Tech Scrape

DOE funds will help finance construction of a geothermal facility using advanced technology. The U.S. Department of Energy has offered a $102.2 million loan guarantee, its first for geothermal energy, to U.S. Geothermal , based in Boise, ID. The guarantee is designed to support construction of a 22-megawatt plant at Neal Hot Springs, near Vale, OR.

The best of the rest from the Physics arXiv this week: Improved Method for Individualization of Head-Related Transfer Functions on Horizontal Plane Using Reduced Number of Anthropometric Measurements

HTC releases the first phone with a connection faster than 3G–but the company will face stiff competition soon enough. Starting today, there’s a new, faster breed of cell phone Web access out there. HTC’s EVO 4G , available on Sprint, is the first phone that uses WiMAX, a technology that allows fast wireless Internet over long distances. This week, Technology Review previewed this new era of mobile connectivity.

The best of the rest from the Physics arXiv this week: Cloud Computing: Exploring The Scope

The select few who have had their genomes sequenced learn to use that information for health care. Several months after deciphering his genetic code last year, Stanford bioengineer Stephen Quake approached a cardiologist colleague. Early analysis of his DNA had flagged a rare genetic variant as potentially linked to heart problems. The variant, in fact, was located in a gene linked to sudden cardiac death in athletes, so physician Euan Ashley suggested Quake visit his office for some follow-up screening. Inspired by that meeting, the scientists spent the next year figuring out how to examine his genome in a way that would be meaningful to both Quake and his doctor.

If dark matter exists it may take the form of mirror planets, mirror stars and mirror galaxies. Now one physicist says the most recent evidence seems to confirm this idea When astronomers study distant galaxies, they see only a small fraction of the mass needed to hold these clumps of stars together. Without some kind of extra hidden mass, galaxies ought to fly apart.

The best of the rest from the Physics arXiv this week Dynamic Principles of Center of Mass in Human Walking

A weird hypothetical substance called spherium may help to unlock the quantum secrets of real matter, say physicists

Quantum mechanics explains the full range of force-relaxation curves that muscles produce, according to a new study It wasn’t so long ago that biologists would swear blind that their discipline would never be tainted by the strange effects of quantum mechanics. Today, quantum biology is an emerging discipline in many labs around the world and only the brave (or stupid) now argue against the idea that quantum effects play an important role in the workings of biological molecules, entire cells and even the brain.

The growth in processor power over the last 40 years seems so uniform that it almost has the status of a law of nature. Moore’s Law, as it is called, states that the number of transistors on a chip doubles every two years. We don’t know how long it will hold true, but here are some of the most significant chips and devices this growth has made possible.