James Hansen's war on coal

Accelerating Urbanization Presents Daunting Engineering Challenge

Ensuring the world's fast-growing urban regions function efficiently in the future will demand a much more complex public infrastructure than anything yet designed. Engineers are facing challenges of not only...

New research identifies faster detection of viruses

A more specific and faster detection of viruses has been identified in new research by Trinity College Dublin's Professor of Physics, Martin Hegner at Trinity College's Centre of Research on...

New hydrogen purification method created

EVANSTON, Ill., Feb. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. chemists say they've developed a class of new porous materials that are very effective at purifying hydrogen by separating it from...

U.S., Chinese scientists build nanorobot

NEW YORK, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. and Chinese scientists say they've created a two-armed nanorobot that can manipulate molecules within a device built from DNA.

Nanoparticle toxicity doesn't get wacky at the smallest sizes

(PhysOrg.com) -- The smallest nano-sized silica particles used in biomedicine and engineering likely won't cause unexpected biological responses due to their size, according to work presented today. The result should...

Opinion: Defects in the target - nRET

Flaws in the design of the proposed new legislation on renewable energy targets put the success of new emission reducing technologies at risk, believes Dr Hugh Saddler.

Artificial Cells, Simple Model For Complex Structure

A simple, chemical materials model may lead to a better understanding of the structure and organization of the cell according to a researcher.

Improved Sensor Technology Could Someday Keep Tabs On Terrorists By Remote Control

Scientists are designing a new kind of optical sensor to fly in unmanned air vehicles tracking terrorists. The efficient multi-modal sensor will collect only the data it needs using the...

Ultracold gas mimics ultrahot plasma

Several years after Duke University researchers announced spectacular behaviour of a low density ultracold gas cloud, researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory have observed strikingly similar properties in a very hot...

Simplicity Is Crucial To Design Optimization At Nanoscale

Researchers who study the structure of protein-based materials to learn the key to their lightweight and robust strength have discovered that the particular arrangement of proteins that produces the sturdiest...

Canada Geese Fingered In Flight 1549 Crash

A flock of Canada Geese was responsible for the bird strike that knocked out both engines of US Airways Flight 1549, the National Transportation Safety Board says.

Scientists Prove Graphene's Edge Structure Affects Electronic Properties

Graphene, a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon, holds remarkable promise for future nanoelectronics applications. However, whether graphene actually cuts it in industry depends upon how graphene is cut, say researchers.

Kissing: It really is all about chemistry

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Valentine Lotharios beware: There's a lot riding on a kiss, new studies on the science of smooching suggest.

Ways To Minimize Tinnitus -- Troublesome Noises In The Ears

Ringing, whining, whistling, hissing or whooshing. Any of those sounds in one or both ears when there is no external noise present could be a sign of tinnitus.

Air Pollution Too High Near Some US Schools

Air pollution is dangerously high around schools near some U.S. industrial plants, according to a recent study.

80 missing computers at nuke lab: watchdog

Eighty computers have been lost, stolen or gone "missing" at a major US nuclear weapons lab, the nonprofit watchdog group Project On Government Oversight (POGO) has said.

Microscopes help make better drugs

CSIRO researchers have created a new microscopy method that will allow scientists to create drugs that are a better match for their targets.

Paris digs deep to harness Earth's green energy

A major new project is under way in Paris to provide ecologically clean heating for an entire district by extracting piping hot water from nearly two kilometres under the earth.

Particulate Matter From California Wildfires Is More Toxic Than Particulate Matter In Ambient Air

A study of coarse and fine particulate matter (PM) generated by the California wildfires of 2008 suggests a toxicity level greater than that of an equivalent dose of PM in...

Novel Quantum Effect, Quantum Spin Hall Effect, Directly Observed And Explained

Physicists has succeeded in gaining an in-depth insight into a most unusual phenomenon. They succeeded for the first time in directly measuring the spin of electrons in a material that...

Reflecting on the Many Uses of Glass

Glass research has changed everything from architecture to communication, but has become a fractured endeavor.

Improved sensor technology could someday keep tabs on terrorists by remote control

Scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology are designing a new kind of optical sensor to fly in unmanned air vehicles, or surveillance drones, tracking suspects on foot or traveling in...

New silver-based ink has applications in electronics, researchers say

A new ink developed by researchers at the University of Illinois allows them to write their own silver linings...

Willem Kolff, Doctor Who Invented Kidney and Heart Machines, Dies at 97

After inventing the first artificial kidney, Dr. Kolff went on to prove that biomedical engineers could build all sorts of artificial organs.

'Quantum Data Buffering' Scheme Demonstrated by Researchers

Pushing the envelope of Albert Einstein's "spooky action at a distance," known as entanglement, researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) of the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and...

VW, Toshiba to develop electric car drive systems

Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car maker, and the Japanese electronics group Toshiba on Thursday unveiled an accord to jointly develop electric drive units and other elements that VW said will allow...

NASCAR Technology Makes Passenger Cars Safer

Today's production passenger cars have borrowed several innovations from both stock car and Indy-style racing.