Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Artificial Cells: Models Of Eel Cells Suggest Electrifying Possibilities
Researchers have applied modern engineering design tools to one of the basic units of life. They say that artificial cells could be built that not only replicate the electrical behavior...
Science Weekly podcast: Invisibility cloaks and time travel
Invisibility cloaks, time travel and the psychology behind taste. Hosted by Alok Jha
NIST/CSM Sensor Could Help Avert Pipeline Failures
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Colorado School of Mines (CSM) have developed a prototype sensor that quickly detects very small amounts of...
More Bad News About Plastics
Plastic. It’s the spring in your tennis shoes, the sheath on your burrito, the skin of your air mattress . . . And, unfortunately, it could also be the hormone...
Ottawa committee says no to backyard wind turbine
An Ottawa man can't erect a wind turbine in his backyard after a municipal committee refused to grant him exceptions to city bylaws that bar the device.
Baked Slug: New Method to Test Fireproofing Material
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have developed a technique for measuring a key thermal property of fire-resistive materials at high temperatures.
New Research Could Lead To Practical Uses For Metal-organic Frameworks
Scientists are putting the pressure on metal-organic frameworks. Behaving as molecular-scale sponges these MOFs have wide ranging potential uses for filtering, capturing or detecting molecules such as carbon dioxide or...
Are 'microplastics' marine pollutants?
Tiny plastic particles called "microplastics" and which concentrate pollutants might be ingestible by the ocean's tiny denizens and then move up the food chain.
VIDEO: Algae to Power Jets?
Research is underway to turn algae into biodiesel that developers hope could eventually fuel jet airplanes.
Probing Question: Could your kitchen counters be radioactive?
Verde Butterfly. Black Galaxy. Kashmir Gold. If you`ve remodeled your kitchen in the last decade, chances are you encountered one of the 1,600 varieties of granite imported into the United...
Many receptor models used in drug design may not be useful after all
It may very well be that models used for the design of new drugs have to be regarded as impractical. This is the sobering though important conclusion of the work...
Nanoscale polymers don't play by the rules
CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have discovered polystyrenes, when reduced to nanoscale, don't function under the laws of fundamental polymer physics.
Imaging atomic-scale fuel-cell nanoparticles
In a step toward developing better fuel cells for electric cars, engineers at MIT and two other institutions have taken the first images of individual atoms on and near the...
Nanoelectronics: Computer heat solution?
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they're turning to nanoelectronics to help solve the problem of computer heat generated by ever increasing processing speeds.
The mystery of the varying nuclear decay
Two researchers in the US are making the bold claim that nuclear decay rates are not constant, as is widely thought
'Stay Warm, Save Money' Web site opens
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy says it has opened its "Stay Warm, Save Money" Web site to help consumers save on energy costs.
Molecular gastronomy buffet for atom-smasher scientists
Leading European physicists will feast on a molecular gastronomy buffet at the inauguration of the multi-billion dollar machine designed to shed light on the "Big Bang," a statement said Thursday.
Scientists explore putting electric cars on a two-way power street
Think of it as the end of cars' slacker days: No more sitting idle for hours in parking lots or garages racking up payments, but instead earning their keep by...
Car or pedestrian -- How we can follow objects with our eyes
When an object moves fast, we follow it with our eyes: our brain correspondingly calculates the speed of the object and adapts our eye movement to it. This in itself...
Microchannel material cuts engine noise
ATLANTA, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- A U.S. research engineer says he's developed microchanneled material that reduces aircraft engine noise through a process called viscous shear.
Electron Give-and-take Lets Molecules Shine Individually On Camera
A single fluorescent molecule flashing as it gains or loses its electron has made the microscopic spotlight. Watching a whole gaggle of these molecules, they appear to work synchronously; but...
Flexi Display Technology Is Now
Screen display technology is taking a significant step forward as researchers from Sony and the Max Planck Institute demonstrate the possibility of bendable optically assessed organic light emitting displays for...
Why Will It Take So Long to Fix the Large Hadron Collider?
The repair involves warming up parts of the huge machine from nearly absolute. zero.
Cracking wood gently
Ionic liquids and solid catalysts combine to hydrolyse cellulose without aggressive acids
Why Metal Alloys Degrade And Fail
Metal alloys can fail unexpectedly in a wide range of applications -- from jet engines to satellites to cell phones -- and new research helps to explain why.
Sensing the Energy: Calibrating the LCLS
The Linac Coherent Light Source will generate X-rays 10 billion times brighter than any source before it. Being the first of its kind, the LCLS has presented engineers with a...
Sharp Launches Mass Production of 2nd-Generation Thin-Film Solar Cells
Sharp Corporation has completed installation of a new 2nd-generation thin-film solar cell production line at its Katsuragi Plant (Katsuragi City, Nara Prefecture) using large-size glass substrates measuring 1,000 x 1,400...
UK physics in good health - study
Physics in the UK is in good shape but faces a number of challenges ahead, concludes a major report commissioned by ministers.