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The Most Powerful MRI Scanner in the World Delivers Its First Images

In September, the 11.7 Tesla MRI of the Iseult project, the most powerful in the world for human imaging, has just unveiled its first images. They validate the entire process that has enabled, thanks to multiple technological breakthroughs, the transformation of an “outstanding” magnet, delivered in 2017 to the French...

Book Review: The Safe Use of Cryogenic Technologies by Robert Done

It is becoming common for large-scale scientific projects to include cryogenic systems provided by other countries. Examples of this include CERN, the European Spallation Source, ITER and the PIP II project at Fermilab (CSA CSM). While these contributions are quite valuable, one of the big challenges in such projects is...

Cool Fuel: Hydrogen, Lenses and Lasers, Oh My!

The bar for getting the suffix of PhD after your name is high – you have to fundamentally change the philosophy in a field. As a faculty member responsible for training some of these individuals, I’m sometimes faced with the conundrum that advancing the philosophy implies that I have to...

Groundbreaking Alternative to Invasive Breast Cancer Surgery Now Available in Monroe NJ

Patients in Central New Jersey with early-stage breast cancer can now access a highly effective treatment that does not require traditional invasive surgery. Performed at Princeton Radiology's Minimally Invasive Care Center in Monroe Township by interventional radiologist Kenneth R. Tomkovich, MD, the procedure, called cryoablation, uses a small needle and...

INEOS Announces over €2 Billion Investment in Green Hydrogen Production

INEOS has announced that it is to invest more than €2 billion into electrolysis projects to make zero carbon, green hydrogen across Europe. Its first plants will be built in Norway, Germany, Belgium with investment also planned in the UK and France. The announcement was made on October 18. INEOS,...

Heating Up Quantum Science Education with Laser Cooling

A series of interactive workshops developed by Columbia University physicist Sebastian Will and STEMteachersNYC will give educators tips and tools to cover quantum science in their classrooms. If you imagine a laser, you might think of beams of light popping balloons or slicing through a metal slab like butter. Lasers...

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Dewar

A dewar is a type of cryostat named after Sir James Dewar, the researcher who first developed the concept of a vacuum insulated container with silvered walls to reflect thermal radiation. Dewar was the first to liquefy hydrogen, and he created the device to store his discovery. The thermos bottle...

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon Cryocoolers

Stirling and Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocoolers are two of the most commonly used cryocoolers in cryogenics. Both devices have a significant industrial base and operate at a wide range of temperatures and capacities. The thermodynamic cycles for both of these cryocoolers are quite similar. The Stirling cycle consists of a compressor,...

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

A significant commercial application of cryogenics is the liquefaction, transport and storage of natural gas. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is generally 95 percent methane with a few percent ethane and much lower concentrations of propane and butane. LNG liquefies at 111.6 K. Unlike many applications of cryogenics, the motivation for...

Latest in Cryo Central

Magnets

From “Superconductivity: Present and Future Applications” by the Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors. Particle physics uses accelerators to recreate the conditions of the early universe in an attempt to piece together the complex puzzle of how we got to where we are today. These huge machines are used...

Energy Storage

From “Superconductivity: Present and Future Applications” by the Coalition for the Commercial Application of Superconductors. With power lines increasingly congested and prone to instability, strategic injection of brief bursts of real power can play a crucial role in maintaining grid reliability. Small-scale Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) systems, based on...

Astronomy

ASTRONOMY IN SPACE by Peter V. Mason, retired, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Visiting Associate, California Institute of Technology. Pmason@alumni.caltech.edu In thinking about the reasons to perform astronomy in space, we first consider the effect of the earth’s atmosphere. On a scale of decreasing energy, gamma rays, cosmic rays, X-rays and...

Cryocoolers

What is a Cryocooler? A mechanism that can extract heat from an object (cooler) and by doing so draw its temperature down below approximately 150 Kelvin (cryo). — (Courtesy Dr. Willy Gully) What is the difference between a Cryocooler and a Cryostat? A cryostat is any device designed to maintain...

Latest in Ask the Experts

Need help comparing chest freezers and upright freezers

Currently we use in our Biobank an upright -80 freezer to store all our samples. We are planning to buy a fully automated bio-repository storage that will do the picking of samples under restricted conditions. But in the meantime I foresee that we have to pick the samples manually. The...

Need recommendations for cryogenic vials

I am looking into standardizing our range of bio storage tubes (cryogenic vials). These will be for both blood and tissue samples and their derivatives. Any recommendations, comments on Micronics, Nalgene, Nunc and or others that are suitable for long term -80 C and -196 C storage, DNA/RNA suitable, would...

We need a custom machine for flash freezing of water

We are an ice making company and have started a new project, which is related to flash freezing of water. It is based on cryogenics technology and we need a custom made machine. I would kindly ask you to pass me a few companies who would be interested in such...

Looking for a pump suitable for cold liquids

I would like to construct a small cooling circuit (appr. 50 x 50 cm) pumping liquid at a temperature down to -120°C from a cold reservoir to the specimen to be cooled. The tubes and connections are not a problem, but does somebody know a pump (suction/compression for circulation) suitable...

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