- What Activates a Supermassive Black Hole?
A new study combining data from ESO’s Very Large Telescope and ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray space observatory has turned up a surprise. Most of the huge black holes in the centres of galaxies in the past 11 billion years were not...
(Issue date: 13 July 2011)
- Extended Coulomb failure criteria for the Zipingpu reservoir and Longmenshan slip
The extended Coulomb failure stress (ECFS) criteria and anisotropic porosity and permeability tensor at micro/meso/macro scale under ultra-high temperature and pressure (UTP) conditions were developed employing the flow driven...
(Issue date: 13 July 2011)
- Supramolecules get time to shine
What looks like a spongy ball wrapped in strands of yarn -- but a lot smaller -- could be key to unlocking better methods for catalysis, artificial photosynthesis or splitting water into hydrogen, according to Rice University...
(Issue date: 13 July 2011)
- Putting sunshine in the tank
Scientists from The University of Manchester are working on how to use the energy of the Sun to make fuels, which could help to solve the world’s escalating energy crisis. Working with the Universities of East Anglia, York and...
(Issue date: 07 July 2011)
- The next generation of computing
Scientists have taken one step closer to the next generation of computers. Research from the Cavendish Laboratory, the University of Cambridge’s Department of Physics, provides new insight into spintronics, which has been...
(Issue date: 07 July 2011)
- Breaking Kasha’s Rule:
Breaking Kasha’s Rule:Observation of a scientific rule being broken can sometimes lead to new knowledge and important applications. Such would seem to be the case when scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s...
(Issue date: 07 July 2011)
- Imbedding microchips in ornamental shrubs
Radiofrequency Identification (RFID), or microchip technology, has been used for years in animal identification systems and is now being tested for use in plants. Researchers note that microchip techniques have varied...
(Issue date: 07 July 2011)
- 'Cling-film' solar cells could lead to advance in renewable energy
A scientific advance in renewable energy which promises a revolution in the ease and cost of using solar cells, has been announced. A new study shows that even when using very simple and inexpensive manufacturing methods - where...
(Issue date: 07 July 2011)
- New sensor to measure structural stresses can heal itself when broken
Researchers from North Carolina State University have designed a sensor that can measure strain in structural materials and is capable of healing itself – an important advance for collecting data to help us make informed...
(Issue date: 26 June 2011)
- SACLA laser sets new record
RIKEN and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) have successfully produced a beam of X-ray laser light with a wavelength of 1.2 Angstroms, the shortest ever measured. This record-breaking light was created...
(Issue date: 26 June 2011)
- Researchers record two-state dynamics in glassy silicon
Using high-resolution imaging technology, University of Illinois researchers have answered a question that had confounded semiconductor researchers: Is amorphous silicon a glass? The answer? Yes – until hydrogen is added.Led by...
(Issue date: 26 June 2011)
- Taming the molecule's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Many organic molecules are non-superimposable with their mirror image. The two forms of such a molecule are called enantiomers and can have different properties in biological systems. The problem is to control which enantiomer...
(Issue date: 26 June 2011)
- First self-powered device with wireless data transmission
Scientists are reporting development of the first self-powered nano-device that can transmit data wirelessly over long distances. In a study, they say it proves the feasibility of a futuristic genre of tiny implantable medical...
(Issue date: 26 June 2011)
- Synthesis and thermophysical properties of low viscosity amino acid-based ionic liquids
Nowadays ionic liquids are in the focus of scientific interest owing to their attractive properties. In this context, a series of amino acid-based ionic liquids (AAILs; EmimGly, EmimAla, EmimPro, and EmimSer) were synthesised and...
(Issue date: 26 June 2011)
- U of T scientist leads international team in quantum physics first vital contribution to ongoing debate
Quantum mechanics is famous for saying that a tree falling in a forest when there's no one there doesn't make a sound. Quantum mechanics also says that if anyone is listening, it interferes with and changes the tree. And so the...
(Issue date: 06 June 2011)
- Researchers build largest biochemical circuit out of small synthetic DNA molecules
In many ways, life is like a computer. An organism's genome is the software that tells the cellular and molecular machinery—the hardware—what to do. But instead of electronic circuitry, life relies on biochemical...
(Issue date: 06 June 2011)
- UH researchers' graphene development published
University of Houston researchers have developed a method for creating single-crystal arrays of the material graphene, an advance that opens the possibility of a replacement for silicon in high-performance computers and...
(Issue date: 06 June 2011)
- Anti-matter trapped for 16 minutes
Trapping antihydrogen atoms at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has become so routine that physicists are confident that they can soon begin experiments on this rare antimatter equivalent of the hydrogen...
(Issue date: 06 June 2011)
- Phase change memory-based "Moneta" System points to the future of computer storage
A University of California, San Diego faculty-student team is about to demonstrate a first-of-its kind, phase-change memory solid state storage device that provides performance thousands of times faster than a conventional hard...
(Issue date: 06 June 2011)
- New synchrotron technique could see hidden building blocks of life
Scientists from Finland and France have developed a new synchrotron X-ray technique that may revolutionise the chemical analysis of rare materials like meteoric rock samples or fossils.
Life, as we know it, is based on the...
(Issue date: 01 June 2011)
