor to store more energy. Schindall says this combines the strength of today's batteries with the longevity and speed of capacitors.

This technology has broad practical possibilities, affecting any device that requires a battery. Schindall says, "Small devices such as hearing aids that could be more quickly recharged where the batteries wouldn't wear out; up to larger devices such as automobiles where you could regeneratively re-use the energy of motion and therefore improve the energy efficiency and fuel economy."

Schindall thinks hybrid cars would be a particularly popular application for these batteries, especially because current hybrid batteries are expensive to replace.

Schindall also sees the ecological benefit to these reinvented capacitors. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 3 billion industrial and household batteries were sold in the United States in 1998. When these batteries are disposed, toxic chemicals like cadmium can seep into the ground.

Radio Antenna Made of Plasma

A radio antenna made of plasma (electrified gas) could be next generation jamming-resistant transmitter. Sealed glass, ceramic or flexible plastic tubes of electrified gas can behave just like conventional antenna. These antennas only works when energized and vanished when turned off.

Metal antennas can scatter incoming radar signal and thus give away their presence. But, plasma antennas can be powered off after a brief use, thus making them stealthy.

In addition, to counteract jamming attempts, plasma antennas can rapidly adjust which frequencies they broadcast and pick up by changing how much energy the plasma is given. This way, they avoid interference from enemy signals. Metal antennas, on the other hand, are each forced to receive and transmit only a given range of frequencies, making them vulnerable to jamming.

The fact that plasma antennas can get reconfigured to broadcast and receive a wide range of frequencies also means you can create a kind of 'all-in-one' antenna, with one plasma antenna performing the jobs of several metal antennas.

The scientists are also developing a "smart" plasma antenna that can steer a beam of radio waves 360 degrees to scan a region and then find and lock onto transmitting antennas. A comparable radio array using metal antennas would be much larger and heavier