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Liquid metal.


Abstract: Graphene is going to change the world — or so we’ve been told.

Since its discovery a decade ago, scientists and tech gurus have hailed graphene as the wonder material that could replace silicon in electronics, increase the efficiency of batteries, the durability and conductivity of touch screens and pave the way for cheap thermal electric energy, among many other things.

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Intel’s solid-state drives could be poised for a big jump in capacity and speed with new 3D flash chips coming from Micron.

Micron, which makes the flash in Intel’s SSDs, has started volume shipments of its 3D NAND flash chips. The chips could lead to SSDs the size of a pack of gum with more than 3.5TB of storage and standard 2.5-inch SSDs with capacities greater than 10TB.

SSDs have been advancing in capacity and durability. Fixstars last month shipped a 13TB SSD, which is priced at about $1 per gigabyte, or $13,000. This year, SanDisk plans to ship 6TB and 8TB SSDs, while Samsung is aiming to release a 4TB SSD.

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Wider has completed the first sea trials of the Wider 150 superyacht, an all-aluminum ship with a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system.

Designed by Fulvio de Simoni and overseen by Tilli Antonelli, the 150-foot yacht functioned smoothly throughout each test and achieved its forecasted goals.

Wider 150 reached a top speed of 15 knots in diesel-electric mode and utilized new technology to reduce sound and vibrations to a minuscule level.

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The Prius is an intentionally odd-looking car that gets odder with every generation; I’m pretty sure even ardent defenders of Toyota’s flagship hybrid could agree with me on that. So why not throw an equally odd paint color on top?

What you’re looking at here is the new Prius in “Thermo-Tect Lime Green,” which is more than your average upsettingly loud paint color. Toyota says that by removing the carbon black particles found in most paint and replacing them with titanium oxide, it has significantly increased the vehicle’s solar reflectivity — in other words, the car heats up less, which lessens the need for air conditioning, which in turn improves fuel economy. And fuel economy, of course, is what the Prius is all about.

White paint also does a good job of keeping the sun’s heat at bay, but Toyota actually says that its Thermo-Tect paint outperformed white in a two-hour summer test outdoors. Basically, this technology means that you might be able to get the color of your choice on your next car and still reduce your AC use. Granted, lime green may not be your first choice, but there doesn’t seem to be anything stopping Toyota from rolling it out to other colors as well.

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