Many companies are hard at work perfecting LED replacement bulbs for release in the next few months. It's taken a while to work out the kinks in LED lighting to make them appropriate for home use and more efficient. Ahead of some of the larger lighting companies, Lighting Science has introduced the SoL R38, equivalent to a 50-60W incandescent, and it looks weird.

The fins are heat sinks that dissipate the heat generated from the back of the LED. They're necessary for color accuracy and for extending the life of the light source.

Some companies like Journée are trying to play up the strange aesthetic in track lighting formats. The Lotus Luminaires are offered in different colors and resemble something off a spaceship.

It's still yet to be seen how LED bulbs will work in traditional lighting fixtures or if new fixtures will have to be created.

The good news is that the bulbs have a life of 50,000 hours, use 70% less energy than incandescents and the prices will come down over time. The SoL R38 is $145 now and the Lotus Luminaires are $600 for a set, but both companies are working on cheaper manufacturing techniques. Also, with competition arriving in a few months from bigger manufacturers, the bulbs are likely to become more affordable.

via Bits

Scientists at Florida State University are dreaming up exciting uses for buckypaper, a material that is 10 times lighter than steel, but potentially 500 times stronger when sheets are pressed together to form a composite.

The material is made of carbon nanotubes that have been disbursed in a liquid suspension and filtered through fine mesh to make a thin film. Its building blocks were first discovered in 1985 (winning those researchers the Nobel Prize), but scientists have recently made great discoveries improving the strength and bonding that they think will lead to consumer applications very soon, possibly within a year.

Buckypaper, which excels at conducting electricity and dispersing heat, may soon be used in electromagnetic shielding and lightning-strike protection on aircraft, electrodes for fuel cells, super capacitors, batteries and a more efficient replacement for graphite sheets to dissipate heat in laptops.

In the future, the material’s greatest potential could be in building light-weight, energy-efficient planes and cars, as well as military armor and stealth technology.

Via Wired