Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Compressed Air Energy Storage: Renewable Energy
(PhysOrg.com) -- Wind-power turbines have played an important step in renewable energy but now the future of wind power may be underground. By using compressed-air energy storage plants, air is...
Scavenging energy waste to turn water into hydrogen fuel
Materials scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have designed a way to harvest small amounts of waste energy and harness them to turn water into usable hydrogen fuel...
2010 energy prize competition begins
HOUSTON, March 17 (UPI) -- The ConocoPhillips Co. and Pennsylvania State University say they have opened the 2010 ConocoPhillips Energy Prize competition.
Science Shot: Jupiter's Great Red Spot Turns on the Heat
Giant Jovian storm is slightly warmer than its surroundings
Water oxidation advance boosts potential for solar fuel
Emory University chemists have developed the most potent homogeneous catalyst known for water oxidation, considered a crucial component for generating clean hydrogen fuel using only water and sunlight. The breakthrough,...
Long polymer chains dance the conga
Understanding the steps to the intricate dance inside a cell is essential to one day choreographing the show. By studying the molecules that give a cell its structure, University of...
Frogs, foam and fuel: University of Cincinnati researchers convert solar energy to sugars
For decades, farmers have been trying to find ways to get more energy out of the sun...
Ultra-powerful laser makes silicon pump liquid uphill with no added energy
Researchers at the University of Rochester's Institute of Optics have discovered a way to make liquid flow vertically upward along a silicon surface, overcoming the pull of gravity, without pumps...
Vehicle shock absorber recovers energy from bumps in the road
(PhysOrg.com) -- In the past decade, regenerative braking systems have become increasingly popular, recovering energy that would otherwise be lost through braking. However, another energy recovery mechanism that is still...
Mastery of rare-earth elements vital to America's security
Karl A. Gschneidner Jr., a senior metallurgist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, today cautioned members of a Congressional panel that 'rare-earth research in the USA on mineral...
Metallic glass yields secrets under pressure
Metallic glasses are emerging as potentially useful materials at the frontier of materials science research. They combine the advantages and avoid many of the problems of normal metals and glasses,...
Caltech and UCSD scientists establish leech as model for study of reproductive behaviour
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have discovered that injecting a simple hormone into leeches creates a novel way to...
"Fossil Free" Fossil Fuels May Lie Deep Inside Earth
Using diamonds and a laser, scientists crushed and heated methane produced from just water and minerals to create the same hydrocarbon blend found in natural gas.
Poison Gas May Produce Clean Energy
The world's largest dead zone, the Black Sea, may be chock-full of future clean energy, a new study says.
Watermelon Juice May Be Next "Green" Fuel
Step aside, corn: Another summertime picnic favorite might be the next big thing in ethanol production, a new study suggests.
Roll-Up Solar Cells Printed Like Money
Sheets of flexible solar power cells have been "printed" using presses that normally churn out money—a technology that could help slash energy costs, experts say.
Extended Daylight Saving Time Not an Energy Saver?
An extra month of earlier mornings might be reducing use of artificial light, but other types of energy consumption more than offset the reduction, some studies suggest.
Answers to Probing Questions: Scientists pioneer new analysis that tells how uranium oxides stick together
(PhysOrg.com) -- Combining experimental and theoretical methods, scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory gained a more complete picture of the electronic structure of a stable, soluble uranium ion and...
Computer model predicts how materials meet in the middle
(PhysOrg.com) -- Predicting the way different materials fuse together at an atomic level in objects including iPods, computer chips and even ships may be possible using a new computer model,...
All renewables: How realistic is it?
By STEFAN NICOLAUPI Europe CorrespondentBERLIN, March 16 (UPI) -- Europe can meet 100 percent of its power supply from renewable sources by 2050 if countries work together and massively...
More Fines For UCLA
Lab Safety: California agency again faults university for lack of training, lax safety practices.
Metal Nano-Particles Suspend Human Cells In Magnetic Scaffolding For Easy Organ Manufacturing
While scientists have become rather adept at transforming generic skin cells into specialized organ cells, crafting the organs themselves has proven far more difficult. Since the 3-D architecture of most organs is as...
Can Smiley Faces (and a 14-Step Program to Stop Overconsumption) Save the Global Climate?
Energy efficiency seems to make rational economic sense--the less energy used, the more money saved. Yet, in the real world it's actually competition with neighbors rather than cost savings that...
Supersonic car's lift flaw fixed
Engineers designing the world's fastest car believe they now have a solution to stop it flying off the ground.
Clouds and the Alternative Energy Grid
California's goal of generating 33 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2020 will be challenging on days when clouds shade acres of solar photovoltaic panels or when...
E.ON funds green landfill technology
DUSSELDORF, Germany, March 16 (UPI) -- Capturing methane gas from the decomposition of organic material at a Vietnamese landfill will go a long way to reduce harmful emissions, energy...
Kiev appoints new head of Naftogaz
KIEV, Ukraine, March 16 (UPI) -- The new head of Ukrainian utility Naftogaz must take on the task of rehabilitating the embattled company, the Ukrainian energy minister said.
Borexino experiment detects geo-neutrinos
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Borexino collaboration of about 80 scientists from six countries, who have been working with a detector buried 1.5 km beneath the Gran Sasso mountain near l'Aquila in...