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LMS Issue 2 | 2014
News | International & Local
Diary
Test-Tube Tidbits
Metrohm SA Seminars
Metrohm will be presenting nationwide seminars throughout February to
launch their new range of IC and 3S TOC systems:
11 March: Karl Fischer Training course (Woodmead, Johannesburg)
18 March: Karl Fischer Training course (Durban)
8-10 April: IC training course (Woodmead, Johannesburg)
06 May: Titrino Training course (Woodmead, Johannesburg)
20 May: Tiamo Software Training course (Woodmead, Johannesburg)
20 May: Titration Training course (Northern Cape)
Email [email protected] for more info.
Sugar- Fuelled Batteries
Researchers at Virginia Tech have successfully designed a new biobattery with a
greater power output and battery charge than its predecessor. Percival Zhang and
Zhiguang Zhu recently created the first-ever sugar-fuelled biobattery. Their research
was published in the online journal Nature Communications. During their investigation
the two scientists successfully converted sugar into energy inside a biobattery. This
accomplishment could see biobatteries replacing cellphone batteries, in the future,
producing a mobile phone battery that runs for days.
Iron Ore Beneficiation Africa
The inaugural Iron Ore Beneficiation Africa Conference will take place from
the 17-18 March at the Indaba Hotel & Conference Centre in Johannesburg.
This conference will offer a chance to explore the technical considerations.
Visit http://www.immevents.com/mining-conference/iron-ore-
beneficiation-africa for more info.
Scifest Africa 2014
Scifest Africa, South Africa’s National Science Festival, will be taking place
between the 12 and 18 March 2014. This festival, which was first established
in 1996 to promote the public awareness, understanding and appreciation
of science and mathematics, will be held in Grahamstown in the Eastern
Cape. This year the theme for the festival will be ‘Into the Space.’
Visit http://www.scifest.org.za/ for more info. ⚛
Get the full stories at www.lmsmagazine.com
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Handheld Doctor on Call
The EPFL have developed a handheld device that is capable of testing the levels of a
number of proteins in the body all at once. This device, which is the size of a stapler,
was developed by Prof. Hatice Altug and postdoctoral fellow Arif Cetin, in collaboration
with Prof Aydogan Ozcan from UCLA. The group of scientists have called the device
an ‘optical lab on a chip.’ The instrument possesses the ability to analyse up to 170
000 different molecules in a blood sample, and at only 60g, it is able to detect certain
viruses and proteins down to 3nm thick.
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More Efficient Solar Energy
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati are making great advances in making solar
power a more efficient means of energy. The aim of their investigations is to make the
solar-powered panels, such as those found in lights and roofs, lighter, more affordable
and more flexible. Fei Yu, a student at the university is currently experimenting with
adding small amounts of graphene nanoflakes to solar cells to improve performance
and lower the cost of the energy. Thus far, Yu has successfully increased the efficiency
of solar power threefold by adding graphene.
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Any Vaccine, Anytime, Anywhere
Vaccines are generally produced in large quantities at centralised locations and shipped
to where they are needed. However, researchers at the University of Washington are
now investigating ways in which these substances can be manufactured at the locations where they are needed. These scientists have had great success in creating a new
vaccine consisting of nanoparticles that were developed using an engineered protein
that mimics the effect of an infection and binds to calcium phosphate. ⚛
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Sudoku
he object of this puzzle is to insert numbers from 1-9 into the empty boxes to
satisfy only one condition.
• Each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once.
Solutions to this Sudoku puzzle will be available on www.lmsmagazine.com