Editors Picks
No more bubbles when boiling
September 13, 2012 3:53 am | News | CommentsA theoretical physicist from Swinburne University of Technology and colleagues from Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have discovered a specialty-engineered surface that allows liquids to boil without bubbling. To suppress bubbling while boiling, the team of researchers used a highly water-repellent surface to control the boiling state of a liquid.
Radiation-enabled computer chip for low-cost security imaging systems
September 13, 2012 3:39 am | News | CommentsA professor from Tel Aviv University is reconfiguring existing complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) chips designed for computers and turning them into high-frequency circuits. The ultimate goal of this project is to produce chips with radiation capabilities that are able to see through packaging and clothing to produce an image of what may be hidden beneath.
Bendable crystals resolve properties of X-ray pulses
September 12, 2012 6:27 am | News | CommentsA frustrating flaw in a set of custom crystals for an instrument at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory inspired a solution for an important scientific challenge: how to accurately measure the colors of each individual pulse from a powerful X-ray laser.
Body heat, fermentation drive drug-delivery micropump
September 12, 2012 6:03 am | News | CommentsPurdue University researchers have created a new type of miniature pump activated by body heat that could be using in drug-delivery patches powered by fermentation. The micropump contains Baker's yeast and sugar in a small chamber, and when water is added and the patch is placed on the skin, the body heat and added water causes the yeast and sugar to ferment, generating a small amount of carbon dioxide gas, which pushes against a membrane and has been shown to pump for several hours.
How to clean up oil spills
September 12, 2012 3:38 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMassachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a new technique for magnetically separating oil and water that could be used to clean up oil spills. They believe that, with their technique, the oil could be recovered for use, offsetting much of the cleanup cost.
High-temperature superconductivity induced in semiconductor with tape
September 11, 2012 11:30 am | News | CommentsAn international team led by University of Toronto physicists has developed a simple new technique using Scotch poster tape that has enabled them to induce high-temperature superconductivity in a semiconductor for the first time. The method paves the way for novel new devices that could be used in quantum computing and to improve energy efficiency.
Sliding metals show fluid-like behavior, new clues to wear
September 11, 2012 11:10 am | News | CommentsPurdue University researchers have discovered a swirling, fluid-like behavior in a solid piece of metal sliding over another, providing new insights into the mechanisms of wear and generation of machined surfaces that could help improve the durability of metal parts.
ORNL roof and attic design proves efficient
September 11, 2012 6:22 am | News | CommentsA new kind of roof-and-attic system field tested at Oak Ridge National Laboratory keeps homes cool in summer and prevents heat loss in winter, a multiseasonal efficiency uncommon in roof and attic design. The system improves efficiency using controls for radiation, convenction, and insulation, including a passive ventilation system that pulls air from the underbelly of the attic into an inclined air space above the roof.
The world's most stable laser
September 11, 2012 4:48 am | News | CommentsThe world's most stable laser—with frequency variation of no more than 2 parts in 10,000 trillion—has been developed and tested by an international collaboration of scientists at NIST/JILA in Boulder, Colo., and a group at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, the German counterpart of NIST. The work represents a new approach for constructing high-quality cavities that will bring more than an order of magnitude improvement over prior designs.
Electron's magnetic moment calculated to new precision
September 11, 2012 3:36 am | by Anne Ju, Cornell University | News | CommentsAn electron, as well as other subatomic particles with an electric charge, is actually a little magnet—it spins like a top, giving it its own magnetic moment. It's the subtle change in this magnetic moment caused by emission and reabsorption of photons, a quantum phenomenon called the anomalous magnetic moment, that has interested a Cornell University professor. And now, a team at Cornell has calculated the value of the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron and muon to the most precise degree known to physics.
Deciphering the language of transcription factors
September 11, 2012 3:25 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA new, Massachusetts Institute of Technology-developed analytical method identifies the precise binding sites of transcription factors—proteins that regulate the production of other proteins—with 10 times the accuracy of its predecessors.
Predicting wave power could double marine-based energy
September 10, 2012 10:36 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers has developed a control algorithm that, when used in conjunction with previously developed wave prediction technology, helps wave energy converters calculate the correct amount of force needed to collect the maximum energy possible, allowing the device to respond to each wave individually.
NC State signs research agreement with Eastman Chemical Co.
September 10, 2012 7:32 am | News | CommentsIn a move signaling a new, innovative approach to multidisciplinary research with university partners, North Carolina State University has entered into a multiyear agreement with Eastman Chemical Co. to conduct joint cutting-edge research in chemistry, materials science, and other scientific disciplines.
Imaging metals within cells
September 10, 2012 5:38 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Argonne National Laboratory carrying out research at the Advanced Photon Source have developed a new experimental approach that not only detects and distinguishes metals in proteins, but also characterizes the proteins that bind the metals, without removing them.
Scientists cast doubt on the uncertainty principle
September 10, 2012 5:21 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the University of Toronto have demonstrated that theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg was too pessimistic in 1927 when formulating his famous uncertainty principle. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is one of the cornerstones of quantum mechanics; and in its most familiar form, it says that it is impossible to measure anything without disturbing it. The principle has bedeviled quantum physicists for nearly a century, until recently, when the researchers demonstrated the ability to directly measure the disturbance.
Researchers craft program to stop cloud computing problems
September 10, 2012 5:02 am | News | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new software tool to prevent performance disruptions in cloud computing systems by automatically identifying and responding to potential anomalies before they can develop into problems.
Enough wind to power global energy demand
September 10, 2012 4:03 am | News | CommentsThere is enough energy available in winds to meet all of the world's demand. Atmospheric turbines that convert steadier and faster high-altitude winds into energy could generate even more power than ground- and ocean-based units, according to a Carnegie Institution of Science study.
Researchers make first all-optical nanowire switch
September 10, 2012 3:48 am | News | CommentsComputers may be getting faster every year, but those advances in computer speed could be dwarfed if their 1s and 0s were represented by bursts of light, instead of electricity. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have made an important advance in this frontier of photonics, fashioning the first all-optical photonic switch out of cadmium sulfide nanowires.
Computer chip developed from sea squirt molecules
September 10, 2012 3:29 am | News | CommentsScientists from the University of Aberdeen's Marine Biodiscovery Center and the University of St Andrews presented their work on the components of a new type of computer chip created using molecules from a sea squirt sourced from the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef.
Study finds how BPA affects gene expression
September 7, 2012 7:15 am | News | CommentsNew research led by researchers at North Carolina State University shows that exposure to the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) early in life results in high levels of anxiety by causing significant gene expression changes in a specific region of the brain called the amygdala. The researchers also found that a soy-rich diet can mitigate these effects.
Weapons of mass protection
September 7, 2012 5:18 am | by Denise Brehm, Civil and Environmental Engineering | News | CommentsCompetition is a strong driving force of evolution for organisms of all sizes: Those individuals best equipped to obtain resources adapt and reproduce, while others may fall by the wayside. Many organisms also form cooperative social structures that allow resources to be defended and shared within a population. But surprisingly, even microbes, which are thought to thrive only when able to win the battle for resources against those nearest to them, have a somewhat sophisticated social structure that relies on cooperation, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists.
Mathematicians offer unified theory of dark matter, dark energy
September 7, 2012 4:57 am | News | CommentsA pair of mathematicians, one from Indiana University and the other from Sichuan University in China, have proposed a unified theory of dark matter and dark energy that alters Einstein's equations describing the fundamentals of gravity. The mathematicians suggest the law of energy and momentum conservation in spacetime is valid only when normal matter, dark matter, and dark energy are all taken into account.
Rust never sleeps
September 7, 2012 4:33 am | News | CommentsA multi-institutional team led by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have directly observed electron hopping in iron oxide particles, a phenomonon that holds huge significance for a broad range of environment- and energy-related applications.
Newly licensed neutron detector will advance human disease research
September 6, 2012 11:08 am | News | CommentsA neutron detector developed for studies focused on life science, drug discovery, and materials technology has been licensed by PartTec Ltd. The Indiana-based manufacturer of radiation detection technologies is moving the technology developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory toward the commercial marketplace.
Engineering team improves lab-on-a-chip blood testing technology
September 6, 2012 9:55 am | News | CommentsA team of engineers and students at the University of Rhode Island has developed an advanced blood-testing technology that incorporates a smartphone application, a handheld biosensor, and a credit card-sized cartridge to provide rapid, accurate biological analysis and wireless communication of test results.
