Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Iowa State researchers developing clean, renewable energy for ethanol industry
Iowa State University researchers are working to produce clean, renewable energy by developing a new, low-emissions burner and a new catalyst for ethanol production.
Nanotechnology: Bristly Spheres As Capsules for Drugs
Researchers have produced amphiphilic hybrid particles made of a water-insoluble inorganic nanoparticle at the core surrounded by a bristle-like layer of hydrophilic polymer chains. The polymer-coated spheres offer a simple...
Environmentally-friendly Energy: Sunlight Turns Carbon Dioxide To Methane
Dual catalysts may be the key to efficiently turning carbon dioxide and water vapor into methane and other hydrocarbons using titania nanotubes and solar power, according to researchers. Burning fossil...
Hydrogen sulfide may boost erections
ROME, March 7 (UPI) -- U.S. and Italian researchers say hydrogen sulfide emitted by hot springs may act as a natural version of Viagra.
Students Designing Cockpit For World's Fastest Car: 1,000 Mph Record Attempt Planned
World land speed challenger Andy Green OBE visited the University of the West of England recently to try out for the first time a mock-up of the cockpit he will...
Peptides-on-demand: Radical New Green Chemistry Makes The Impossible Possible
Chemists have discovered an entirely new way of synthesizing peptides using simple reagents, a process that would be impossible in classical chemistry.
Desert Shrub, Guayule, May Be Fuel Of The Future
Superb natural latex from a desert shrub called guayule (why-YOU-lee) makes high-quality gloves, medical devices, and other in-demand natural rubber products. But guayule may also prove to be an economical,...
'Silver Nanoparticle' Microscope May Shed New Light On Cancer, Bone Diseases
In a finding that could help speed the understanding of diseases ranging from cancer to osteoporosis, researchers are reporting development of a new microscope technique that uses "silver nanoparticle" mirrors...
Chinese carbon dioxide emissions eclipse efficiency gains
Boom in manufacturing and export, construction responsible for net increase
Red tape blights European Union research programme
Independent review calls for "radical overhaul" to cut complexity.
Liquid Battery Offers Promising Solar Energy Storage Technique
(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the biggest challenges currently facing large-scale solar energy technology is finding an effective way to store the energy, which is essential for using the electricity at...
Quantum Dots - Breakthrough for Solar Cells and Lasers
Researcher Adrienne Stiff-Roberts explains how new nanotechnology can enhance and fine-tune vital optical devices.
New mobile phone runs on solar power
A phone with an integrated solar panel — aimed at those without access to electricity — will be sold later this year.
Nanochemistry in Action
(PhysOrg.com) -- Using a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) as a test tube, scientists can explore chemistry at the nanoscale, which involves some unique effects. Nanotubes provide a confined, one-dimensional space...
Big octopus packs himself inside tiny lunchbox
What is 7 feet long, weighs 30 pounds, has eight arms and fits in a box slightly larger than a milk crate?
PowerNap plan could save 75 percent of data centre energy
Putting idle servers to sleep when they're not in use is part of University of Michigan researchers' plan to save up to 75 percent of the energy that power-hungry computer...
Chemists find secret to increasing luminescence efficiency of carbon nanotubes (Animation)
Chemists at the University of Connecticut have found a way to greatly increase the luminescence efficiency of single-walled carbon nanotubes, a discovery that could have significant applications in medical imaging...
Trash Into Energy: University Unveils a Campus Renewable Bioenergy Initiative
Cornell University is turning its biotrash - vegetable oil from dining hall fryers, animal bedding from campus barns, farm waste from university research - into fuels for use on campus.
Engineers Ride 'Rogue' Laser Waves to Build Better Light Sources
A freak wave at sea is a terrifying sight. Seven stories tall, wildly unpredictable, and incredibly destructive, such waves have been known to emerge from calm waters and swallow ships...
Scientists closer to making invisibility cloak a reality
J.K. Rowling may not have realized just how close Harry Potter's invisibility cloak was to becoming a reality when she introduced it in the first book of her best-selling fictional...
Measure your bandwidth use
Q. With more Internet providers starting or threatening to start limiting and charging for bandwidth usage, it would be useful to have some idea of how much bandwidth I use...
Putting the Pressure on Iron-Based Superconductors
(PhysOrg.com) -- Traditionally, magnetism and superconductivity don't mix. For more than 20 years, the only known superconductors that worked at so-called "high" temperatures (above 30 K, or about -406 degrees...
Daylight Saving Time Facts
Get the facts behind daylight saving time in the U.S., including when to change your clocks this weekend, and why the system is run by the Department of Transportation.
Research Promises Range of Health, Defense and Environmental Applications
The ongoing research conducted by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) physics professor Sergey Mirov, Ph.D., is a kind of fingerprinting program for the 21st century. But rather than using...
Putting the science into 'Watchmen'
When the filmmakers behind "Watchmen" wanted to understand the scientific principles behind the acclaimed graphic novel, they turned to a physics professor in Minnesota.
Podcast: Extreme Engineering
In this episode of Cocktail Party Science, host Chuck Cage sits down with Popular Science writer Rena Pacella, author of Extreme Engineering and Executive Editor Mike Haney to get the...
Carbon capture cost reduced
New research has found that the cost of capturing CO2 directly from sources like power stations could be cut by as much as a quarter.
Jack Harris
A nuclear scientist, he feared the spread of atomic weapons