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NMR Imaging Reveals How Flu Virus Spreads from Cell to Cell

After a flu virus infects a host cell and hijacks its inner workings to create copies of itself, these copies gather into viral buds that break free from the host cell to infect again. A new study from MIT now provides the clearest picture yet of how the buds are...

JWST Completes Final Cryogenic Testing

NASA engineers unsealed the vault-like, 40-foot diameter, 40-ton door of Chamber A at Johnson Space Center in Houston on November 18, signaling the end of nearly 100 days of cryogenic testing for the agency's James Webb Space Telescope.

Cryogenic Aspects of Future NASA Mars Exploration

Cryogenic fluids are the basis for many different in-space systems, and several recent publications from NASA examine potential roles for cryogenic fluids in human missions to the red planet. Propulsion, in-situ resource utilization and power storage and generation represent the main systems using cryogenics.

Design and Application of Cryogenic Valves

Cryogenic media enhance our daily lives in many ways, from flash-frozen food to aerospace, cryosurgery and even special effects. Durability, dependability and long life are expected in all such applications, so manufacturers of cryogenic instruments should use the best construction methods available to handle the demanding requirements of controlling cryogenic...

Scientists Go Cold to Image Growths that Trigger Battery Fires

Scientists from Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have captured the first atomic-level images of finger-like growths called dendrites that can pierce the barrier between battery compartments and trigger short circuits or fires. This is the first study to examine the inner lives of batteries...

2017 Nobel in Chemistry Honors Cryo-EM

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Drs. Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for their work advancing cryo-electron microscopy. The cryo-EM method both simplifies and improves the imaging of biomolecules, providing atomic, or high-resolution, structure determination for biomolecules in solution.

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Dilution Refrigerators

Dilution refrigerators are a common technique for reaching temperatures below 1K, particularly where continuous cooling at these temperatures is required. Helium exists in two stable isotopes: 4He and 3He. Naturally occurring 3He is extremely rare, constituting less than 1 part per million of helium gas. However, 3He can be manufactured,...

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards (ODH) are a significant safety issue in cryogenic facilities. ODH occurs when inert gases such as nitrogen, helium or argon displace room air and thus lower the percentage of oxygen in the space below that required for human life. OSHA defines an area as oxygen deficient if...

Kelvin Temperature Scale

The Kelvin temperature scale is the principal temperature scale used in cryogenics and science. The kelvin is also one of the seven base units in the Système International d’Unités (SI) and is the unit of thermodynamic temperature. Thermodynamic temperature is a fundamental physical quantity (like mass, length or electrical current)...

Magnetic Levitation

From http://www.superconductors.org. Magnetic-levitation is an application where superconductors perform extremely well. Transport vehicles such as trains can be made to “float” on strong superconducting magnets, virtually eliminating friction between the train and its tracks. Not only would conventional electromagnets waste much of the electrical energy as heat, they would have...

Superconductivity

From Superpower website. History of Superconductivity Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by the Dutch physicist, Heike Kammerlingh Onnes when he was able to liquefy helium by cooling it to 4 Kelvin, or -452°F. This enabled him to cool other materials close to absolute zero and investigate their electrical properties. He...

Medical Applications of Cryogenics

Neutron Therapy Cryogenics is at the heart of nuclear accelerators. Accelerators such as Fermilab’s Tevatron make neutron therapy for cancer possible. From Fermilab Today 4/20/09: Fermilab currently offers neutron therapy. But staff at Fermilab designed and built the proton accelerator used by the nation’s first hospital-based treatment center to use...

Nuclear Physics

Al Zeller National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab (NSCL) at Michigan State University zeller@nscl.msu.edu Cryogenics has a long history in nuclear physics. The technology has its origins in the use of cold traps for maintaining a vacuum, which is required to prevent beam loss and for generating high voltages used in acceleration....

An Issue of Pressure and Flow Rate in a Supply Tank

Please help solve this problem: A supply tank requires a vaporizer to generate sufficient pressure to pump stored fluid up into a vehicle or tank. The available head is limited as the tank level falls and it is important to minimize the system pressure drop to maintain the desired flow...

Using MLI on VJ Line Joints or Cryo Storage Tanks

When installing Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) blankets on VJ line joints or cryo storage tanks should they be wrapped and tied down tight or loose? These are usually pre-cut to size. Also should they have an access hole at the point of where the molecular sieve is installed to help...