News from all corners …
MaterialsViews reports that Corning’s Gorilla Glass will be used in Microsoft’s new Surface tablets, which are expected to be released by the end of this year. Credit: Microsoft.
Corning’s Gorilla Glass used in new Microsoft tablet
Microsoft revealed the new Microsoft Surface tablet Monday, featuring Corning’s Gorilla Glass. The 10.6 inch (26.9 cm) tablet weighs less than 2 pounds (0.9 kg) thanks in part to the ultrathin but tough Gorilla Glass screen. Gorilla Glass is Corning’s trademark for their chemically strengthened glass, where large ions are stuffed into the glass surface, creating a state of compression.
For Ohio pottery, a small revival
(From the New York Times) American Mug and Stein Co., was on the verge of closing last fall. Then Ulrich Honighausen called. Honighausen, the owner of a tableware company, Hausenware, in Sonoma County, Calif., which supplies retailers such as Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn and Fred Meyer with ceramics and glassware from producers all over the world, had a plan to revitalize American Mug and create jobs in an industry that had all but died. What if American Mug were to make mugs for Starbucks?
Open for business: NASA launches new technology transfer portal
In an effort to accelerate technology transfer from NASA into the hands of American businesses, industry and the public, the agency’s new Technology Transfer Portal is open for business. NASA’s Technology Transfer Portal provides an Internet-based one-stop front door to the agency’s unique intellectual property assets available for technology transfer and infusion into America’s new technology and innovation-driven economy. NASA’s Technology Transfer Program allows research and development to transfer back into the U.S. economy via licenses, patents and intellectual property agreements that often result in new innovations, products and businesses. The use of NASA technology by American businesses spurs job growth and helps maintain U.S. economic competitiveness while improving our everyday lives.
The US Department of Energy’s, National Energy Technology Laboratory, 13th Annual Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) Workshop will be July 24-25, 2012 at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The 13th SECA Workshop is open to all interested parties. The Workshop will be of interest to those with a stake in the future of energy generation in the U.S. and to those with general or technical interest in solid-oxide fuel cell technology.
Saudi Ceramics Company to build new factory
The Saudi Ceramics Company has announced plans to build a new brick factory beginning in July 2012. In March, Saudi Ceramics secured financing for the project from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, and subsequently received a permit for the facility to be constructed at one of the company’s quarries in Riyadh. A prominent manufacturer of ceramic tiles, the new factory signals Saudi Ceramics’ move into the brick industry. The factory has a designed production capacity of 330,000 tons per year and will begin operations in 2014.
Using individual molecules instead of electronic or magnetic memory cells would revolutionize data storage technology, as molecular memories could be thousand-fold smaller. Scientists of Kiel University took a big step towards developing such molecular data storage. They succeeded in selectively switching on and off the magnetism of individual molecules, so-called spin-crossover complexes, by electrons. The interdisciplinary study is part of the Collaborative Research Centre 677 “Functions by Switching,” which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The results prove that it is technically possible to store information using molecules. The study will be published on June 25th in the German science magazine Angewandte Chemie (Applied Chemistry).