Higher-temperature superconducting by buckyballs is indicated in tests
Article Abstract:
Buckyballs, formerly known as buckminsterfullerene, are molecules of pure carbon in geodesic-shaped spheres. Scientists are aware of their value as part of high-technology lubricants, polymers and other areas. New research now shows that, when combined with potassium, buckyballs appear to have superconducting properties at temperatures as high as minus 405 degrees Fahrenheit, or 30 Kelvins. This temperature is about that of several of the 'high-temperature' superconductors discovered in 1986. It is, however, much colder than the minus-320-degree temperature of liquid nitrogen at which superconductivity is expected to work best. The specific superconducting abilities of buckyballs are not yet known, but they do repel a magnetic field in the laboratory and seem to conduct electricity equally well in all directions, a distinct advantage. Superconductors are being explored for usefulness in computers among other areas of electronics.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1991
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
MIT scientists rethink artificial intelligence
Article Abstract:
Scientists at MIT are taking a 'bottom-up' approach to artificial intelligence by creating robots consisting of a network of simple control programs and no centralized brain. Genghis, a one-foot-long, six-legged device, has a series of programs that each control one small function, such as lifting a leg. The AI approach is similar to parallel processing in computers. A mass of cheap robots could work in a network and execute surprisingly complex collective actions. The agents that comprise Genghis are able to 'learn' how to do things by learning how to avoid receiving negative feedback. Genghis is learning how to walk in a way that resembles how an infant learns the same task. MIT scientists have also created Squirt, a robot on wheels that behaves somewhat like a cockroach. The scientists are not seeking to emulate human intelligence; for now, they are content with replicating insect intelligence.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1990
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Planning quality cost expenditures. Running actual costs vs. standard costs. A government cost control program for private industry
- Abstracts: The lease vs. purchase decision. Managing risk with derivatives. Teaching activity-based costing
- Abstracts: Curvature of the probability weighting function. Habits and the anomalies in intertermporal choice
- Abstracts: Attracting African American honor students into accounting. Human resource accounting in recessionary times. Be a better teacher