Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
An explanation for the relaxors' extreme sensitivity to mechanical pressure or voltage
A research team working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has found an explanation for the extreme sensitivity to mechanical pressure or voltage of a special class...
Novel technique sorts nanotubes by length
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have reported a new technique to sort batches of carbon nanotubes by length using high-speed centrifuges. Many potential applications for...
Improved Ion Mobility Is Key To New Hydrogen Storage Compound
A materials scientist has deciphered the structure of a new class of materials that can store relatively large quantities of hydrogen. The new analysis may point to a practical hydrogen...
Student Innovation Could Improve Data Storage, Magnetic Sensors
Paul Morrow, who will graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on May 17, has come a long way from his days as an elementary school student, pulling apart his mother's cassette...
Firearms Microstamping Feasible But Variable, Study Finds
New technology to link cartridge cases to guns by engraving microscopic codes on the firing pin is feasible, but did not work equally well for all guns and ammunition tested...
Nanotechnology in reverse uses cell to calibrate tools
Nanotechnology researchers at UC Davis have shown that they can use a red blood cell to calibrate a sensitive instrument, an atomic force microscope.
Video: On a wing and a dare
Swiss 'Fusion Man' is the first person to successfully fly with a rocket-propelled wing after leaping from plane
Self-Sustaining Solitary Light Wave Packets Could Inspire New Generation Of Computer Networks
European researchers say their study of self-sustaining solitary light wave packets could result in a new generation of computers and optical telecommunications networks. Using light rather than electronic or magnetic...
Engineer creates 'smart' bandages to test cholesterol, blood without needles
Ray Winton has no medical degree and has no experience in the medical field, but the electrical engineering researcher's invention may lead to the next generation of 'smart' adhesive bandage,...
'Giant microscope' that peers into the heart of a structure
Isis is helping scientists understand everything from oil pipe blockages to the lungs of newborns
Undergraduates develop 'dirt-powered' microbial fuel cells to light Africa
A team composed of Harvard students and alumni was among the winners of the World Bank’s Lighting Africa 2008 Development Marketplace competition, held in Accra, Ghana from May 6 to...
Ants swarm over Houston area, fouling electronics
(AP) -- In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across...
Slowing light to speed data: USC Viterbi School wins $4.3M photonics IT contract
Two prize-winning USC specialists hope to break a bottleneck that has long limited communication systems from using light - photons - instead of electronics for data information processing.
Car navigator remotely manages Web-enabled home
(AP) -- Drivers in Japan can check on their pets, turn lights and air conditioning on and off and lock their front doors - all from inside their cars...
Scientists seek better football fields
MADISON, Wis., May 14 (UPI) -- A U.S. team of scientists says it has found the most effective seed mixture and planting times for producing faster-growing, more durable...
A step towards the realisation of ultra-efficient polaritonic devices
The unique properties of polaritons - such as stimulated scattering, parametric amplification, lasing, condensation and superfluidity - can provide a basis for a new generation of polariton emitters and semiconductor...
Britain's Alien Files
At 4 PM on April 19, 1984, a team of air traffic controllers at an airport in the east of England reportedly watched a strange, bright, circular vehicle touch down,...
Chinese researchers have recently made a miniature 'golden crown'
Chinese researchers have recently made a 'golden crown' with a diameter of only a few nanometres. It is a large ring-shaped molecule containing 36 gold atoms. The lords of the...
A Smarter Way to Grow Graphene
Graphene, a sheet of carbon just one atom thick, has many potential uses in the electronics industry, but producing these ideal two-dimensional carbon sheets is very difficult and, as a...
Innovative antennae may signal a 'new wave' in health care provision
Compact, wireless and power efficient body sensors that allow doctors to monitor illnesses and injuries remotely are a step closer thanks to new research.
Nanowires may boost solar cell efficiency, UC San Diego engineers say
University of California, San Diego electrical engineers have created experimental solar cells spiked with nanowires that could lead to highly efficient thin-film solar cells of the future.
Study May Explain Variations In Superconducting Temperatures
New experiments at Cornell have verified a theory that variations in the distance between atoms in cuprate superconductors account for differences in the temperature at which the material begins to...
"Smart" Car Is Safe, Too, Study Says
The micro car, the smallest car for sale in the U.S. market, offers a good level of safety, according to new crash tests conducted by the insurance industry.
Recipe for energy saving unravelled in migratory birds
Pointed wings together with carrying less weight per wing area and avoidance of high winds and atmospheric turbulence save a bird loads of energy during migration. This has been shown...
EU gives green light to TomTom takeover of Tele Atlas
EU regulators on Wednesday approved Dutch technology group TomTom's takeover of Tele Atlas after an in-depth probe found the deal would not significantly reduce competition in the SatNav sector.
National study examines health risks of coarse particle pollution
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have conducted the largest nationwide study on the acute health effects of coarse particle pollution. Coarse particles are airborne pollutants...
Insulation is NASA's 2007 best invention
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif., May 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says its 2007 Government Invention of the Year is a heat shield insulation material.
Small bioelectricity plants dirtier than large ones, says study
Small-scale community based bio-power plants produce higher levels of emissions per unit of electrical output than large facilities, according to new research presented at a major sustainable energy conference today.