Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Femtoseconds Lasers Help Formation Flying In Space
The National Physical Laboratory has helped to establish that femtosecond comb lasers can provide accurate measurement of absolute distance in formation flying space missions.
Physicists observe magnetism in gas for the first time
TORONTO, ON -- An international team of physicists has for the first time observed magnetic behaviour in an atomic gas, addressing a decades-old debate as to whether it is...
Dark Matter: The Plot Thickens
An article in this week's edition of Nature adds to the mysteries surrounding 'dark matter'. Should we abandon this enigmatic concept of invisible matter that exerts gravitational attraction but is...
Running shoes with that barefoot feel
Defining "barefoot running" is easy: It's the act of running without shoes. But defining "barefoot running shoe" isn't so simple. Is it a sock-like second skin; a modernized moccasin; a...
Sony develops highly efficient wireless power transfer system based on magnetic resonance
Sony Corp. today announced the development of a highly efficient wireless power transfer system that eliminates the use of power cables from electronic products such as television sets. Using this...
Self-validating thermocouples based on metal-carbon eutectic fixed points
When used at high temperatures (above 1100 °C) thermocouples are prone to substantial calibration drift. To gauge the extent of the drift, for example, in an industrial setting, it is...
This Week in the Future: September 28-October 2, 2009
Cyborg monkeys surf on OLED pickles. Ships emit slime, and our own Mikey Sklar's Benz runs on vegetable oil. And a knife-wielding, thought-controlled robot still can't conquer Japan. This is the Future.
Nanotechnology gets a new light touch
(PhysOrg.com) -- Building the super-fast computers of the future has just become much easier thanks to an advance by Australian researchers that lets them grab hold of tiny electronics components...
German solar panel makers in trouble: federation
German solar energy firms are in a bind, the head of a federation said in a report due out on Monday amid concern that the new German government will abandon...
Microwave effect ruled out
Microwave-blocking reaction vials rule out special microwave effects for most simple reactions
Lubricants: With Biobased Additives, Scientists 'Just Say No!' To Petroleum
Powerful machines that have moving parts--your car's engine or the hydraulic pump of a huge earthmover, for instance--almost always require lubricants. Today, most of those lubricants are made of so-called...
'Promiscuous' Protein Interactions Found In The Nuclear Pore Complex
In higher organisms, cells are very selective about what passes in and out of their nuclei, where the genes reside. This selectivity helps protect the DNA and is the job...
Is 'Stem Cell' Concept Holding Back Biology?
Chemists used to explain combustion as the release of a mysterious substance, which they named "phlogiston." Only when it came to pinning down the distinctive physical properties of phlogiston did...
New material could expand applications and lower costs for solid oxide fuel cells
A new ceramic material described in this week's issue of the journal Science could help expand the applications for solid oxide fuel cells - devices that generate electricity directly from...
New Computer Graphics Systems Give Reality a Convincing Makeover
Whether they know it or not, the National Football League faithful who root for their teams every weekend have also become big fans of "augmented reality". If you're not sure what this...
'Supermicroscope' shrunk down to lab-size
Laser-generated X-rays could blast away synchrotron facilities, claim researchers
Porous networks trap reactive intermediates
Short-lived reaction intermediates observed by x-ray in the pores of crystalline ‘coordination networks’
Thinking - about - the box
By re-thinking ideas about packaging size and shape, major environmental gains can be made. Smaller-sized, more easily handled boxes require less goods transport. Focusing on size will get us further...
Better Control Of Carbon Nanotube 'Growth' Promising For Future Electronics
Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in efforts to use tiny structures called carbon nanotubes to create a new class of electronics that would be faster and smaller than conventional...
Feature: Hip joints and jet blades cop a hot spray
From artificial joints and turbine blades to future solar technology, thermal spray coating has a range of exciting applications.
Panasonic Develops High Energy Lithium-ion Battery Module with High Reliability
Panasonic Corp. has developed a 1.5 kWh battery module from 18650-type (18 mm in diameter x 65 mm in length) lithium-ion battery cells, which are widely used in laptop computers,...
Scheme removes entropy from ultracold atoms
Transferring entropy from one gas to another should allow study of new quantum systems
All That Glitters Is Now Gold
(PhysOrg.com) -- In full sunlight at mid-day, gold objects are brilliant and richly colored. Put those same objects in a dark interior room with only fluorescent lamps, however, and they...
Laser Fusion and Exawatt Lasers
(PhysOrg.com) -- In the recent past, producing lasers with terawatt (a trillion watts) beams was impressive. Now petawatt (a thousand trillion watts, or 10^15 watts) lasers are the forefront of...
Sony Develops High Frame Rate Single Lens 3D Camera Technology
Sony today announced the development of a single lens 3D camera technology capable of recording natural and smooth 3D images of even fast-moving subject matter such as sports, at 240fps...
There is some truth in ‘Paranormal Activity’
The horror film “Paranormal Activity” is realistic in some ways. But the film is very typical of "real" hauntings, in which the ghosts never do anything obviously paranormal or unexplainable.
Hungary, Czechs, Romania to host EU laser project
SZEGED, Hungary (Reuters) - Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania will host a 500-million-euro ($728.5 million) pioneering laser facility with a wide range of advanced scientific applications, Hungary said Thursday.
Wi-Fi Signals Can Be Used to See Through Walls
Time for everyone at 113 East 38th Street* to ditch the cameras, because researchers at the University of Utah have found a more subtle way to spy on your neighbors: Wi-Fi. By...