Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Computational Method Points To New Uses, Unexpected Side Effects Of Already Existing Drugs
Scientists have developed and experimentally tested a technique to predict new target diseases for existing drugs. The researchers developed a computational method that compares how similar the structures of all...
Will Europe Be Powered by the Sahara
(PhysOrg.com) -- Europe has long been interested in developing alternative energy sources. And, one of the more interesting places that some Europeans are looking for solar power is the Sahara....
Rice U. lab leads hunt for new zeolites
In all the world, there are about 200 types of zeolite, a compound of silicon, aluminium and oxygen that gives civilisation such things as laundry detergent, kitty litter and gasoline....
Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing
Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibres that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics. The result...
Assuring Quality In Lightweight Construction
Aerospace, automotive and airplane construction count on lightweight construction. But to make sure that lightening the load does not come at the cost of safety, researchers are working on new...
Trident Laser Accelerates Protons To Record Energies
An international team of physicists has succeeded in using intense laser light to accelerate protons to energies never before achieved. Using this technique, scientists can now accelerate particles to extremely...
Powerful laser sheds light on fast ignition and high energy density physics
A new generation of high-energy (>kJ) petawatt (HEPW) lasers is being constructed worldwide to study high intensity laser matter interactions, including fast ignition. Fast ignition is a laser-based technique for...
'Missing Link' In Immune Response To Disease: Sheer Mechanical Force
How do T cells shift so swiftly from being both jury and executioner when it comes to disease? Researchers report using an array of techniques -- including "optical tweezers" that...
Upping the power triggers an ordered helical plasma
If you keep twisting a straight elastic string, at some moment it starts kinking in a wild way. Something similar occurs when one increases the electrical current flowing in a...
Bacteria mix it up at the microscopic level
(PhysOrg.com) -- Many hands -- or many flagella -- make light work. In studies of the motion of tiny swimming bacteria, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National...
Video: Gore's Climate Solution
Katie Couric speaks with former VP Al Gore about the need to switch from undependable, insecure, foreign sources of energy in favor of alternative energy.
Observatory: The Role of Air Pressure in Starting a Landslide
Researchers found that the weight of the atmosphere could push a delicately balanced landslide to advance.
High-performance plasmas may make reliable, efficient fusion power a reality
In the quest to produce nuclear fusion energy, researchers from the DIII-D National Fusion Facility have recently confirmed long-standing theoretical predictions that performance, efficiency and reliability are simultaneously obtained in...
Flipping a photonic shock wave
A team of physicists has directly observed a reverse shock wave of light in a specially tailored structure known as a left-handed metamaterial. Although it was first predicted over forty...
Proven Method Available to Significantly Reduce Energy Consumption in Street Lighting
Experts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center (LRC) estimate that about half of the approximately 13 million streetlights in America have the opportunity to significantly reduce energy consumption by...
Science Begins at the World's Most Powerful X-ray Laser (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The first experiments are now underway using the world's most powerful X-ray laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source, located at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory....
Flying MAV Navigates Without GPS (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- During the last several years, researchers have been building micro air vehicles (MAVs) that can autonomously fly through different environments by relying on GPS for navigation. Recently, a...
Creating a six-qubit cluster state
(PhysOrg.com) -- Many scientists believe that quantum entanglement is required in order for effective quantum computing. Entanglement takes place when there is a connection that exists between two objects - even when they...
Wireless Devices Overwhelm Nature's Signals
The "electronic fog" of manmade signals could dampen scientific discoveries.
Research Continues On Secure, Mobile, Quantum Communications
Researchers are investigating long-distance, mobile optical links imperative for secure quantum communications capabilities in theater. They have conducted high data-rate experiments using an optical laser link, a tool which exploits...
High-Risk Energy Projects Get Funds
Grants: Big winners include Foro Energy, DuPont, and MIT.
Sparking A Sign Of Life
Crystal Growth: Specialized light source drives formation of optically pure amino acid derivatives.
Danish nanowires have great potential
Danish nanophysicists have developed a new method for manufacturing the cornerstone of nanotechnology research - nanowires. The discovery has great potential for the development of nanoelectronics and highly efficient solar...
Efficient Eucalyptus chemistry
Eucalyptus leaves can be used as a greener way to produce a valuable chemical used in fragrances and pharmaceuticals
The Ring Nebula
The diversity of colours, shapes, and sizes of planetary nebulae make them fascinating objects. In this photo release Calar Alto presents a rather unique view combining both optical and near-infrared...
Celebrating chemistry
Today 800 chemists will gather to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of chemistry as an academic subject
GM traces cause chemical feedstock shortage
Chemical producers brace for shortages as thousands of tonnes of raw material are stranded in port due to traces of GM crops
Acid solution for nanotube fibres
Carbon nanotubes can be dissolved in chlorosulfonic acid for easy processing