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The Technology and applied sciences Portal

Technology (Greek technologia (τεχνολογία) < techne (τέχνη) "craft" + logia (λόγος); "saying") is the application of developments in science and engineering to benefit humanity. It may be defined as: "Solutions for real human problems by the development and application of tools, machines, materials, goods, or information in the form of skills, knowledge, processes, blueprints, plans, diagrams, models, formulae, tables, engineering designs, specifications, manuals, or instructions."

  

Selected article

Fusion power refers to power generated by nuclear fusion reactions. In this kind of reaction, two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus and in doing so, release energy. In a more general sense, the term can also refer to the production of net usable power from a fusion source, similar to the usage of the term "steam power." Most design studies for fusion power plants involve using the fusion reactions to create heat, which is then used to operate a steam turbine, similar to most coal-fired power stations as well as fission-driven nuclear power stations.

The largest current experiment is the Joint European Torus [JET]. In 1997, JET produced a peak of 16.1 MW of fusion power (65% of input power), with fusion power of over 10 MW sustained for over 0.5 sec. In June 2005, the construction of the experimental reactor ITER, designed to produce several times more fusion power than the power put into the plasma over many minutes, was announced. The production of net electrical power from fusion is planned for DEMO, the next generation experiment after ITER.

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Credit: Cmmmm

Scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a powerful technique for viewing surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer (at IBM Zürich), the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986¹. STM probes the density of states of a material using tunneling current. For STM, good resolution is considered to be 0.1 nm lateral resolution and 0.01 nm depth resolution². The STM can be used not only in ultra high vacuum but also in air and various other liquid or gas ambients, and at temperatures ranging from near 0 kelvin to a few hundred degrees Celsius³.

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Selected biography

Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr. (born February 28, 1924) is a retired NASA engineer and manager. After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1944, Kraft was hired by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor organization to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He worked for over a decade in aeronautical research before being asked in 1958 to join the Space Task Group, a small team entrusted with the responsibility of putting America's first man in space. Assigned to the flight operations division, Kraft became NASA's first flight director. He was on duty during such historic missions as America's first spaceflight, first orbital flight, and first spacewalk.

At the beginning of the Apollo program, Kraft retired as a flight director in order to concentrate on management and mission planning. In 1972, he became director of the Manned Spacecraft Center (later Johnson Space Center), following in the footsteps of his mentor Robert Gilruth. He held the position until his retirement from NASA in 1982. During his retirement, Kraft has consulted for numerous companies including IBM and Rockwell International, and he published an autobiography entitled Flight: My Life in Mission Control.

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News

Wikinews Science and technology portal

• November 15: India's flag landed on Moon
• November 14: India's moon craft reaches final lunar orbit
• November 13: Bone marrow transplant potentially linked to cure of patient with AIDS
• November 12: NASA calls end to Mars Phoenix mission
• November 11: IPhone sales exceed BlackBerry
• November 9: Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 enters moon orbit
• November 5: GNU project releases new version of license to allow Wikimedia projects to switch to Creative Commons license
• November 4: Genentech seeks accelerated FDA approval for brain tumor treatment
• October 31: Sprint Nextel depeers from Cogent Communications
• October 29: Mars orbiter finds widespread evidence of water-bearing minerals

  

Did you know...

• ... that a mercury arc rectifier converts alternating current to direct current by means of an electric arc through mercury vapor?
• ... that only one of the 266 1076 Class steam locomotives built for the Great Western Railway was named, and the rest had only numbers?
• ... that the six Charles Tayleur locomotives ordered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Railway were unsuccessful?

• ... that the intensity of a tropical cyclone (pictured) is usually determined by the Dvorak technique using only visible and infrared satellite images?

• ... that the technique of double-balloon enteroscopy allows any position along the gastrointestinal tract to be visualized in real-time?

• ... that ANTARES, a neutrino telescope under construction in the Mediterranean Sea, will find neutrinos from outer space by looking downward, into the Earth?

• ... that KATRIN is an experiment to determine the mass of the neutrino by measuring the energies of electrons given off from the beta decay of tritium?

• ... that forensic electrical engineering is a branch of forensic engineering whose primary role is to investigate whether a fire was caused by the failure of an electrical appliance?

  

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Main outlines: Topic outline of science and Topic outline of technology.

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Categories   (all)

Main categories: Technology and Applied sciences

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Engineering:  Aerospace engineering • Bioengineering • Chemical engineering • Civil engineering • Electrical engineering • Environmental engineering • Materials science • Mechanical engineering • Nuclear technology • Software engineering • Structural engineering

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Technology timelines

  

Topics   (all)

  

Lists of topics   (all)

  

Glossaries   (all)

Air pollution dispersion terminology • Blogging • Broadcasting • Computing and IT

(Alternative terms for free software • Computer • Fisheries • Fuel cell terms • Internet • Legal terms • Object-oriented programming • Unified Modeling Language) • Firefighting (Equipment • Wildland fires) • Library and information science • Machine vision • Metalworking terminology • Mill machinery • Mobile phones • Nautical • Telephony • Textile manufacturing • Transport (Aviation, aerospace, and aeronautics • Automotive design • Rail (Passenger rail (NZ railfan • UK railfan • U.S. railfan) • Woodworking (Joinery) • Winemaking

  

Related portals   (all)

Technology and applied sciences

Agronomy • Architecture (Bridges, Portal) • Artificial intelligence • Biotechnology • Electronics • Energy • Engineering • Hazardous Materials • Home improvement • Nanotechnology • Nuclear technology • Robotics

Information technology

Typography • Apple Inc. • Blu-ray • Computer networking (Internet (Forums)) • Computer science • Computer security • Microsoft • Python programming • Software (Free software (Linux))

Transport

Aviation • Cars (Australian, American, British, Japanese) • Cycling • London transport • Nautical • Roads (U.S. Roads) • Spaceflight (Space tourism) • Trains (Rapid transit, UK Railways, UK Trams)

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