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Experts anticipate significant continued reductions in wind energy costs

Figure 1. Summary of expert survey findings
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Manipulation of liquid crystals could help control drug-delivery process

Liquid crystals are strange substances, both fish and fowl. They can flow like a liquid, but have the orderly molecular structure of a crystalline solid. And that internal structure can...

New laser provides ultra-precise tool for scientists probing the secrets of the universe

Researchers have developed a new laser that makes it possible to measure electron transition energies in small atoms and molecules with unprecedented precision. The instrument will help scientists test one...

Researchers prototype system for reading closed books

MIT researchers and their colleagues are designing an imaging system that can read closed books.MIT researchers and their colleagues are designing an imaging system that can read closed books.

UMD physicists discover 'smoke rings' made of laser light

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) vortices (pink ringlike objects) are laser light structures that rotate around a central beam, much like water circles around a drain. Physicists and engineers have studied this type of laser vortex since the 1990s as a tool to help improve microscopy and telecommunications.Most basic physics textbooks describe laser light in fairly simple terms: a beam travels directly from one point to another and, unless it strikes a mirror or other reflective surface,...

Measuring forces in the DNA molecule

This is an illustration of base pair stacking forces in DNA molecules.DNA, our genetic material, normally has the structure of a twisted rope ladder. Experts call this structure a double helix. Among other things, it is stabilized by stacking forces between...

Incubating climate change

A group of James Cook University scientists led by Emeritus Professor Ross Alford has designed and built an inexpensive incubator that could boost research into how animals and plants will...

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New perovskite research discoveries may lead to solar cell, LED advances

This image is a rendition of a one-dimensional, needle-like nanocrystal, such as the one prepared by Vela in collaboration with scientists Emily Smith and Jacob Petrich. Vela's team has prepared a family of highly luminescent perovskite nanocrystals with shape correlated emission."Promising" and "remarkable" are two words U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory scientist Javier Vela uses to describe recent research results on organolead mixed-halide perovskites.

New sensor could help fight deadly bacterial infections

The graph shows the shift of the sensor spectrum after catching bacteria.Scientists have built a new sensor that can detect the potentially deadly E.coli bacteria in 15-20 minutes, much faster than traditional lab tests. E.coli can be transmitted in contaminated food...

For first time, carbon nanotube transistors outperform silicon

The UW-Madison engineers use a solution process to deposit aligned arrays of carbon nanotubes onto 1 inch by 1 inch substrates. The researchers used their scalable and rapid deposition process to coat the entire surface of this substrate with aligned carbon nanotubes in less than 5 minutes. The team's breakthrough could pave the way for carbon nanotube transistors to replace silicon transistors, and is particularly promising for wireless communications technologies. - <a target="_blank"href="http://news.wisc.edu/for-first-time-carbon-nanotube-transistors-outperform-silicon/#sthash.Ve5BgAKs.dpuf">See more</a>.For decades, scientists have tried to harness the unique properties of carbon nanotubes to create high-performance electronics that are faster or consume less power -- resulting in longer battery life,...

3-D graphene has promise for bio applications

Rice University materials scientists and their international colleagues created a form of 3-D graphene oxide with layers welded together at room temperature via spark plasma sintering. The material shows promise for biological applications.Flakes of graphene welded together into solid materials may be suitable for bone implants, according to a study led by Rice University scientists.

Water helps assembly of biofibers that could capture sunlight

A new study from Argonne National Laboratory has shown water can serve a previously undiscovered role to help micelles coalesce to spontaneously form long fibers. The study could help scientists to understand how light-harvesting molecules are incorporated into the micelle fiber as it assembles, which would be a key step to understanding some forms of artificial photosynthesis.When it comes to water, some materials have a split personality - and some of these materials could hold the key to new ways of harnessing solar energy.

Chemists offer enhanced 3-D look inside batteries

NYU chemists and their colleagues have developed a method to yield highly detailed, three-dimensional images of the insides of batteries. Shown here is a 3-D image of the inside of a lithium cell after charging and showing dendrite growth -- deposits than can reduce performance and compromise safety -- between the two electrodes that short-circuited the cell.A team of chemists has developed a method to yield highly detailed, three-dimensional images of the insides of batteries. The technique, based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), offers an enhanced...

PPPL researchers successfully test device that analyzes components within a vacuum

This is Felipe Bedoya.Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have successfully tested a new device that will lead to a better understanding of the interactions between...

Scientists expect to calculate amount of fuel inside Earth by 2025

By 2022, scientists expect to be able to detect at least 536 antineutrino events per year at these five underground detectors: KamLAND in Japan, Borexino in Italy, SNO+ in Canada, and Jinping and JUNO in China.Earth requires fuel to drive plate tectonics, volcanoes and its magnetic field. Like a hybrid car, Earth taps two sources of energy to run its engine: primordial energy from assembling...

A more accurate sensor for lead paint

A new molecular gel recipe developed at the University of Michigan is at the core of a prototype for a more accurate lead paint test.

New material to revolutionize water proofing

Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have developed a new spray-on material with a remarkable ability to repel water.Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have developed a new spray-on material with a remarkable ability to repel water.

Tapping the unused potential of photosynthesis

<em>Synechococcus</em> is brewing in a bioreactor.Scientists from the University of Southampton have reengineered the fundamental process of photosynthesis to power useful chemical reactions that could be used to produce biofuels, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals.

Tuning the instrument: Spider webs as vibration transmission structures

Two years ago, a research team led by the University of Oxford revealed that, when plucked like a guitar string, spider silk transmits vibrations across a wide range of frequencies,...

Location matters in the self-assembly of nanoclusters

Capture zones (CZs) constructed to surround 2-D islands (black rectangles) formed by deposition on a perfect surface. CZ boundaries are indicated by thin lines. The CZs completely cover or tessellate the surface with one CZ per island. A small CZ formed directly by nucleation of a new island near the center of a triangle of existing islands is shown in yellow. Another small CZ formed by corralling of the central island is shown in blue. The lower inset shows how nucleation of a new island (at the X) modifies the CZ distribution. The upper inset shows the distribution of scaled CZ areas.Scientists at Iowa State University have developed a new formulation that helps to explain the self-assembly of atoms into nanoclusters and to advance the scientific understanding of related nanotechnologies. Their...

'Materials that compute' advances as Pitt engineers demonstrate pattern recognition

This is a conceptual illustration of pattern recognition process performed by hybrid gel oscillator system.PITTSBURGH (September 2, 2016) ... The potential to develop "materials that compute" has taken another leap at the University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering, where researchers for the first...

Stanford engineers develop a plastic clothing material that cools the skin

Stanford engineers have developed a low-cost, plastic-based textile that, if woven into clothing, could cool your body far more efficiently than is possible with the natural or synthetic fabrics in...

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