MIT has just announced enrollment to its first online course in its new online learning initiative called “MITx”.

6.002x: Circuits and Electronics

The course introduces engineering in the context of the lumped circuit abstraction. Topics covered include: resistive elements and networks; independent and dependent sources; switches and MOS transistors; digital abstraction; amplifiers; energy storage elements; dynamics of first- and second-order networks; design in the time and frequency domains; and analog and digital circuits and applications. Design and lab exercises are also significant components of the course. You should expect to spend approximately 10 hours per week on the course.

Requirements for the class ask that you have an AP level understanding of physics in electricity and magnetism (which they conveniently host a free video course online), basic calculus and linear algebra and have some background in differential equations. Not to fear, the Circuits and Electronics course itself will have brush up material as well just in case your math is a little rusty.

The course begains March 5th and will conclude on June 8th. Upon succesful completion of the course you will recive a “Electronic Certificate of Accomplishment” from MITx. The Course is avalibe worldwide, and you too can enroll at https://6002x.mitx.mit.edu/.

Scientists from the University of Cambridge Cavendish Laboratory have designed a new solar cell that is able to efficiently harvest sunlight better than common day designs. Most solar panels in use today are only capable of capturing a limited spectrum of light emitted from the sun. These limitations make current panels unable to produce more than around 34% efficiency. The Cambridge team of scientists, led by Professor Neil Greenham and Professor Sir Richard Friend, have designed a ‘hybrid cell’ that can capture more of the light spectrum. Up to 44%.

From the article:

“Typically, a solar cell generates a single electron for each photon captured. However, by adding pentacene, an organic semiconductor, the solar cells can generate two electrons for every photon from the blue light spectrum. This could enable the cells to capture 44% of the incoming solar energy.

Recovering from bone fractures has always been a long ordeal, requiring months of rest before the bone heals to an acceptable strength for daily use. Researchers at the University of Georgia Regenerative Bioscience Center have created a gel like substance that incorporates mesenchymal stem cells that are known to produce a vital protein in the healing process. The researchers are calling it ‘Fracture Putty’ and claim that animal studies have shown that when applied to a bone fracture, can speed up the healing process from months to weeks.

The study is being funded by a $1.4 million dollar grant from the Department of Defense, in the hopes of developing better care for wounded soldiers.

“For many young soldiers, their mental health becomes a real issue when they are confined to a bed for three to six months after an injury,” said Steve Stice. “This discovery may allow them to be up and moving as fast as days afterward.”

Read the full article here.

Instabilities that have hindered the continued progress in the development of nuclear fusion, have been overcome according to physicists at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne).

From the article:

Nuclear fusion is an attempt to reproduce the energy of the Sun in an Earth-based reactor system. When gas is heated to several million degrees, it becomes plasma. Sometimes in the plasma, an instability will appear and grow large enough to perturb the plasma, making it vibrate despite the presence of the magnetic field in which it is contained. If the plasma touches the walls of the reactor, it will cool rapidly and create large electromagnetic forces within the structure of the machine. By adjusting an antenna that emits electromagnetic radiation, Jonathan Graves and his colleagues from EPFL’s Center for Research in Plasma Physics were able to quench the instabilities when they appear, in the precise region where they are forming, and without perturbing the rest of the installation.

As promising as these developments are, more research needs to be done to develop the ability to overcome and sustain these instabilities in real time. That being said, its exhilarating to know we’re one step closer the the holy grail of energy.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch have found through experimentation, that implanted Neural Stem Cells can substantially aid recovery after a traumatic brain injury.

“Axons and dendrites are the basis of neuron-to-neuron communication, and when they are lost, neuron function is lost,” said UTMB professor Ping Wu, lead author of a paper on the research appearing in the Journal of Neurotrauma. “In this study, we found that our stem cell transplantation both prevents further axonal injury and promotes axonal regrowth, through a number of previously unknown molecular mechanisms.”

The research thus far has only be preformed on laboratory rats, and computer simulations, but is seen as promising. You can read the full article here, on the UTMB website.