Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Carbon nanotubes could make efficient solar cells
Using a carbon nanotube instead of traditional silicon, Cornell researchers have created the basic elements of a solar cell that hopefully will lead to much more efficient ways of converting...
Using Cleanup Bacteria to Render Radioactive Metals Chemically Inert
Scrubbing sites of radiation is no easy task, not to mention costly. Aside from all the technical hurdles, the potential health hazards drive up the cost further, making it feasible in only...
Drug Detection: Space-age Technology And Crime Research Combine For New Development
Researchers have combined crime research and space-age technology in ways that could lead to the quick detection of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in a black market currently worth an estimated $40 billion...
Environmentally 'Green' Beer: Munich Brewing Engineers Research Energy Savings
Brewing engineers in Germany are investigating a new process combination that could enable beer makers to cut their energy consumption by as much as 20 percent. They propose a new...
Bananas Gone Bad Glow Blue in UV-Light
(PhysOrg.com) -- Nicholas Turro of Columbia University, Bernhard Krautler of the University of Innsbruck, Austria and their colleagues have found that, as chlorophyll ages and begins to disintegrate in banana...
Thin Films Showing Promise For Solar Applications
Researchers in Israel have developed thin films that exhibit carrier multiplication. This development is of great interest for future solar cells. The team demonstrated that for a given photon energy,...
Measuring the next successful antennas for in-body health monitoring devices
Antennas for the latest implanted medical devices are being developed by Queen Mary University of London and tested through a unique piece of kit at the UK's National Physical Laboratory...
Electrical circuit runs entirely off power in trees
You've heard about flower power. What about tree power? It turns out that it's there, in small but measurable quantities. There's enough power in trees for University of Washington researchers...
Wind power: Obama's promises just hot air so far
President Barack Obama is still at least a year away from seeing wind turbines take root anywhere off the U.S. coast, even though his administration has promised to make offshore...
China Plans World's Largest Solar Power Plant
First Solar just signed an agreement with China to build the biggest solar power plant yet, according to a statement released today by the company. The 2-gigawatt plant in the Mongolian desert will...
Microbiology Takes On Oil Spills
Microbiologists from the University of Essex have shown they can break down and remove toxic compounds from crude oil and tar sands using microbes. These acidic compounds persist in the environment,...
Electroluminescence from Electrolyte-Gated Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors
Field-effect transistors (FETs) based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) exhibit a range of optoelectronic effects including near-infrared electroluminescence.
Hot and Cold Moves of Cyanide and Water
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have long known that molecules dance about as the temperature rises, but now researchers know the exact steps that water takes with a certain molecule. Results with...
A Theory of Dark Matter
Among the most astounding, unexpected, and important achievements of the past century (or even more) have been the discoveries of dark matter and dark energy, collectively dubbed the "dark sector."
Researchers Boost Production of Biofuel that Could Replace Gasoline
Engineers at Ohio State University have found a way to double the production of the biofuel butanol, which might someday replace gasoline in automobiles.
Bio-Enabled Technique Produces Nanocomposites
Using thin films of silk as templates, researchers have incorporated inorganic nanoparticles that join with the silk to form strong and flexible composite structures that have unusual optical and mechanical...
Optical Atomic Clock Becomes Portable
Optical clocks like the strontium clock in the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig could be the atomic clocks of the future; some of them though are already ten times more...
'NanoPen' May Write New Chapter In Nanotechnology Manufacturing
Researchers in California are reporting development of a so-called "NanoPen" that could provide a quick, convenient way of laying down patterns of nanoparticles -- from wires to circuits -- for...
Quiet hybrid cars a risk for the blind
One appeal of a hybrid or electric car is its super-quiet drive. But worries are growing that blind people may be endangered by that silence.
Scientists Build Nanostructures out of Single DNA Strands
(PhysOrg.com) -- With its unique double-helical structure, DNA has the ability to be used as a programmable building material to construct designer nanoscale architectures. Complex DNA architectures could have a...
World's smallest parrot filmed
The world's smallest parrot has been filmed in the wild for the first time by a BBC expedition team.
Nanoelectronic Transistor Combined With Biological Machine Could Lead To Better Electronics
If artificial devices could be combined with biological machines, laptops and other electronic devices could get a boost in operating efficiency. Researchers have now devised a versatile hybrid platform that...
Belle Finds a Hint of New Physics in Extremely Rare B Decays
(PhysOrg.com) -- Quarks, the most fundamental constituents of matters, are classified into six species grouped into three generations as predicted by Professors Kobayashi and Maskawa. The purpose of the B...
IBM Scientists Effectively Eliminate Wear at the Nanoscale
(PhysOrg.com) -- IBM scientists have demonstrated a promising and practical method that effectively eliminates the mechanical wear in the nanometer-sharp tips used in scanning probe-based techniques. This discovery can potentially...
Metaklett, A Steely Hook And Loop Fastener
Hook and loop fasteners made of spring steel -- similar to Velcro devices but much stronger -- have been developed by researchers in Germany. These fasteners are resistant to chemicals,...
Security and Science: Energy and Logistics
“But to focus on combat vehicles is to miss the more important usage and dependency trends. In a study of fuel use in Iraq, the Marines found that only 10...
Huntsman To Buy Most Of Tronox
Acquisition: Deal will make Huntsman the world?s second largest maker of titanium dioxide.
Crystalline Wiggle Room
Host-Guest Mystery: Trapped molecules hint that crystals may not be as rigid as presumed.