国际科技信息

国际科技信息

Computer Chips Might Be up to 1,000 Times Faster as Early as 2013. But It All Depends on A Very Strange New Kind of Glue...

Co m p u t e r m a k e r IBM has gone into partnership with a glue specialist to create 'skyscraper' computers -building huge sandwiches of silicon chips by sticking layer after layer of chips covered w i t h t i n y c o m p o n e n t s together.

It's hoped the process will create smartphones and PCs up to 1,000 times faster than today's - which may be on the market as early as 2013.

The company, 3M, also make heat resistant glues, a d h e s i ve s u s e d i n t h e aerospace industry and sticky tape - but the hi-tech glues created in collaboration with IBM could actually be the key step towards making the next evolutionary leap in computing.

Today's attempts at piling chips vertically - known as 3D packaging - face problems from overheating. New glues could potentially conduct heat through a stack of densely-packed chips and away from logic circuits that could be burnt out by the heat.

The research aims to create 'stacks' of up to 100 layers of silicon.

Crucial to the development of the new chips will be techniques that allow IBM to slather glue over 100s of chips at once. Current techniques for gluing chips are described as being akin to frosting a cake slice by slice.

This material fits underneath computer chips when they're attached to printed circuit boards - the unique part of what we're doing is that our glue conducts heat out to the edge of the sandwich,' Mike Bowman, marketing manager for 3M says. 'Our glue will spread heat more evenly through the chip. With conventional chips, with just one or two layers, but once you're stacking chips, the problem can become very severe.’

Today's chips, including t h o s e c o n t a i n i n g 3D transistors, are in fact 2D chips that are still very flat structures,’ said Bernie Meyerson, a vice president of IBM Research, in a statement.

So far, most increases in computing power have been driven by scientific breakthroughs that allow chip makers to etch ever-smaller circuits onto ever-smaller chip wafers. The new '3D' approach could accelerate gadgets such as tablet computers to unheard-of new speeds.

'Our scientists are aiming to develop materials that will allow us to package tremendous amounts of computing power into a new form factor – a silicon skyscraper,' said Meyerson.

'We believe we can advance this, and create a new class of semiconductors - faster, with lower power usage, ideal for tablets and smartphones.'

Other 3M glues are used in hi-tech industries such as solar power, as well as in markedly lower-tech e n v i ro n m e n t s s u c h a s carpentry.

Both companies did not speculate on a release date for the new technology, but insiders speaking to tech sites such as The Register said versions could be on the market as early as 2013.

胶水粘合芯片有望提高电脑运算速度1000倍

电脑制造商IBM已经与一个胶水专家合作，利用胶水把一层层芯片粘在一起，研制 “摩天楼(skyscraper)”电脑。

放在叠加芯片之间的一个高级粘合剂球，它令100层芯片叠加在一起，而不会因为过热烧坏逻辑线路

它希望通过这种方式，可以令手机和PC的速度提高1000倍。

3M公司还生产用于航空航天业的耐热胶水、粘合剂和胶带，但是它与I B M联合研制的这种高科胶水，事实上是计算机信息处理技术能否向前迈进一大步的关键步骤。现在把芯片垂直叠加在一起的技术——3D封装面临产品过热等问题。新型胶水应该让叠加在一起的芯片具备良好的导热性，确保逻辑路线不会因过热而烧毁。该研究打算制造由100层芯片组成的商用微处理器。

研制这种新型芯片的关键，是寻找可以把超过100层芯片粘贴在一起的方法。当前的芯片粘贴技术被形容成就像用糖霜把蛋糕片一层层粘贴在一起。I B M研究部副总裁伯尼·梅尔森在声明里说:“现在的芯片，包括那些具有3D封装技术的芯片，事实上仍是2D芯片，它们拥有非常平坦的结构。”迄今为止，大多数计算机能力的提升都是受到科学突破的驱使，科学家通过这些新突破，可以在更小的芯片上雕刻更小的电路。这种新型“3D”方法能够大大提高平板电脑等电子产品的速度。他说：“我们的科学家打算研发一种材料，我们通过它可以显著提高电脑的能力。我们认为我们能够实现这个目的，创造出新型半导体，它的速度更快，能耗更低，是平板电脑的理想之选。”

3M公司生产的用于高科技产业的其他胶水，被应用在太阳能和技术含量相对较低的环境，例如木匠业。两家公司还未考虑公布这项新技术的确切日期，但是据消息人士说，它可能最早会在2013年上市。

My 2 Suns: Bounty of New Exoplanet Discoveries Includes a World Orbiting a Binary Star

The hundreds of distant worlds, some large and some small, that are known to dot the galaxy provide plenty of intrigue for the scientists who hunt them. But the catalogued planetary population has just gotten a lot larger and more diverse, thanks to word this week of a newly identified planet orbiting two suns, more than a dozen newfound "super-Earths," and strong indications that the Milky Way Galaxy is home to an almost unfathomable number of planets awaiting discovery.

More than 350 researchers from around the globe gathered at the Extreme Solar Systems (ESS) II conference in Grand Teton National Park, Wyo., to share their findings on these newfound exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, of every size and configuration.

The most exotic of the latest batch of exoplanets is the world with two suns, like Tatooine of Star Wars or Dr. Who's Gallifrey. The planet, named Kepler 16 b for the NASA Kepler spacecraft that spotted it, revolves around two stars locked in a tight binary pairing; the planet's wide, nearly circular orbit keeps it well outside the stars' orbital dance. The trio is not the only so-called circumbinary system known, but it is the first for which researchers have been able to measure the properties of both stars and the planet so precisely, and the first system where the planet has been directly detected, rather than inferred. [Read more about other planets Kepler has found.]

The researchers, led by Laurance Doyle of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., announced the finding at the ESS conference and with a September 15 press conference in California that included a visual-effects supervisor from Lucasfilm, the makers of Star Wars. Doyle, Joshua Carter of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), and their colleagues also described the Kepler 16 system in a study in the September 16 issue of Science.

Kepler 16 b is reminiscent of Saturn in its dimensions and mass, but slightly denser, implying that its makeup skews more to elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. The giant planet orbits its parent stars every 229 Earth days. As curious a s K e p l e r 16 b i s, t h e stellar binary that hosts it is noteworthy as well. The smaller of the two stars is just one fifth the mass of our sun, making it the smallest mainsequence star whose physical properties are well known.

The astronomical oddball was not the only news from the Kepler mission at the ESS meeting. Sarah Ballard, a CfA graduate student and member of the Kepler team, described on September 12 a newly uncovered pair of planets orbiting the star Kepler 19.

Kepler 19 b, only twice as Earth's diameter, is among the smallest exoplanets known to date. But it is likely a miserable place: at just 13.5 million kilometers from its host star, the planet's surface is likely a toasty 480 degrees Celsius.

The Kepler spacecraft detects planets such as Kepler 19 b by watching them dim the light of their host star as the planets pass in front, or "transit." Ordinarily, those transits will occur at regular intervals, like celestial clockwork, but oddities in Kepler 19 b's transit times suggest the influence of the other half of the pair—a larger, unseen planet also orbiting Kepler 19 and perturbing the motion of its neighbor.

Kepler is hardly the only planet-finding campaign meeting with success and making news this week at the Wyoming confab. A search based at institutions in the U.K. and Spain, the Wide-Angle Search for Planets (WASP), reported the discovery of some two dozen new planets. And a European contingent from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) had an even bigger haul to unveil.

There seem to be plenty of targets to go around: most of the tens of billions of yellow-orange stars in the galaxy might harbor planets, new HARPS data suggest. Previous HARPS results had implied that up to half of these stars could have planets, but a new statistical analysis shows the percentage to be even higher, about 70 percent, Francesco Pepe of the Observatory of Geneva in Switzerland said during a press conference announcing the HARPS results on September 12.

T h e H A R P S t e a m announced about 50 new planets, of which 16 are super-Earths—planets larger than our own but smaller than Neptune or Uranus. Statistical models suggest that four in 10 stars harbor super-Earths. One of the newfound HARPS planets, HD 85512 b, orbits on the edge of the habitable zone, a temperate band surrounding a star where temperatures could support liquid water and just maybe extraterrestrial life.

HARPS is an instrument that measures the wobble c a u s e d b y a p l a n e t's gravitational tug on its host star, so it can be used to estimate planetary mass. It is not able to measure the diameter of planets, so these "super-Earths" could be large and gaseous, like Neptune, or small and rocky, like Earth, the researchers say.

Studying super-Earths is a particularly fruitful area of planetary science, says David Latham of the CfA, who was not involved in the HARPS work. "It's a kind of planet we don't have in our own system," he says. In fact, the existence of super-Earths has come to light only in the past few years.

Between the super-Earths, the circumbinary planet, and the dozens of other new discoveries, researchers are now turning up exoplanets in unprecedented numbers. "We are really in the age of discovery of new worlds," said Lisa Kaltenegger of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, and the CfA during the press conference.

科学家发现奇特行星 其天空将有“两个太阳”

据美国太空网站报道，在科幻电影《星球大战》中天行者家族的故乡行星是出现“两颗太阳”的塔图因行星，也许这种现象并非完全是科幻情节。目前，天文学家宣称首次发现一颗环绕两颗恒星运行的行星，这意味着它将像塔图因行星一样，天空中出现两颗太阳。

科学家使用美国宇航局开普勒探测器观测到一颗巨大行星环绕一对恒星，这个恒星系统被称为“Kepler-16”，距离地球200光年。

美国华盛顿市卡耐基学院的阿兰-勃斯(Alan Boss)是该项研究的合著作者，他说：“这是一项惊人的天文发现！再一次地将科幻演变成现实！”当《星球大战》中出现拥有两颗太阳的塔图因行星时，许多科学家便猜测这样的行星或许真地存在，目前这项最新研究得以证实。

这颗奇特行星环绕两颗恒星运行一周大约229个地球日，Kepler-16A和Kepler-16B恒星的质量分别为太阳的69%和20%。这两颗恒星彼此距离很近，平均仅为地日距离的五分之一，这比水星和太阳之间的距离更近。

9月15 日，诺尔在美国宇航局新闻发布会上发言称，我们再一次地看到科学事实比科幻故事更具奇特性，这些将科幻演变为科学事实的重大发现将使科学家更一步扩大想象空间，探索我们的科学假想。

这颗行星被命名为Kepler-16(AB)-b，从它的卫星角度观测这颗行星前方有两颗恒星，它环绕着两颗恒星运行，定期有规律地出现光线昏暗。当两颗恒星彼此环绕时，也出现被遮挡形成的日食现象。总之，通过开普勒探测器的观测可使科学家精确地计算出这三颗星体的质量、半径和运行轨迹。

Kepler-16(AB)-b与恒星之间的距离为地日距离的四分之三，它的体积与土星较为接近，虽然密度只有土星的50%，表明它富含重元素。位于加州山景城的地外文明搜索学会(SETI)的天体物理学家劳伦斯-道尔(Laurance Doyle)是该项研究负责人，他说：“据我们分析Kepler-16(A B)-b行星并不适宜居住。”

这颗奇特行星环绕两颗恒星运行一周大约229个地球日，Kepler-16A和Kepler-16B恒星的质量分别为太阳的69%和20%。这两颗恒星彼此距离很近，平均仅为地日距离的五分之一，这比水星和太阳之间的距离更近。两颗恒星彼此环绕一周的时间大约41个地球日。

环绕两颗恒星运行的行星叫做“环双星行星(circumbinary planets)”，两颗恒星在空间运行轨道环绕的一点叫做“多体质心(barycenter)”，研究人员在多体质心位置发现它们的轨道出现轻微变化，表明行星的存在导致两颗恒星出现潮汐效应。

Kepler-16(AB)-b行星是科学家探测到直接出现在恒星前方的第一颗行星，可短暂时昏暗恒星的光线。由于这颗行星与两颗恒星几乎同处于一个平面，研究人员认为它们形成于同一个灰尘气体盘。

道尔说：“目前我们知道如何去探测发现环双星行星，我认为我们应当很快地发现更多的环双星行星。”目前，这项最新研究报告发表在9月16日出版的《科学》杂志上。

ニッケル使った燃料電池開発、従来品より安価に

九州大工学研究院の小江おごう誠司教授（触媒化学）らの研究チームが、ニッケルとルテニウムによる分子触媒を使った燃料電池の開発に成功した。

用化されている白金（プラチナ）触媒を使った場合の25分の1の発電能力を確認。高価な白金に代わる触媒として期待できるという。12日付のドイツ化学会誌「アンゲバンテ・ケミー」の電子版に掲載された。

燃料電池は水素と酸素を使って電気をつくる。通常は、水素から電子を取り出して反応を促進する触媒に白金を使うが、資源量が少ないため、より安価な材料が求められている。

研究チームは、水素から電子を取り出してエネルギーにしているバクテリアの体内にある酵素「ヒドロゲナーゼ」に注目した。2008年にニッケルとルテニウムを組み合わせ、酵素と同じ機能を持つ分子をつくることに成功。今回、この分子が燃料電池に使えることを確認した。小江教授は、白金に比べ触媒の価格は10分の1以下になると説明。「分子構造を改善すれば発電能力も向上する。自動車の動力源として使えるようにしたい」と話している。

日本开发出镍钌催化剂燃料电池 可降低电池成本

日本九州大学研究人员在12日的德国《应用化学》周刊网络版上发表论文说，他们开发出了利用镍和钌作催化剂的新型燃料电池，这一发现将有助于降低燃料电池的成本，从而推动燃料电池车的普及。

燃料电池车依靠氢和大气中的氧发生反应，产生电能驱动车辆，理论上排放的只有水。因此，燃料电池车被称为“环保车”，吸引着各大汽车厂家竞相研发。

但是目前各种试制的燃料电池车，大多使用昂贵的铂作为从氢中提取电子的催化剂，而九州大学新开发的燃料电池，使用价格不到铂0.5‰的镍充当催化剂的主要原料，所以有望大幅降低成本。

九州大学教授小江诚司领导的研究小组，在2008年就研制出了镍系新催化剂，此后一直利用这种催化剂开发燃料电池。新型燃料电池即使在高温环境下也能稳定运转。

不过，由于降低新催化剂电阻的技术尚未取得明显进展，现在这种新电池的发电量还只停留在使用铂催化剂时的4%左右。小江诚司表示，今后将继续研究，争取使新电池发电量在不久的将来达到与铂催化剂同等水平。研究小组还表示准备与日本大发工业公司共同开发使用新催化剂的燃料电池车。

Antiviral restriction factor transgenesis in the domestic cat

Studies of the domestic cat have contributed to many scientific advances, including the present understanding of the mammalian cerebral cortex. A practical capability for cat transgenesis is needed to realize the distinctive potential of research on this neurobehaviorally complex, accessible species for advancing human and feline health. For example, humans and cats are afflicted with pandemic AIDS lentiviruses that are susceptible to species-specific restriction factors. Here we introduced genes encoding such a factor, rhesus macaque TRIMCyp, and eGFP, into the cat germline. The method establishes gametetargeted transgenesis for the first time in a carnivore. We observed uniformly transgenic outcomes, widespread expression, no mosaicism a n d n o F1 s i l e n c i n g. TRIMCyp transgenic cat lymphocytes resisted feline immunodeficiency virus replication. This capability to experimentally manipulate the genome of an AIDS-susceptible species can be used to test the potential of restriction factors for HIV gene therapy and to build models of other infectious and noninfectious diseases.

美科学家培育出夜光猫 可帮助治疗艾滋病

美国科学家培育出能够抵御猫科免疫缺陷病毒的发光猫，他们希望通过培育发光猫寻找到治疗艾滋病的手段。研究过程中，他们借助一种可抵御一种类似艾滋病病毒的病毒的基因对家猫DNA进行改造，同时利用一种来自荧光水母的基因让它们的身体在绿色紫外线照射下发光。

此项研究的目的旨在验证一种防止短尾猿感染艾滋病的天然蛋白质如何在猫身上发挥作用。植入家猫的两种基因彼此联系在一起，水母基因用于追踪另一个基因。在紫外线的照射下，转基因家猫发出怪诞的绿光，说明蛋白质已经成功植入它们的组织，这项技术发挥作用。

转基因猫打造者表示，这项研究将加速艾滋病疫苗和治疗手段的研发速度。目前，艾滋病已经夺去了3000多万人的生命。类似艾滋病病毒的病毒同样对猫科动物——从家猫到大型猫科动物——的健康造成严重破坏。这项研究能够改进动物的健康。未来，人们可以买到对大量疾病具有免疫力的宠物，让频繁看兽医和昂贵的接种疫苗费用成为过去。此外，拥有夜光宠物也将成为一种可能。评论人士指出这项技术虽然有助于提高动物福利，但科学家应该减少实验动物的数量。

研究过程中，美国梅奥诊所的研究人员利用无害病毒将基因植入来自卵巢被切除的猫的卵子。一种基因产生荧光蛋白，另一种基因产生的蛋白可对抗猫科免疫缺陷病毒(猫科版的艾滋病病毒)。随后，他们利用试管受精让卵子受精，而后植入代孕母亲体内。《自然-方法》报道称，经过22次尝试，他们培育出5只发光猫，最后存活3只。其中2只身体健康，另1只则患上疾病，但研究人员并不认为患病与基因改造有关。这种抗病毒基因同样存在于从发光猫身上提取的细胞中，与普通猫相比，它们抵御猫科免疫缺陷病毒的能力更强。2只发光猫已经孕育了自己的后代，子女同样携带这些新基因。

Moçambique deverá ser a prazo um exportador“substancial” de gás natural

Mo ç a m b i q u e deverá ser a prazo um expor tador“substancial” de gás natural, com a projectada construção de um terminal de LNG na província de Cabo Delgado (norte), de acordo com a Economist Intelligence Unit.

As descobertas de gás efectuadas ao longo do último ano na região pela norte-americana Anadarko Petroleum, salienta a EIU no seu mais recente relatório sobre Moçambique, deverão ter confirmado a viabilidade do desenvolvimento de um terminal de gás natural liquefeito (LNG).

E s t i m a t i v a s n ã o confirmadas citadas pela Economist apontam para reservas mínimas de 10 biliões de pés cúbicos (mais de 283 mil milhões de metros cúbicos) de gás natural,“muitas vezes mais do que o único campo de gás actualmente em produção em Moçambique”, em Pande/ Temane (na província de Inhambane, sul do país).

“A produção (de Pande/ Temane) é exportada para a África do Sul através de um gasoduto. (Mas) os depósitos de gás natural em Cabo Delgado estão demasiado longe daquele gasoduto e de consumidores finais industriais na região”, refere o relatório.

Esta situação”, adianta,“sugere que uma unidade de LNG para aceder ao mercado internacional de exportação é a única opção realista para desenvolver” os novos campos descobertos.

C o m e s te p ro j e c to, M o ç a m b i q u e “p o d e tornar-se um exportador substancial” de gás natural, adianta o relatório.

A E I U p re vê q u e a s exportações moçambicanas r e g i s t e m u m i m p u l s o nos próximos dois anos, sustentadas pelo alumínio, car vão, gás e produtos a g r í c o l a s, p e r m i t i n d o uma contracção do défice comercial em 2012.

Em Maio, a brasileira Vale iniciou a extracção de carvão na sua mina em Moatize, província de Tete, e as exportações deverão começar este mês de Julho, atingindo 1 milhão de toneladas este ano.

Para o próximo ano, o objectivo de exportações é de 6 milhões de toneladas, quase duplicando para 11 milhões até 2014.

Já em operação está o depósito de areias pesadas de Moma, da irlandesa Kenmare Resources, e no final deste ano deverá iniciarse a produção de uma outra exploração carbonífera, de Benga, da australiana Riverdale Mining.

Em grande parte devido ao crescente investimento em projectos de exploração de recursos minerais e de infra-estruturas, a EIU prevê um crescimento médio de 7,4% ao ano para a economia moçambicana, em 2011 e 2012, com a inflação a recuar para 5% no próximo ano.

P a r a a c o m o d a r a expansão das exportações de carvão, o porto de Maputo anunciou recentemente um programa de expansão, estando a operadora do terminal carbonífero de M a to l a, a s u l-a f r i c a n a Grindrod, a concluir um estudo de viabilidade para mais do que duplicar a capacidade até 2014, para 20 milhões de toneladas anuais.

O “forte crescimento”, refere a EIU, é partilhado pelo resto do porto, que inclui um terminal de contentores e outros de açúcar e citrinos.

Este ano, as exportações através daquele por to deverão atingir 12,6 milhões de toneladas, mais do dobro das 5 milhões de toneladas registadas em 2003.

A s o p e r a ç õ e s beneficiaram de melhores operações ferroviárias no porto, com o tempo de“turnaround” dos comboios da África do Sul para Maputo a reduzir-se de uma média de 200 horas para apenas 90 horas.

A M a p u t o P o r t Development Company e s t i m a q u e, c o m u m i n v e s t i m e n t o d e 750 milhões de dólares ao longo dos próximos 20 anos, a capacidade do porto poderá ser quadruplicada para 50 milhões de toneladas.

莫桑比克不久将成为天然气出口大国

英国《经济学人》智库称，莫桑比克不久将成为一个天然气出口大国，该国计划在北部德尔加杜角省建立一个液化天然气码头。

英智库在最近一份莫桑比克研究报告中断言，美国阿纳达科石油公司去年在该地区发现了天然气，确定了液化天然气码头建设方案的可行性。

英智库援引未经证实的估计数值称，发现的天然气储量超过了10万亿立方英尺（2830亿立方米），是莫桑比克目前唯一生产天然气气田：南部伊尼扬巴内省彭德/泰玛尼气田的“好多倍”。

报告称：“彭德/泰玛尼气田生产的天然气通过输气管道向南非出口。””(但是，)德尔加杜角省天然气田离输气管道和该地区工业用户太远了。”

报告补充说：“在这种情况下，就需要建立一个液化天然气厂，连通国际出口市场，这是开发新发现气田的唯一可行方法。”

报告称，依靠这个项目，莫桑比克“不久将成为天然气出口大国”。

英智库称，未来两年，莫桑比克将继续扩大出口，主要出口产品是铝、煤、天然气和农产品，因此，到2012年，莫桑比克的贸易赤字将进一步缩小。

今年5月，巴西淡水河谷公司开始在莫桑比克太特省莫阿蒂泽煤矿采煤。淡水河谷公司将于今年7月开始出口煤炭，今年的煤炭产量将达100万吨。

该公司计划明年出口煤炭600万吨，2014年将达1100万吨，几乎提高一倍。

爱尔兰肯梅尔资源公司在楠普拉省的莫马重砂矿已经开始作业。澳大利亚Riversdale矿业公司的本戈煤矿也将在今年年底前开始采煤作业。

英智库预测，主要由于加大了采矿和基础设施项目的投资力度，2011年至2012年期间，莫桑比克的年均经济增长率将为7.4%，明年的通货膨胀率将不超过5%。

为了满足煤炭出口增长的需求，马普托港最近宣布了一项扩建计划。马托拉码头管理公司：南非Grindrod船运公司计划在2014年将该码头的吞吐量提高到2000万吨，项目可行性研究即将完成。

英智库断言，该港的其余部分也将“强劲扩张”，包括一个集装箱码头、糖码头、柑橘码头等。

今年该港的出口量将达1260万吨，较2003年的500万吨增长一倍多。

铁路运输条件的改善是马普托港业绩提高的原因之一。南非至马普托之间列车往返时间已经从200小时降至90小时。

马普托港发展公司称，计划在未来20年内投资7.5亿美元，使港口年吞吐量达到5000万吨，是现有能力的四倍。