Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Vital Signs: Childbirth: Technique Measures Placenta’s Volume
Researchers have developed an easy method of measuring the volume of the placenta during pregnancy.
From Graphene To Graphane, Now The Possibilities Are Endless
Ever since graphene was discovered in 2004, this one-atom thick, super strong, carbon-based electrical conductor has been billed as a “wonder material” that some physicists think could one day replace...
New Microbe Strain Makes More Electricity, Faster
In their most recent experiments with Geobacter, the sediment-loving microbe whose hairlike filaments help it to produce electric current from mud and wastewater, scientists supervised the evolution of a new...
Parity violation in ytterbium is largest ever seen
Berkeley physicists boost parity violation to explore weak force
Nissan rolls out electric car at new headquarters
(AP) -- Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn drove quietly out of the Japanese automaker's soon-to-open headquarters Sunday in the first public viewing of its new zero-emission vehicle.
Opinion: Nuclear suicide
Although scientists are warning of the environmental impact of nuclear conflict, countries around the world still hold reserves of nuclear arsenals. Stephen Starr and Peter King discuss this global paradox...
Health complaints linked to former NASA site in Downey
A toxic cleanup paved the way for Downey Studios. But people who worked on films there say they developed conditions from which they haven't recovered. The source of their problems remains a mystery. In...
New Yeasts Could Help Fast-Track Biofuel Production
A new yeast that makes ethanol from both five-carbon and six-carbon sugars without needing oxygen has now been developed. This could be an important breakthrough in industrial ethanol production, because...
Mexico harnesses nanotech for clean water
A new research project headed up by Mexico will use nanotechnology and biotechnology for water purification.
Micro flying robots can fly more effectively than flies
There is a long held belief among engineers and biologists that micro flying robots that fly like airplanes and helicopters consume much more energy than micro robots that fly like...
The guiding of light: A new metamaterial device steers beams along complex pathways
Using a composite metamaterial to deliver a complex set of instructions to a beam of light, Boston College physicists have created a device to guide electromagnetic waves around objects such...
Fire risk 'super' ants discovered
Ants believed to have a "fatal attraction" to electricity are found at a National Trust property in Gloucestershire.
Prototype, 7-foot-tall sanitiser automates disinfection of hard-to-clean hospital equipment
Johns Hopkins experts in applied physics, computer engineering, infectious diseases, emergency medicine, microbiology, pathology and surgery have unveiled a 7-foot-tall, $10,000 shower-cubicle-shaped device that automatically sanitises in 30 minutes all...
Opening A New Window On Daylight, While Reducing Electricity Consumption
A new approach to windows could let in more light and cut indoor lighting needs by up to 99 percent in buildings in Tropical regions without losing the cooling effect...
Fungus Makes Zombie Ants Do All the Work
Problem: you’re a fungus that can only flourish at a certain temperature, humidity, location and distance from the ground but can’t do the legwork to find that perfect spot yourself. Solution: hijack an...
Fossil Fuels without the Fossils?
A theory long on the fringes of petroleum science gained some support from new research this week, but it is probably not enough to launch the concept into the mainstream. The idea: What...
Laser technique cuts costs on submarine
QUONSET POINT, R.I., July 31 (UPI) -- An innovative laser-imaging technique could save taxpayers $15.5 million during the building of the Virginia-class submarine, U.S. engineers said.
UCSD engineer provides insights to decades-old DNA squabble
A group of nanoengineers, biologists and physicists have used innovative approaches to deduce the internal structure of chromatin, a key player in DNA regulation, to reconcile a longstanding controversy in...
Nanoparticles take on terrorism
Chinese scientists have used sunlight and DNA to make bimetallic nanoparticles that can detect tiny amounts of explosives
Novel natural product from environmental DNA: Erdacin is a powerful antioxidant
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have not yet found a way to turn dirt into gold, but they are trying to find something valuable in it nonetheless: starting materials for novel pharmaceuticals.
Scientists refine, redefine seawater equation
This summer, one of the world's leading ocean science bodies, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO's) and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) adopted the new international thermodynamic equation...
Discovery about behaviour of building block of nature could lead to computer revolution
A team of physicists from the Universities of Cambridge and Birmingham have shown that electrons in narrow wires can divide into two new particles called spinons and a holons...
Membrane breaks through performance barrier
Engineers have developed a new method for creating high-performance membranes from crystal sieves called zeolites; the method could increase the energy efficiency of chemical separations up to 50 times over...
Smoothing out plasmonic surfaces
Researchers have found a way to make smooth, patterned metal films that could be used in devices that manipulate electromagnetic waves called plasmons
Leaked Conversation Suggests EEStor's Battery-Killing Ultracapacitor Is Nearly Complete
Capable of charging in a matter of minutes and powering an electric car for 300 miles, the ultracapacitor could power tomorrow's electric cars We've been closely following EEStor's potentially game-changing ultracapacitor--a technology that...
Restart of Large Hadron Collider now November
(AP) -- Repairs to two small helium leaks in the world's largest atom smasher will delay the restart of the giant machine another month until November, a spokesman for...
Dot Earth: How Many D's in Obama's Energy Pledge?
Experts worry that the Obama energy innovation plan is light on "transformational" research.
Closing the terahertz gap could lead to better nanodevices
(PhysOrg.com) -- "The terahertz regime has become of particular interest simply because it may allow us to look into materials in a completely new way," Diego Kienle tells PhysOrg.com. "This...