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High-speed method to aid search for solar energy storage catalysts

Eons ago, nature solved the problem of converting solar energy to fuels by inventing the process of photosynthesis.

Thousands of invisibility cloaks trap a rainbow

Many people anticipating the creation of an invisibility cloak might be surprised to learn that a group of American researchers has created 25,000 individual cloaks.

The secret to good tomato chemistry

There is nothing better than a ripe, red, homegrown tomato, and now researchers reporting online on May 24 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have figured out just what...

'Metamaterials,' quantum dots show promise for new technologies

This graphic depicts a new "nanostructured metamaterial" -- layers of silver and titanium oxide and tiny components called quantum dots -- to dramatically change the properties of light. Researchers are working to perfect the metamaterials, which might be capable of ultra-efficient transmission of light, with potential applications including advanced solar cells and quantum computing. Findings and this image appeared in the journal <i>Science</i> in April.Researchers are edging toward the creation of new optical technologies using "nanostructured metamaterials" capable of ultra-efficient transmission of light, with potential applications including advanced solar cells and quantum computing.

Exotic particles, chilled and trapped, form giant matter wave

As excitons cool to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, they condense at the bottom of an electrostatic trap and spontaneously form coherent matter waves. Creating indirect excitons, with electrons and holes in separate layers of a semiconductor, allowed them to persist long enough to cool into this state.Physicists have trapped and cooled exotic particles called excitons so effectively that they condensed and cohered to form a giant matter wave.

A non-invasive intracellular 'thermometer' with fluorescent proteins has been created

The green fluorescent proteins help measure intracellular heat.A team from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) has developed a technique to measure internal cell temperatures without altering their metabolism. This finding could be useful when distinguishing healthy...

Study shows availability of hydrogen controls chemical structure of graphene oxide

Georgia Tech researchers Angelo Bongiorno and Elisa Riedo pose with a graphene oxide sample, with a computer model of the material’s structure shown behind them.A new study shows that the availability of hydrogen plays a significant role in determining the chemical and structural makeup of graphene oxide, a material that has potential uses in...

UCLA researchers develop way to strengthen proteins with polymers

Proteins are widely used as drugs -- insulin for diabetics is the best known example -- and as reagents in research laboratories, but they react poorly to fluctuations in temperature...

New microscope uses rainbow of light to image the flow of individual blood cells

The team’s device relies on a technique called spectrally encoded confocal microscopy. (a) A single line within a blood vessel is imaged with multiple colors of light that encode lateral positions. (b) A single cell crossing the spectral line produces a two-dimensional image with one axis encoded by wavelength and the other by time.Blood tests convey vital medical information, but the sight of a needle often causes anxiety and results take time. A new device developed by a team of researchers in Israel,...

Good news for nanomedicine: Quantum dots appear safe in pioneering study on primates

A pioneering study to gauge the toxicity of quantum dots in primates has found the tiny crystals to be safe over a one-year period, a hopeful outcome for doctors and...

New silicon memory chip developed

The first purely silicon oxide-based 'Resistive RAM' memory chip that can operate in ambient conditions -- opening up the possibility of new super-fast memory -- has been developed by researchers...

Math predicts size of clot-forming cells

UC Davis mathematicians have helped biologists figure out why platelets, the cells that form blood clots, are the size and shape that they are. Because platelets are important both for healing wounds and in strokes and other conditions, a better...

Nanoparticles seen as artificial atoms

Haimei Zheng, a staff scientist in Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division and DOE Early Career Research Program Awardee, led the observation of how attached nanoparticles evolve into nanorods.In the growth of crystals, do nanoparticles act as "artificial atoms" forming molecular-type building blocks that can assemble into complex structures? This is the contention of a major but controversial...

Discarded data may hold the key to a sharper view of molecules

There's nothing like a new pair of eyeglasses to bring fine details into sharp relief. For scientists who study the large molecules of life from proteins to DNA, the equivalent...

Argonne scientists uncover a photosynthetic puzzle

Quantum physics and plant biology seem like two branches of science that could not be more different, but surprisingly they may in fact be intimately tied.

Taking solar technology up a notch

The limitations of conventional and current solar cells include high production cost, low operating efficiency and durability, and many cells rely on toxic and scarce materials. Northwestern University researchers have...

Civil engineers find savings where the rubber meets the road

A new study by civil engineers at MIT shows that using stiffer pavements on the nation's roads could reduce vehicle fuel consumption by as much as 3 percent -- a...

From lemons to lemonade: Using carbon dioxide to make carbon nitride

This is a transmission electron microscopy image of carbon nitride created by the reaction of carbon dioxide and Li3N.A materials scientist at Michigan Technological University has discovered a chemical reaction that not only eats up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, it also creates something useful. And, by the...

Origami-inspired design method merges engineering, art

This graphic illustrates the creation of morphing robot-like mechanisms and shape-shifting sculptures from a single sheet of paper in a method reminiscent of origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. The robotic and artistic designs are made up of building blocks called "basic structural units," or BSUs. Each BSU contains two segments joined by a creased hinge, and many BSUs are linked together to create larger structures.Researchers have shown how to create morphing robotic mechanisms and shape-shifting sculptures from a single sheet of paper in a method reminiscent of origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.

Cloak of invisibility: Engineers use plasmonics to create an invisible photodetector

It may not be intuitive, but a coating of reflective metal can actually make something less visible, engineers at Stanford and UPenn have shown. They have created an invisible, light-detecting...

Using graphene, scientists develop a less toxic way to rust-proof steel

A graphene-based coating under development at UB keeps a piece of steel rust-free (foreground), in stark comparison with a rusted sheet of steel (background).University at Buffalo researchers are making significant progress on rust-proofing steel using a graphene-based composite that could serve as a nontoxic alternative to coatings that contain hexavalent chromium, a probable...

Attraction or repulsion? New method predicts interaction energy of large molecules

For two molecules on blind date, new method predicts potential for attraction or repulsion.Krzysztof Szalewicz, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Delaware, and Rafal Podeszwa of the University of Silesia Institute of Chemistry in Poland have developed and validated a...

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