Using High-precision Laser Tweezers To Juggle Cells

Researchers have developed a new method to study single cells while exposing them to controlled environmental changes. The unique method, where a set of laser tweezers move the cell around...

Europium Found To Be A Superconductor

Of the 92 naturally occurring elements, add another to the list of those that are superconductors. Scientist have discovered that europium becomes superconducting at 1.8 K (-456 °F) and 80...

Environmentally-friendly Cooling With Magnetic Refrigerators Coming Soon

Scientists are a step closer to making environmentally-friendly 'magnetic' refrigerators and air conditioning systems a reality.

Progress toward artificial tissue?

For modern implants and the growth of artificial tissue and organs, it is important to generate materials with characteristics that closely emulate nature. However, the tissue in our bodies has...

New Fuel Cell Catalyst Uses Two Metals: Up To Five Times More Effective

Material scientists have developed a technique for a bimetallic fuel cell catalyst that is efficient, robust and two to five times more effective than commercial catalysts. The novel technique eventually...

Graphene Yields Secrets To Its Extraordinary Properties

Applying innovative measurement techniques, researchers have directly measured the unusual energy spectrum of graphene, a technologically promising, two-dimensional form of carbon that has tantalized and puzzled scientists since its discovery...

Self-assembly now easier to control

Nature has long perfected the construction of nanomachines, but David Gonzalez and his fellow researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology and Utrecht University under the leadership of Spinoza Award winner...

Controllable double quantum dots and Klein tunnelling in nanotubes

Researchers from the Kavli Institute of NanoScience in Delft are the first to have successfully captured a single electron in a highly tunable carbon nanotube double quantum dot. This was...

New 'Smart' Polymer Reduces Radioactive Waste At Nuclear Power Plants

Scientists have developed a new polymer that reduces the amount of radioactive waste produced during routine operation of nuclear reactors. 

Bright white light from organic LEDs

Physicists switch on energy efficient light bulb made from organic phosphor

Sen. Graham Perpetuates Myth: Torture Used Because it Works

Lindsey Graham (R-SC) defended the Bush administration's interrogation techniques.

Study may lead to new electronic devices

GAITHERSBURG, Md., May 14 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they have developed a technique using a silicon crystal as a type of nanoscale vice to squeeze another crystal...

New Method For Producing Transparent Conductors Developed

Researchers have outlined a new method for producing a graphene -- carbon nanotube (G-CNT) hybrid, which is a high performance transparent conductor. Placing both graphite oxide and carbon nanotubes in...

Rensselaer names new dean of the School of Engineering

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute today announced David Rosowsky will join the university as dean of the School of Engineering. The appointment is effective 15 July...

High-tech sensor for pinpointing blocked sewers wins top innovation award

A new sensor that will allow engineers to rapidly identify blockages and damage to sewer pipes has today won a GBP155,000 Brian Mercer Award for Innovation from the Royal Society....

Microfluidic paper passes the litmus test

Spitzer catches star cooking up comet crystals

Scientists have long wondered how tiny silicate crystals, which need sizzling high temperatures to form, have found their way into frozen comets, born in the deep freeze of the solar...

Holography generates porous crystals

A polar solvent is the key to making polymeric photonic crystals that could be used as biological sensors

Of traffic jams, beach sands and the zero-temperature jamming transition

Researchers in condensed matter physics at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago have created an experimental and computer model to study how jamming, the physical process in...

New Nanotube Coating Enables Novel Laser Power Meter

The US military can now calibrate high-power laser systems, such as those intended to defuse unexploded mines, more quickly and easily thanks to a novel nanotube-coated power measurement device.

See The Force: Mechanical Stress Leads To Self-sensing In Solid Polymers

Parachute cords, climbing ropes, and smart coatings for bridges that change color when overstressed are several possible uses for force-sensitive polymers being developed by researchers.

Jerky Curveball: It's All An Illusion

Look at the spinning ball directly. It seems to fly straight. But look at the blue dot and the ball's spin fools your brain into thinking that the ball is...

The Truth about Angels, Demons and Antimatter

An antimatter explosion in "Angels and Demons" leaves physicists unfazed by this plot.

Chemists see first building blocks to life on Earth

British scientists said on Wednesday that they had figured out key steps in the process by which life on Earth may have emerged from a seething soup of simple chemicals.

Tiny cameras have big market

Having earned a reputation helping other companies make smaller and faster semiconductors, San Jose-based Tessera now hopes to use its miniature camera technology to revolutionize how a wide array of...

Chicago Bans Bottles With BPA Plastic

Chicago has passed the nation’s first ban on baby bottles and cups that contain the chemical bisphenol-A.

Tracking your data using RFID

Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, is a generic term for technology that uses radio waves to identify people or objects. Information ranging from a simple serial number to more complex...

Quantum Dots That Don't Blink

Core structure suppresses blinking and leads to unusual spectral behavior