Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Big leap for Scotland's renewables
More than a quarter of the electricity generated in Scotland last year was produced from wind, hydro and other renewable sources.
The year in science
Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: The world's first quantum machine is in the spotlight as the top scientific breakthrough of 2010, as judged by the journal Science.
Study improves understanding of method for creating multi-metal nanoparticles
A new study from researchers at North Carolina State University sheds light on how a technique that is commonly used for making single-metal nanoparticles can be extended to create nanoparticles...
New method for making tiny catalysts holds promise for air quality
Fortified with iron: It's not just for breakfast cereal anymore. University of Illinois researchers have demonstrated a simpler method of adding iron to tiny carbon spheres to create catalytic materials...
Compact brilliant laser light sources developed
Due to laser light sources captivatingly true pictures can be generated. Such sources already demonstrate their capability in flight simulators and in large-scale projections. However, they are usually oversized for...
The birth of time: Quantum loops describe the evolution of the Universe
What was the Big Bang and what happened before it? Scientists have attempted to answer the question. Within the framework of loop quantum gravity they have put forward a new...
Why the Constitution Matters
By providing key facts about Congress, the president, and the nature of the current constitutional regime, Mark Tushnet, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, reveals not only why the...
New hope for terahertz: New laser operates at higher temperatures than some thought possible
Terahertz rays -- radiation between microwaves and infrared rays on the electromagnetic spectrum -- are a promising means of detecting explosives, but they've proven hard to generate cost effectively. So...
Using direct laser writing to create 3D submicron structures
(PhysOrg.com) -- "Several groups have been using direct laser writing since the end of the 1990s," Michael Thiel tells PhysOrg.com. Thiel is a scientist has been working at the Karlsruhe...
Paris to launch electric car-sharing program
Coming on the heels of its successful bike-sharing program, Paris is moving into higher gear and preparing to lend out 3,000 electric cars across the city.
BP reigns over Azeri gas, cables reveal
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- British energy company BP holds most of the cards in Azerbaijan despite a diplomatic push to diversify the regional energy sector, leaked cables...
Green: A New Way to Buy Some Wind Power
The customer provides a space for the installation and buys the energy it produces, but the manufacturer owns the device, at least for the first few years.
The fine art of producing chemicals and electricity: Researchers develop organometallic fuel cell
Together with Italian researchers, Swiss ETH Zurich Professor Hansjorg Grutzmacher and his group have developed a novel organometallic fuel cell. In addition to generating electrical energy, it also produces fine...
Home Labs on the Rise for the Fun of Science
Home laboratories are becoming more common as devices like microscopes and DNA analysis kits become more computerized, cheaper and easier to use.
Study classifies and uses artificial proteins to analyze protein-protein interfaces
Interactions between proteins are at the heart of cellular processes, and those interactions depend on the interfaces where the direct physical contact occurs. A new study published this week...
Microbe makes hydrogen out of air
Cosmic Log: An ocean microbe may open a new frontier in the search for clean, renewable energy: In a sense, it makes hydrogen — a clean-burning fuel — out of...
Mobile Internet device performs unevenly in debut
If you could take broadband Internet with you, where would you take it? To an airport, a coffee shop or - this being Los Angeles - the beach, where you...
Nanomaterials in our environment
Madison, WI DECEMBER 15, 2010 -- The manufacturing of nanomaterials has been steadily on the rise in the medical, industrial, and scientific fields. Nanomaterials are materials that are...
Beamsteering for mobile devices could cut power consumption in half
(PhysOrg.com) -- When turned on, todays smartphones and other wireless devices radiate power in all directions while searching for communications nodes. But this omni-directionality can pose problems, such as limiting...
Invisibility rug hides 'large' objects
A cloaking device can shield macroscopic objects in visible light.
Regulation must match advances in nanotechnology
Regulatory science must keep up with advances in nanotechnology, says a top Indian scientist.
New technique probes electron properties of individual atoms
Electron microscopy technique discriminates between carbon atoms with one, two and three bonds
Chemistry for Greenhouse Gases
Novel metal catalysts might be able to turn greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide into liquid fuels without producing more carbon waste in the process.
How hard are we pushing the land?
We may be becoming an ever more technologically advanced society, but we remain as dependent as ever -- if not more and more so -- on the natural world that...
Oil starts flowing from Ghana
LONDON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Tullow Oil and its partners in Ghana said Wednesday marked a major milestone at the country's lucrative offshore Jubilee oil field.
Forging cloud anvils: Pollution particles enlarge and extend the lifetime of storm clouds
Tiny particles of pollutants in the lower atmosphere have a striking effect on cloud anvils, which are created by thunderstorms. That's the conclusion of a team of atmospheric scientists at...
Dot Earth: Pursuing an Energy Menu That Works for the Long Haul
What will it take to end America's long bipartisan slumber party on energy innovation?
Europe needs more gas, company says
STAVANGER, Norway, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Europe can meet many of its ambitious climate goals in a cost-effective way by incorporating more natural gas into the energy sector, an...