Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Austrian breakthrough in quantum cryptography: report
Austrian physicists say a breakthrough in next-generation quantum cryptography could allow encrypted messages to be bounced off satellites, the British journal Nature reported Sunday.
Tiny Lasers Plug The 'Green Gap'
Compact lasers which can work in formerly inaccessible parts of the spectrum and are suitable for mass production are now within reach.
Berkeley researchers create an 'invisibility cloak'
The great science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke famously noted the similarities between advanced technology and magic. This summer on the big screen, the young wizard Harry Potter will once...
Storing A Lightning Bolt In Glass For Portable Power
Materials researchers have reported the highest known breakdown strength for a bulk glass ever measured. Breakdown strength, along with dielectric constant, determines how much energy can be stored in an...
Iron-arsenic superconductors in class of their own
Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have experimentally demonstrated that the superconductivity mechanism in the recently-discovered iron-arsenide superconductors is unique compared to all other known classes of...
Researchers construct carbon nanotube device that can detect colours of the rainbow
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have created the first carbon nanotube device that can detect the entire visible spectrum of light, a feat that could soon allow scientists to probe...
Neural networks used to improve wind speed forecasting
'The aim of the hybrid method we have developed is to predict the wind speed in each of the aerogenerators in a wind farm,' explained Sancho Salcedo, an engineer at...
Slide Show: Exoskeletons Give New Life to Legs
NEW YORK--In advance of their debut at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit April 20, Honda gave ScientificAmerican.com a preview of two devices designed to assist the...
Supersolids seen in new light
Theory tips atomic vacancies, while experiment points to ‘superglass’ behaviour
Magnetic Twisters "Dance" Across Mercury, Study Says
The same process that drives auroras on Earth is ten times more intense on tiny Mercury, where it creates invisible whirlwinds of particles, data from a NASA craft have revealed.
Probing Question: Is indoor air pollution really a problem?
A popular television commercial from the 1970s shows a Native American man in buckskin and feathers paddling his canoe through ink-black waters, past refineries billowing smoke. He comes aground on...
Lasers can detect melamine in baby formula
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., April 30 (UPI) -- A Purdue University scientist says she has found a way to detect trace amounts of melamine in infant formula using readily...
Understanding stellar explosions is less straightforward than previously thought
(PhysOrg.com) -- Stellar explosions called novæ are caused by nuclear reactions between the star's atoms. In order to better understand such violent phenomena, astrophysicists study the radiation emitted by certain...
Synthesis with a template: Carbon-free fullerene analogue
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team led by Manfred Scheer at the University of Regensburg has now synthesized the first example of an inorganic, carbon-free C80 analogue.
Smart Charger Controller simplifies electric vehicle recharging (w/Video)
Electric vehicle owners can plug in their cars and forget about them, knowing they'll get the cheapest electricity available and won't crash the grid - using a new technology called...
Method To Integrate Plasmon-based Nanophotonic Circuitry With State-of-the-art ICs Developed
Scientists have developed a method to integrate high-speed CMOS electronics and nanophotonic circuitry based on plasmonic effects. Metal-based nanophotonics (plasmonics) can squeeze light into nanoscale structures that are much smaller...
A software to improve the design of aircraft wings
TECNALIA and AERNNOVA are working together on the ICARO project to develop MDO (Multidisciplinary Optimisation) software aimed at optimising the design of aircraft wings and thus reduce the main design...
Nanostitch makes light work of wounds
Clean Tech’s Future Dims as Financing Drops Off
Venture capitalists are backing off and clean-tech entrepreneurs are wondering what the next few years will feel like.
From Smokestacks to Your Tank
One audacious idea about what to do about CO2 emissions: recycle the carbon by turning it into liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
A Clean Energy Machine That Works Like the Sun
What could be the world’s most expensive clean energy project is getting under way in a quiet corner of southern France.
Generating Energy From the Deep
Reviewing the many efforts under way to generate renewable power from the ocean.
Solar Tech: Not Just on the Roof Anymore
New technology could place flexible miniature solar cells in unconventional places: on power-generating windows, car sunroofs or even awnings.
High Marks For New Technology For Fingerprint Identification
Overworked crime scene investigators can take heart at the results of recent tests of new technologies that automate the manual portion of latent fingerprint identification.
Fledgling graphene circuit performs basic logic
Physicists take a step closer to carbon-based electronics
Climate crunch: Sucking it up
It's simple to mop carbon dioxide out of the air, but it could cost a lot of money. In the second of three features on the carbon challenge, Nicola Jones...
UCSD Engineering Students Drive Into the Future With Electric Racecar
A group of engineering students at UC San Diego are helping to fuel the trend toward `green` vehicles by designing and building an electric racecar. The students, who are members...