Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
New Material Could Expand Applications And Lower Costs For Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
A new ceramic material could help expand the applications for solid oxide fuel cells -- devices that generate electricity directly from a wide range of liquid or gaseous fuels without...
Quantum Computer Chips Now One Step Closer To Reality
In the quest for smaller, faster computer chips, researchers are increasingly turning to quantum mechanics -- the exotic physics of the small. The problem: the manufacturing techniques required to make...
Wellcome Awards: The Most Stunning Medical Images of 2009
Every year, a panel of judges at London's Wellcome Collection of medical photographs selects the best of the year's acquisitions. This striking collection, reproduced here, represents the best medical images...
Rabbit Droppings Part of Nuclear Cleanup
Rabbits burrowing at nuclear waste sites have carried the contaminants in their digestive tracts.
Powerhouses in the cell dismantled
All of life is founded on the interactions of millions of proteins. These are the building blocks for cells and form the molecular mechanisms of life. The problem is that...
Tiny test tube experiment shows reaction of melting materials at the nano scale
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have conducted a basic chemistry experiment in what is perhaps the world's smallest test tube, measuring a thousandth the diameter of a...
Bunny boilers - Stockholm 'burning rabbits to produce heat'
Swedes have mixed reactions after hearing reports of rabbits being used to produce renewable heat.
'Magnetricity' observed and measured for the first time
(PhysOrg.com) -- A magnetic charge can behave and interact just like an electric charge in some materials, according to new research led by the London Centre for Nanotechnology.
Patent challenges reduce pharmaceutical innovation and productivity, researchers say
The development of new and innovative pharmaceuticals is being stifled by a U.S. law and successful patent challenges that embolden generic competition, according to an article published in this week's...
Tongue's sour-sensing cells taste carbonation
Protein splits carbon dioxide to give fizz its flavor
Interactions Between Massless Particles May Lead To Speedy, Powerful Electronic Devices
Researchers have discovered novel electronic properties in two-dimensional sheets of carbon atoms called graphene that could one day be the heart of speedy and powerful electronic devices. The new findings,...
Open Lid Reveals Mercury
(PhysOrg.com) -- Mercury, the silvery liquid formerly used in thermometers, is now known to be highly toxic. The worst of the toxins are organic mercury compounds, such as methylmercury. Most...
Optical conveyor belt gathers up molecules
Researchers have developed a way to ‘round up’ biological molecules and trap them in a confined space using nothing more than light
Australia 'open' to atomic energy
More Australians - nearly half - view nuclear power as useful in the fight against climate change, a new survey suggests.
Feds, Alberta pledge $779M to carbon-capture project
The federal and Alberta governments pledged nearly $780 million Wednesday to retrofit a coal-fired electricity generation plant to capture and store some of the carbon dioxide generated from the project.
Exotic Quasicrystal Structures May Be More Normal Than Assumed
Quasicrystals are a relative newcomer to the field of materials science, having been discovered just 25 years ago. Nudging their way between amorphous solids such as glass and crystals such as quartz, the...
Weird "Particles" Spotted in Hot New Material
Observation in graphene could be sign of even stranger things to come [Read more]
Chemistry Team Seeks to Use Artificial Photosynthesis and Nanotubes to Generate Hydrogen Fuel with Sunlight
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of four chemists at the University of Rochester have begun work on a new kind of system to derive usable hydrogen fuel from water using only...
Carbon capture shows major potential in China
(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies may represent a cost-effective, viable option to help China continue to meet its growing energy demands while also delivering deep and sustained...
Quantum-limited Measurement Method for Nanosensors
(PhysOrg.com) -- (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and the Ludwig Maximilians University have succeeded in applying a novel optical method to...
Device-to-device Wi-Fi on the way
Electronic devices such as cellphones, computers, televisions and DVD players will soon be able to connect to each other wirelessly through a new Wi-Fi technology expected to be released next...
Review: Windows 7 strong, but don't pay to upgrade
(AP) -- Next week, Microsoft is releasing Windows 7, a slick, much improved operating system that should go a long way toward erasing the bad impression left by its...
Researchers uncover recipe for controlling carbon nanotubes
(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes hold promise for delivering medicine directly to a tumor; acting as sensors so keen they detect the arrival or departure of a single electron; replacing costly...
Computers Faster Only for 75 More Years? Physicists determine nature's limit to making faster processors
With the speed of computers so regularly seeing dramatic increases in their processing speed, it seems that it shouldn't be too long before the machines become infinitely fast -- except...
Unique new MAV operates with high aerodynamic efficiency
A French researcher, funded by the European Office of Aerospace Research and Development, in London, England and the French DoD has designed a rugged micro air vehicle (MAV) that is...
The Self-managing, 'Unbreakable' Internet?
High-powered internet applications typically need teams of experts to maintain them. Not any more, say European researchers who have built a system to create applications that manage and fix themselves.
Ultra-low Power Actuator Suitable For In-vivo Biomedical Applications
Researchers have developed an actuator that runs on ultra-low power and that is watertight. This innovative combination of characteristics makes the actuator especially suited for use in in-vivo biomedical applications,...
Egypt to accept patent applications in Arabic
Patent applications can be filed and processed in Arabic for the first time, thanks to the newly enhanced status of Egypt's patent office.