Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Bees 'do the wave' to save their lives
Giant honeybees are known to flip their bellies up en masse to create a giant wave called a shimmer, somewhat akin to humans rhythmically throwing their hands in the air...
Physicists Harness Effects Of Disorder In Magnetic Sensors
Scientists have discovered how to make magnetic sensors capable of operating at the high temperatures that ceramic engines in cars and aircraft of the future will require. The key to...
Energy Department Goes Solar
Using solar panels on its headquarters' roof, DOE is now generating some of its own electricity
"Big Bang" Experiment Passes Key Tests
The world's largest particle collider has successfully completed its first major tests. Scientists around the world watched as a beam of protons was fired all the way around a 17-mile...
Genetically Engineered Thermophilic Bacterium: Researchers Advance Cellulosic Ethanol Production
A team of researchers have made a discovery that is important for producing large quantities of cellulosic ethanol, a leading candidate for a sustainable and secure alternative to petroleum-derived transportation...
China forging ahead with carbon capture
Success claimed for country’s first post-combustion capture trial
Engineers Develop Laser Solution To Power Plants Slowed By Slagging
The system relies on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy to provide instant analysis of the elemental composition of coal as it is being burned. LIBS was developed by engineers at Lehigh University...
Feature: The sandwich factor for safer cars
Research is opening the way for the design of environmentally friendly, lighter and safer cars.
Compost Heap Bacteria Could Provide 10% Of UK Transport Fuel Needs
Bacteria found in compost heaps able to convert waste plant fiber into ethanol could eventually provide up 10% of the UK's transport fuel needs, according to new research.
Switching on the large hadron collider
Ian Sample watches the Large Hadron Collider being switched on in Geneva. With comment from Professor Peter Higgs, inventor of the Higgs boson particle theory
Hydrogen Bonds: Scientists Find New Mechanism
Water’s unrivaled omnipresence and the crucial role it plays in life drive scientists to understand every detail of its unusual underlying properties on the microscopic scale. Researchers now report how...
Enzyme Detectives Uncover New Reactions: Implications For Engineering Biofuels
Scientists have discovered a fundamental shift in an enzyme's function that could help expand the toolbox for engineering biofuels and other plant-based oil products.
Feature: Glorious mud - a gold mine
Many don't know that for a new i-phone or state of the art flat screen to work, earth's atomic elements are needed. Resembling a lot of old mud to some,...
Magnetic Resonance And Radar Technology United In One Prototype: New Process To Improve Diagnostic Images
Don't move a muscle! Patients certainly have to take this request to heart if they have to lie in a magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) device – otherwise movement artifacts result...
Pollution 'hinders heart pacing'
Air pollution from traffic hinders the heart's ability to conduct electrical signals, a study concludes.
Fusion power seeks super steels
Scientists say an understanding of how the Twin Towers collapsed will lead to new steels needed to build fusion reactors.
LHC by the numbers
The largest particle accelerator in the world, which will feel its first full proton beams tomorrow, just oozes numerical hyperbole.
'Smart' shock absorbers for quake-prone structures
Rice University structural engineering researchers are leading a new $1.6 million research program funded by the National Science Foundation to help design a new generation of adaptive, "smart" shock absorbers...
Kennedy's Portable Light wins Tech Award
A groundbreaking renewable energy project directed by Sheila Kennedy, professor of the practice of architecture at MIT and principal of KVA MATx in Boston, has won an international award for...
Scientists form alliance to develop nanotoxicology protocols
A team of materials scientists and toxicologists announced the formation of a new international research alliance to establish protocols for reproducible toxicological testing of nanomaterials in both cultured cells and...
Nalco Teams With Stepan
Firms say they will provide a wide range of chemicals to oil-field customers
Nanoscale silver: No silver lining?
Widespread use of nanoscale silver will challenge regulatory agencies to balance important potential benefits against the possibility of significant environmental risk, highlighting the need to identify research priorities concerning this...
'Energy grasses' need careful consideration
'Energy grasses' are viewed as an alternative to fossil fuels, but their potential failings need further consideration, warns Jiang Gaoming.
RIM captures more than half of smartphone market
(AP) -- Research in Motion Ltd. captured more than 50 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in the second quarter, up sharply from first-quarter levels, according to figures released...
Designing natural product hybrids with anticancer activity
A potent hybrid of two anticancer natural products has been designed and synthesised by UK chemists.
Engineering sweetens biofuel prospects
A new strain of heat-loving bacteria promises cheaper production of second generation biofuels
Radiation scandal? Academics at Manchester University fear for safety
Manchester University staff have used labs contaminated by radioactivity, a confidential report reveals. By Francis Beckett
Editorial: LHC exposes competing visions of the purpose of science
Editorial: A model of international cooperation and goodwill, at a time when such things are needed more than ever