Spin-based electronics gets boost
Nov/09BC
Source: BBC News
BBC - The next generation of computers may make use of the “spin” of electrons instead of their charge. Spintronics relies on manipulating these spins to make them capable of carrying data. The technique has been shown in a number of materials at low temperatures before.
But researchers writing in Nature have made use of these “spin-polarised” electrons in silicon at room temperature for the first time. The result could lead to computers that require far less power than conventional ones.
The fact that the effect has been demonstrated in silicon - the material that already underpins the computer industry - means that devices exploiting it could be made on a commercial scale more easily.
The problem with silicon is that, as the individual features on silicon chips get smaller and smaller, they require more and more power to move the charged electrons around to represent 0s and 1s of binary code.
That rise in power also means that future chips will run into problems with heating.
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Obama to attend climate change summit
Nov/09BC
Source: CNN
CNN - President Obama will go to Copenhagen, Denmark, next month for a climate change summit, the White House said Wednesday.
According to a news release, Obama is prepared to set a goal of reducing emissions to 17 percent below 2005 levels over the next decade.
The White House also reiterated Obama’s goal of reducing U.S. emissions by 83 percent by 2050.
The targets come from a climate change bill passed by the House of Representatives. The Senate has yet to pass the bill, so the United States has not committed itself to any binding goals.
“This provisional target is in line with current legislation in both chambers of Congress and demonstrates a significant contribution to a problem that the U.S. has neglected for too long,” the White House said.
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Pentagon: 34,000 troops to deploy in Afghanistan
Nov/09BC
Source: CNN
CNN - The Pentagon is making detailed plans to send about 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan in anticipation of President Obama’s decision on the future of the eight-year-old war, a defense official said Tuesday.
Obama held a lengthy meeting with top advisers Monday night and said Tuesday that he would announce plans for Afghanistan after the Thanksgiving holiday.
A Defense Department official with direct knowledge of the process said there has been no final word on the president’s decision. But planners have been tasked with preparing to send 34,000 additional American troops into battle with the expectation that is the number Obama is leaning toward approving, the official said.
Obama ordered more than 20,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in March. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, reportedly has called for up to 40,000 more to wage a counterinsurgency campaign against the Taliban, the Islamic militia originally ousted by the U.S. invasion in 2001.
The president has weighed several options for bolstering the American contingent, ranging from sending a few thousand troops to sending the 40,000 McChrystal requested.
McChrystal was among those who took part in Monday’s conference with Obama and other top advisers, which broke up at 10 p.m.
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