Scientists create "the world's smallest steam engine"

Scientists create "the world's smallest steam engine": "It sounds implausible, yet scientists have managed to create a functioning engine, analogous to a Stirling engine, just three micrometers wide and made of a single particle. The minuscule engine was created by Clemens Bechinger and Valentin Blickle at the University of Stuttgart, and though it has its quirks, the pair have apparently demonstrated the engine's ability to do work."

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Researchers claim new data transfer rate world record

Researchers claim new data transfer rate world record: "An international team is claiming a data transfer record that puts any home broadband connection to shame. At last month's SuperComputing 2011 (SC11) conference in Seattle, researchers reached transfer rates of 98 gigabits per second (Gbps) between the University of Victoria Computing Centre located in Victoria, British Columbia, and the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle"

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Treated cotton cleans itself when exposed to sunlight

Treated cotton cleans itself when exposed to sunlight: "For some time now, we've been hearing about the benefits of drying our laundry outside on the clothesline. We save money and energy by not running the dryer, the sunlight kills germs, and we don't run the risk of generating harmful dryer emissions. In the future, however, we might also end up washing our clothes by hanging them outside - scientists in China have successfully used sunlight to remove orange dye stains from cotton fabric, that was treated with a special coating."

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