Graphene and Electricity makes the Bigger, Better Magentic Field

A new study at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that the right strain on a sample of graphene will create a "super-strong pseudo-magnetic field". A right kind of stress on graphene causes its electrons to act as if they were in magnetic fields larger than any acutal magnetic field created to date.

This is a major breakthrough because although scientists have been studying magnetic fields for the past 100 years, they have not been able to sustain a large magnetic field for more than a fraction of a second, and the magnets would blow apart.

This will lead to a new breed of electronics and magnetic devices.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-07/nanobubbles-graphene-create-huge-pseudo-magnetic-fields

Graphene and Water make...

Computers

That's right. The future of computers is water and graphene. They would be combined to make a new type of transistor. Transistors are the on and off switch in a computer. They stop or start the flow of electricity.

Water and Graphene are both good conductors of electricity. So how will they make a transistor? Graphene does not have an 'off' switch when electricity is running through it, due to its symmetry. However, when water is added, water is attracted to the graphene, glomms to it, breaking its symmetry. Without the symmetry, graphene is now a poor conductor of electricity, or turned 'off'.

This is technique is not new, but using water is a breakthrough. Water is not dangerous, explosive or expensive.

http://io9.com/5673890/water-plus-graphene-will-soon-equal-computers

More on DNA Sequencing

A more in-depth description on the new way to sequence DNA.

The brilliant minds at Harvard tell us that they use graphene to help sequence.
Scientists drill a nanopore into a graphene membrane, then pass a strand of DNA through it. When the DNA is passed through it, and measure the exchange of ions. Why graphene? It also conducts electricity. The exchange of ions affects the graphene's electrical conductivity. The conductivity is then measured and the change in conductivity would tell us the chemical.

Still, the problem remains that the speed that the DNA is passed through the nanopore. Once this is controlled, DNA will be cheap and easy.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/09/graphene-may-hold-key-to-speeding-up-dna-sequencing/

Soon Gene Sequencing Will be Fast and Cheap.

Kind of like your local fast food restaurant.

No, just kidding.

Aleksei Aksimentiev, a computational physicist, has developed a new concept that will revolutionize DNA sequencing and everything that has to do with DNA. Which, by the way, is everything. His method requires a strand of DNA be driven through an electrical field, and the change in the current will read the DNA sequence. This will drive down the cost of DNA sequencing to about $1000. Not bad, considering that the first time DNA was sequenced, it took 13 years and $3 billion. Not bad at all.

This project should be completed by 2013.

So what does this mean?
This means that in 2-3 years, your average Joe could find out all about his genes, the diseases he's likely to get, and what types of conditions his kids might have. Chemists could develop personalized medicine. The whole medicine field could become personalized.

http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=117318&org=NSF