Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
3-month estimate for isotopes reactor repair 'optimistic': AECL
The operator of a shut-down Ontario nuclear reactor that supplies 30 per cent of the world's medical isotopes now says it will probably take longer than three months to repair...
Toward Cheap Underwater Sensor Nets
Computer scientists are one step closer to building low cost networks of underwater sensors for real time underwater environmental monitoring. New research highlights the energy conservation benefits of using reconfigurable...
New Rotors Could Help Develop Nanoscale Generators
Scientists have developed a molecular structure that could help create current-generating machines at the nanoscale.
Carbon capture technology tested
Carbon capture technology is tested for the first time on a working UK power station, at Longannet in Fife.
Evidence of macroscopic quantum tunnelling detected in nanowires
A team of researchers at the University of Illinois has demonstrated that, counter to classical Newtonian mechanics, an entire collection of superconducting electrons in an ultrathin superconducting wire is able...
Metals with diamonds
Material scientists are developing composites which are made of dissimilar materials in order to be able to offer new customised application profiles. Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology (TU)...
What the Sotomayor Nomination Means for Technology
With their shapeless black robes and lined faces, the justices of the Supreme Court do not project a particularly cutting-edge image. And for the most part, that's not a problem....
Vehicles That Drive Themselves
The thought of a car or truck that can drive itself is at once both exciting and frightening. Autonomous vehicle navigation, as the technology is known, may make life more...
First 'nanorust' field test slated in Mexico
Rice University researchers today announced that the first field tests of "nanorust," the university's revolutionary, low-cost technology for removing arsenic from drinking water, will begin later this year in Guanajuato,...
Sulphur in just one hair could blow a terrorist's alibi
A group of researchers from the LGC Chemical Metrology Laboratory in the United Kingdom and the University of Oviedo, Spain, have come up with a method to detect how the...
Understanding materials to make microdevices
In the 1990s, semiconductor companies began to incorporate a wider variety of materials into the construction of computer chips, selecting materials based on how they would perform electrically and not necessarily on how...
Gold nano-hairs find mercury
Researchers have developed a sensor that can accurately detect mercury, capturing the toxic element with miniature gold hairs.
Promising New Space Engines are Opening the Solar System
Electric ion engines; slingshot-style gravitational-assist maneuvers; ultra-light super-strong solar sails and other innovations are driving exploration forward beyond reliance on chemical rockets.
High Torque Electric Motor Being Tested
A lightweight electric motor is set to power a new four-seat coupé, with track tests scheduled for the end of 2009.
Healing With Light? Optical Technology Controls Living Cells
Star Trek scanners that fix injuries with beams of light may not be science fiction after all. A new optical technology that lines up living cells and controls their movements...
Physics: Interferometer Gets More Quiet Mirrors
In physics many subtle phenomena can be studied by allowing waves to interfere with each other. In an interferometer, light waves travel by two different paths, directed from place to...
First Multi-pixel Terahertz Modulator Created
Scientists have for the first time devised a multi-pixel modulator for light waves at terahertz (THz, or 10^12 Hz) frequencies. The formal study of THz radiation, which can be described...
Picosecond Oscilloscope
An oscilloscope is a device for displaying signals that are too fast to be seen by the human eye. Typically the signal consists of a voltage level that changes quickly...
Sharp Introduces New Solar Module for Mobile Devices
Sharp Corporation has developed and will introduce into the global market the new LR0GC02 Solar Module for Mobile Devices that features a thickness of 0.8 mm, the industry's thinnest level.
Before God particle, scientists must learn soul of new machine
After a huge success in first testing, followed by a very public meltdown last September, the Large Hadron Collider may be ready for action again as early as June.
Droplets Manipulated On Nanostructured Silicon Surfaces
Researchers have studied silicon micro and nanofabrication methods, which have a large number of applications. They have found a novel nanopatterned silicon surface that allows almost limitless manipulation of water...
One Sponge-Like Material, Three Different Applications
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new sponge-like material that is black, brittle and freeze-dried (just like the ice cream astronauts eat) can pull off some pretty impressive feats. Designed by Northwestern University...
Commodity Prices a Speed Trap for Biodiesel Production
Some already are labeling it the “Great Biodiesel Shutdown of 2009,” but whatever you call it, America’s effort to supplant petroleum-based diesel with renewable biofuel is having a breakdown this...
Viruses count quantum dots
Measuring quantum dot concentrations using viruses could lead to improved cancer imaging
Singaporean scientists conduct world's first remote X-ray scattering experiment
On 26th May, Nanyang Technological University's School of Biological Science (SBS) will pioneer the world's first remotely controlled Solution X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) experiment. The experiment will be initiated from Singapore...
Students Make Biodiesel from Waste Vegetable Oil
A group of Virginia Tech students have produced more than 200 gallons of biodiesel as part of a senior design project. They are using it in two pickup trucks.
With High-Speed Camera, Glimpsing Worlds Too Fast for the Eye
A hummingbird’s wings or a boxer’s punch, seen in new ways on TV.
Novel Approach Estimates Nanoparticles In Environment
Without knowing how much of an industrial chemical is being produced, it is almost impossible for scientists to determine if it poses any threat to the environment or human health....