Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Effort to Create a Miniature Star Dedicated
The National Ignition Facility aims to generate nuclear fusion.
Quicker, Cheaper SARS Virus Detector -- One Easily Customizable For Other Targets
Researchers say they've made a big improvement in a new breed of electronic detectors for viruses and other biological materials -- one that may be a valuable addition to the...
Molecules which flip into their own mirror image
Catalysts do function, despite the fact that not all the chemical reactions (and partial reactions) which occur are fully understood, including those which take place during the treatment of automobile...
Non-toxic hull coating resists barnacles, may save ship owners millions
North Carolina State University engineers have created a non-toxic 'wrinkled' coating for use on ship hulls that resisted buildup of troublesome barnacles during 18 months of seawater tests, a finding...
UCSB researchers describe breakthrough in the quantum control of light
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have recently demonstrated a breakthrough in the quantum control of photons, the energy quanta of light. This is a significant result in quantum computation, and...
Lasers are making solar cells competitive
At "Laser 2009" in Munich, Germany, June 15 to 18, Fraunhofer researchers will be demonstrating how laser technology can contribute to optimizing the manufacturing costs and efficiency of solar cells.
Goal: developing the best atomic clock in the world
They are masters at working with light: the scientists at the newly founded QUEST Institute at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig. And they want to work on some of the...
Anything but the God particle
To mark the 80th birthday of the man behind the elusive particle, we're holding a competition to rename the damned thing
Particle Physics - It Matters, say UK policy makers
Report details the economic and social benefits of particle physics
Impossible Crystal: Crystallization At The Molecular Level
Molecules with five-fold symmetry arrange themselves on a surface as a two-dimensional crystal, although theoretically this ought not to be possible. Recently researchers in Switzerland have taken the first steps...
Superconducting Chips To Become Reality
Most chemical elements become superconducting at low temperatures or high pressures, but until now, copper, silver, gold, and the semiconductor germanium, for example, have all refused superconductivity. Scientists have now...
Synthetic Catalyst Mimics Nature's 'Hydrogen Economy'
By creating a model of the active site found in a naturally occurring enzyme, chemists at the University of Illinois have described a catalyst that acts like nature's most pervasive...
Aviation biofuel proves itself in tests, but is there enough?
Initial flight tests have found that jet fuel made partly of camelina, algae or other bio-feed stocks can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes by more than 50 percent, doesn't...
Study: Radio waves erase pre-cancer cells in esophagus
Heat generated by radio waves erases most pre-cancerous cells associated with chronic acid reflux, providing an alternative to surgery or the current wait-and-see approach.
Discovery of Non-blinking Semiconductor Nanocrystals Advances their Applications
(PhysOrg.com) -- Substantial advances for applications of nanocrystals in the fields requiring a continuous output of photons and high quantum efficiency may soon be realized due to discovery of non-blinking...
Improving the catalytic converters of motor vehicles
The chemical mechanism that occurs on the surface of an automotive catalytic converter has been deciphered thanks to an observation speed record established by Frédéric Thibault-Strarzyk at the Laboratoire Catalyse...
Cloaking Made Simpler, but Invisible Humans Not Yet a Reality
In recent years, optics researchers have come up with numerous concepts for invisibility cloaks--camouflaging that would effectively reroute light so as to conceal an object within. Most of those approaches...
MIT, BU engineer cellular circuits that count events
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--MIT and Boston University engineers have designed cells that can count and "remember" cellular events, using simple circuits in which a series of genes are activated in a specific...
Portable device can detect viruses in minutes
Imagine being able to detect in just a few minutes whether someone is infected with a virus. This has now become a reality, thanks to a new ultra-sensitive detector that...
Light fantastic: California fires up laser fusion machine
Success at National Ignition Facility could pave the way for commercial la
Feature: Working with antimatter
With a new piece of equipment, Dr James Sullivan and his team are exploring the potential of positrons in medical and materials research.
HD camcorders shoot great video but it's not easy to watch
If you want to buy a high-definition camcorder, no problem -- you have a range of options.
US journalism institute, entrepreneurs in news venture
A US journalism institute and four entrepreneurs announced Wednesday they have joined forces in a Silicon Valley-based venture called CircLabs aimed at financing online news.
Pink dolphin makes splash in shipping channel
What's pink, has red eyes and leaps around a Louisiana shipping channel long enough for you to believe your eyes? A rare albino bottlenose dolphin.
Physiology: Emissions control
Could hydrogen sulphide be the new nitric oxide? Katharine Sanderson reports on the rotten-egg gas that is earning a reputation in human physiology.
Fusion dreams delayed
International partners are likely to scale back the first version of the ITER reactor. Geoff Brumfiel reports.
New Gas Sensor Based on Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes
Argonne Center for Nanoscale Materials staff in the Nanofabrication & Devices Group together with collaborative users from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have fabricated a miniaturized gas sensor using hybrid nanostructures...
Exoplanet Phases Seen in Optical Light
Optical observations show night and day sides of tidally locked exoplanet.