Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Watch: "Inside DayGlo: The world's most colorful factory"
Bytesize Science gives a visual tour of the vibrant and colorful DayGlo factory
Anti-aircraft laser weapon demonstrated
DUSSELDORF, Germany, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- A German defense company has demonstrated a laser weapon it says successfully shot down two drone aircraft at a distance of a mile.
Einstein likely was right about space-time
Space-time is smooth rather than foamy, a new study suggests, scoring a possible victory for Einstein over some quantum theorists who came after him.
Tin-Carbon Nanocomposite Enables Fast-Charging Battery
Materials: Aerosol-based synthesis method produces electrode material that could lead to more stable lithium-ion batteries
Researchers Reverse Engineer Fireflies To Make More Efficient LEDs
Fireflies In The Forest Wikimedia CommonsFireflies have a neat trick for conserving light. Turns out, it could work for LEDs, too. Sometimes, a trick gets pulled off better in nature than it...
Researchers create super-repellant surface material (w/ video)
(Phys.org)—Researchers from the University of Michigan working in collaboration with associates from the US Air Force have created a new type of surface cover that repels oils, water, alkali solutions,...
Harnessing the principle that allows blood to clot, researchers work on new synthetic materials to plug holes
When you get a cut, blood starts to flow from the wound. But very quickly, complex biochemical processes spring into action, creating a scaffolding of molecules to block the hole,...
Dot Earth Blog: Australian Forecasters Add New Colors to Temperature Charts to Capture Record Heat
The greenhouse factor in Australia's extreme heat.
Material cleans water of nuclear waste
HOUSTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Graphene oxide can quickly remove radioactive material from contaminated water, U.S. and Russian researchers say they've discovered.
Bottom-up approach provides first characterization of pyroelectric nanomaterials
By taking a "bottom-up" approach, researchers have observed for the first time that "size does matter," in regards "pyroelectricity," -- the current/voltage developed in response to temperature fluctuations that enables...
'Boson sampling' offers shortcut to quantum computing
Optical device could outstrip classical computers
Oscillating gel gives synthetic materials the ability to 'speak': Material rebuilds itself through chemical communication
Self-moving gels can give synthetic materials the ability to "act alive" and mimic primitive biological communication, scientists have found. In a new paper, researchers demonstrate that a synthetic system can...
Hand-held X-ray source developed
COLUMBIA, Mo., Jan. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say a portable X-ray source they've developed could lead to inexpensive hand-held devices for medical diagnosis and terrorism prevention.
Counting the twists in a helical light beam: New device could help advance future optical communications
At a time when communication networks are scrambling for ways to transmit more data over limited bandwidth, a type of twisted light wave is gaining new attention. Called an optical...
New biochip technology uses tiny whirlpools to corral microbes
Researchers have demonstrated a new technology that combines a laser and electric fields to create tiny centrifuge-like whirlpools to separate particles and microbes by size, a potential lab-on-a-chip system for...
Concentrated solar power with thermal energy storage can help utilities' bottom line, study shows
The storage capacity of concentrating solar power can add significant value to a utility company's optimal mix of energy sources, a new report by the U.S. Department of Energy's National...
A New Point of Reference for Offshore Energy Development
PNNL's Will Shaw will describe plans for Reference Facility for Offshore Renewable Energy, a Department of Energy Facility where offshore wind and ocean power technologies will be tested, at the...
Top Engineering Students to Square Off at Cornell Cup USA by Intel
This spring, the best and the brightest among U.S. college engineering students will return to Walt Disney World to show off their creations at the second annual Cornell Cup USA...
CES gadget uses brain waves to control device
CNET's Brian Cooley reports on the high-tech products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas
Dot Earth Blog: Ideas to Watch in 2013: Traceable Fracking Fluids
Can molecular tags help resolve debates over water contamination from fracked gas wells?
NREL to help convert methane to liquid diesel
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will help develop microbes that convert methane found in natural gas into liquid diesel fuel, a novel approach that...
Electron beams set nanostructures aglow
Physicists borrow an old tool from geology to probe the interior layers of metamaterials.Nature 493 143 doi: 10.1038/493143a
Space sailing soon: A one-kilometer-long electric sail tether produced
The electric sail (ESAIL), invented by Dr. Pekka Janhunen at the Finnish Kumpula Space Centre in 2006, produces propulsion power for a spacecraft by utilizing the solar wind. The sail...
Aerodynamic levitator allows samples to 'float on air'
To you and to me, glass is a window pane, a mirror, something to hold the claret. To scientists, however, glass is a liquid that has lost its mobility, yet...
Metal surface can repel electric charges
(Phys.org)—Metals are known for being good electrical conductors. Due to this property, a stationary electric point charge placed outside a metal will cause the electrons in the metal to redistribute...
Photon amplification, emission observed in plastic scintillation materials
A research team has observed, in polystyrene-based scintillation materials, photon amplification and emission that cannot be explained with the established scintillation mechanism. Photon yield from the polystyrene-based scintillation materials was...
Glasses begin to reveal their high pressure secrets
The structural changes in glasses and liquids induced by high-pressure conditions can substantially alter their dynamical and transport properties. Unravelling the mechanisms behind these transformations is, however, a formidable task...
Texas company: Microwave keeps bread mold at bay
A Texas company could have an answer to some consumers' unwelcome discovery that just-purchased loaves contain mold.