Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Safety Concerns Have Delayed Approval of First U.S. Nuclear Reactor in Decades
A new era for nuclear power is taking shape as third-generation reactors, designed to be simpler and safer, inch through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) design certification process. Much of...
Simpler method for building varieties of nanocrystal superlattices
Researchers have created a simple and inexpensive method to rapidly grow centimeter-scale membranes of binary nanocrystal superlattices, or BNSLs, by crystallizing a mixture of nanocrystals on a liquid surface.
Nanoparticles as destructive beacons to zap tumors
A group of researchers is developing a way to treat cancer by using lasers to light up tiny nanoparticles and destroy tumors with the ensuing heat.
NWO researcher makes a revolutionary chemical compound
Soft drink bottles and fleece blankets are set to become more environmentally friendly. NWO researcher Frank Koopman has made a bio-based compound that can act as a substitute for one...
Highest X-ray energy used to probe materials
Scientists for the first time have dived into the effect that an intense X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) has on materials...
Quantum mechanics not in jeopardy
When waves - regardless of whether light or sound - collide, they overlap creating interferences. Austrian and Canadian quantum physicists have now been able to rule out the existence of...
Caterpillars crawl like none other
Most of us have surely seen the slow and gravity-defying crawl of a caterpillar, with that wave of motion that passes over their elongated and flexible bodies. But it turns...
Graphene oxide gets green
Rice scientists have found a way to synthesize graphene oxide in bulk in an environmentally friendly way, eliminating toxic and explosive chemicals from the process. They have also found a...
UBC professor credits diversified revenue for success of world’s top airports
The latest global survey of airports reveals that non-aeronautical revenue streams can help airports achieve higher efficiency so they can lower aircraft landing fees and attract more aeronautrical...
CT, MRI rates vary widely, report shows
CT and MRI exams are done half as often in Canada as in the U.S., according to a new report, but it's not clear what the better approach is.
Plug-In Hybrids Curb Smog
Air Pollution: In Denver, swapping plug-in electric hybrids for gas-powered cars might help cut ozone-causing pollutants.
Does a Manipulated Market Advance Clean Power?
The pricing structure of the electricity market doesn't necessarily allow new generating capacity to get built.
International researchers meet in Singapore to discuss research integrity
Research plays a crucial role in economies that value knowledge creation and innovation. As more countries develop their research and development (R&D) capabilities and embark on research...
Vitol eyes Shell's African assets
GENEVA, Switzerland, July 22 (UPI) -- Energy trader Vitol announced that it was in talks with a division of Royal Dutch Shell to acquire retail and natural gas storage...
Pounding particles to create Neptune's water in the lab
An international group of physicists has drawn up plans to use the new Facility for Antiprotons and Ion Research in Germany to expose water molecules to heavy ion beams and...
Now you see it, now you don't
From Tolkien's ring of power in The Lord of the Rings to Star Trek's Romulans, who could make their warships disappear from view, from Harry Potter's magical cloak to the...
Nanotech coatings produce 20 times more electricity from sewage
Engineers at Oregon State University have made a significant advance toward producing electricity from sewage, by the use of new coatings on the anodes of microbial electrochemical cells that increased...
Quantum entanglement in photosynthesis and evolution
Recently, academic debate has been swirling around the existence of unusual quantum mechanical effects in the most ubiquitous of phenomena, including photosynthesis, the process by which organisms convert light into...
Video game processors help lower CT scan radiation
A new approach to processing X-ray data could lower by a factor of ten or more the amount of radiation patients receive during cone beam CT scans, researchers report.
Students design early labor detector aimed to prevent premature births
A team of graduate students and their faculty adviser have invented a system to pick up very early signs that a woman is going into labor too soon.
Engineering researchers simplify process to make world's tiniest wires
Surface tension isn't a very powerful force, but it matters for small things -- water bugs, paint, and, it turns out, nanowires.
Gulf oil dispersants unlikely to be endocrine disruptors and have relatively low cell toxicity, tests find
Government scientists are reporting that eight of the most commonly used oil dispersants used to fight oil spills, such as the massive episode in the Gulf of Mexico, appear unlikely...
A bag and a trap. Oil spill invention is a keeper
'It's not rocket science, but it works,' a BP official says of Gerry Matherne's device, one of thousands engineers have sorted through that claim to clean up the sludge in the Gulf...
Carbon nanotubes as transistor material
Swiss researchers have built a transistor whose crucial element is a carbon nano-tube, suspended between two contacts, with outstanding electronic properties. A novel fabrication approach allowed the scientists to construct...
Researchers develop world`s first blue-violet ultrafast pulsed semiconductor laser with 100 watt output
Tohoku University and Sony researchers have succeeded in developing a blue-violet ultrafast pulsed semiconductor laser with dramatically improved peak laser beam output levels that are 100 times that of the...
Toward a new generation of superplastics
Scientists are reporting an in-depth validation of the discovery of the world's first mass producible, low-cost, organoclays for plastics. The powdered material, made from natural clay, would be a safer,...
Oil market equilibrium fragile, says think tank
LONDON, July 21 (UPI) -- The current equilibrium in the global oil market remains fragile, with continuing stability still dependent on imponderables in the geopolitical arena, the London Center...
Sugar Derivative Solidifies Oil
Materials Chemistry: Gelation process could turn spilled oil into skimmable fat for easy cleanup.