Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Tiny device is first complete “quantum computer”
NIST researchers demonstrate sustained quantum computing in trapped ions
IEEE-USA commends DOE's $2.4 billion grants to accelerate development of electric vehicles
WASHINGTON (7 August 2009) -- IEEE-USA commends the Department of Energy for awarding $2.4 billion in grants to fund 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects.
Carbon nanoparticles toxic to adult fruit flies but benign to young
Carbon nanoparticles are widely used in medicine, electronics, optics, materials science and architecture, but their health and environmental impact is not fully understood...
Hormone levels contribute to stress resilience
It is important to understand what biological mechanisms contribute to an individual's capacity to be resilient under conditions of extreme stress, such as those regularly experienced by soldiers, police, and...
Bringing solar power to the masses
On a 104-degree Friday in July when sunlight bathed The University of Arizona campus, doctoral student Dio Placencia sat before a noisy vacuum chamber in the Chemical Sciences Building trying...
All-in-One Nanoparticle: A 'Swiss Army Knife' For Nanomedicine
Nanoparticles are being developed to perform a wide range of medical uses -- imaging tumors, carrying drugs, delivering pulses of heat. Rather than settling for just one of these, researchers...
Using less energy for more water
Professor Kevin Lansey, head of the department of civil engineering and engineering mechanics at The University of Arizona, and four of his UA colleagues have been awarded $2 million by...
Are we heading for a repeat of 1986-87's Superconductor-mania?
In the August issue of Physics Today, there is an article entitled "Iron-based superconductors" by the magazine's senior editor, Charles Day. The magazine summarizes it this way: "For 22 years...
CBS' Rhino Probe Prompts Safety Reminder
Consumer Product Safety Commission Issues Advisory Urging Yamaha Rhino Owners to Seek Safety Upgrade
How a gecko knows when to get a grip
Researchers have solved the mystery of what triggers the gecko's famous adhesion mechanism. Gecko-inspired technologies could include robots that scuttle up and down the outsides of spacecraft looking for damage – and spiderman...
Tires Made From Trees: Better, Cheaper, More Fuel Efficient
Automobile owners around the world may some day soon be driving on tires that are partly made out of trees -- which could cost less, perform better and save on...
Nanoscale Lasers May Open Door To Faster Computers, More Reliable Internet Access
Engineers have found ways to make nanolasers smaller, opening up possibilities of integrating lasers more effectively with electronics components. Among results would be computers that operate more rapidly and efficiently,...
Lab-on-a-Chip Can Carry Out Over 1,000 Chemical Reactions at Once
Labs-on-a-chip are generally so specialized and specific in what they do, it's futile to try and explain what makes them particularly special. But in the case of this LoC from UCLA faculty, here's...
Zipping photovoltaics up straight
Straightening the backbone of supramolecular self-assembling photovoltaic devices leads to dramatic improvements in device performance
Intelligent Crutch With Sensors To Monitor Usage
A forearm crutch which incorporates sensor technology to monitor whether it is being used correctly has been developed by engineers.
1930s Home Goes Green
A 1930s house built in 2008 is about to undergo the first of three energy efficiency upgrades which will ultimately convert an energy inefficient house into a zero carbon home...
Alternative energy at Iraqi checkpoints
BAGHDAD, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Coalition forces engineers say they're meeting electricity challenges in remote areas of Iraq by building alternative energy systems for border checkpoints.
Sask. isotope reactor could cost $750M
The government of Saskatchewan Tuesday released its proposal for a Saskatoon-based nuclear reactor, with a potential price tag of up to $750M, to supply medical-grade isotopes and be used in...
Fire Meets Ice: Superhot And Supercold Remarkably Similar In The 'Fermion' World (w/ Video)
Trapping and cooling a microscopic clump of gas and then suddenly releasing it would normally result in the gas rapidly expanding outward in all directions, like a spherical bubble.
Slow start for a big bang
Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: Due to some nagging glitches, the "big bangs" created at the world's largest particle collider won't get as big as quickly as researchers had hoped.
Safe Chemicals
American Chemistry Council lays out plans for modernizing federal chemical law.
LED lights build communication network
(PhysOrg.com) -- Imagine a world where bright, energy-sipping, cheap, durable LEDs light the world. A world where if you have enough light to see, you are connected. The University of...
Low-Budget Fusion Reactor Could Generate Energy within a Decade
(PhysOrg.com) -- Currently, most nuclear fusion power plants are large, expensive projects that will take decades to benefit from. But a startup company in Vancouver, Canada, called General Fusion is...
Jet-propelled Imaging for an Ultrafast Light Source
(PhysOrg.com) -- John Spence, a physicist at Arizona State University, is a longtime user of the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he has contributed to major...
Electric car battery-maker gets $17M from Ontario
A Mississauga-based company that makes batteries for electric cars will get $17 million from the Ontario government to expand its operation.
Thirsk shares life in space with teachers
Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk and an American colleague gave Canadian teachers a rare glimpse into life in space on Tuesday, talking about their day-to-day lives in orbit, from drinking recycled...
With help of DNA, nanotubes may become a bigger force
In his neatly ordered lab at DuPont, chemist Ming Zheng slides open a glass cabinet and removes a flask of soot that could have been swept from someone's fireplace.
Electric setbacks plague particle collider
GENEVA, Switzerland, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The world's largest particle accelerator, featured in "Angels & Demons" making antimatter, is riddled with electrical problems, European officials concede.