- Physicists use ion beams to detect art forgery
University of Notre Dame nuclear physicists Philippe Collon and Michael Wiescher are using accelerated ion beams to pinpoint the age and origin of material used in pottery, painting, metalwork and other art. The results of their...
(Issue date: 22 January 2012)
- A big leap toward lowering the power consumption of microprocessors
The first systematic power profiles of microprocessors could help lower the energy consumption of both small cell phones and giant data centres, report computer science professors from The University of Texas at Austin and the...
(Issue date: 22 January 2012)
- The great gas hydrate escape
For some time, researchers have explored flammable ice for low-carbon or alternative fuel or as a place to store carbon dioxide. Now, a computer analysis of the ice and gas compound, known as a gas hydrate, reveals key details of...
(Issue date: 22 January 2012)
- Researchers discover particle which could ‘cool the planet’
Scientists have shown that a new molecule in the earth’s atmosphere has the potential to play a significant role in off-setting global warming by cooling the planet.
In a breakthrough paper, researchers from the University of...
(Issue date: 22 January 2012)
- The faster-than-fast Fourier transform
The Fourier transform is one of the most fundamental concepts in the information sciences. It’s a method for representing an irregular signal — such as the voltage fluctuations in the wire that connects an MP3 player to a...
(Issue date: 22 January 2012)
- High-speed CMOS sensors provide better images
Conventional CMOS image sensors are not suitable for low-light applications such as fluorescence, since large pixels arranged in a matrix do not support high readout speeds. A new optoelectronic component speeds up this process....
(Issue date: 15 January 2012)
- Groundbreaking work on Criegee intermediates
In a breakthrough paper, researchers from Sandia’s Combustion Research Facility, the University of Manchester and Bristol University report direct measurements of reactions of a gas-phase Criegee intermediate using...
(Issue date: 15 January 2012)
- Particle-free silver ink prints small, high-performance electronics
University of Illinois materials scientists have developed a new reactive silver ink for printing high-performance electronics on ubiquitous, low-cost materials such as flexible plastic, paper or fabric...
(Issue date: 15 January 2012)
- Mānoa researchers discover novel chemical route to form organic molecules
An international team of scientists led by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Professor Ralf I. Kaiser, Alexander M. Mebel of Florida International University, and Alexander Tielens of Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands,...
(Issue date: 15 January 2012)
- Graphene quantum dots: The next big small thing
A Rice University laboratory has found a way to turn common carbon fibre into graphene quantum dots, tiny specks of matter with properties expected to prove useful in electronic, optical and biomedical applications.
The Rice lab...
(Issue date: 15 January 2012)
- A 3-Dimensional view of 1-dimensional nanostructures
Just 100 nanometers in diameter, nanowires are often considered one-dimensional. But researchers at Northwestern University have recently reported that individual gallium nitride nanowires show strong piezoelectricity – a type of...
(Issue date: 08 January 2012)
- Down to the wire for silicon: Researchers create a wire 4 atoms wide, 1 atom tall
The smallest wires ever developed in silicon - just one atom tall and four atoms wide - have been shown by a team of researchers from the University of New South Wales, Melbourne University and Purdue University to have the same...
(Issue date: 08 January 2012)
- Relay race with single atoms: New ways of manipulating matter
Thanks to a collaboration between scientists in San Sebastian and Japan, a relay reaction of hydrogen atoms at a single-molecule level has been observed in real-space. This way of manipulating matter could open up new ways to...
(Issue date: 08 January 2012)
- Light makes write for DNA information-storage device
In an effort to make data storage more cost-effective, a group of researchers from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany have created a DNA-based memory device that is...
(Issue date: 08 January 2012)
- New computer model explains lakes and storms on Titan
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is an intriguing, alien world that's covered in a thick atmosphere with abundant methane. With an average surface temperature of a brisk -300 degrees Fahrenheit (about 90 kelvins) and a diameter just...
(Issue date: 08 January 2012)
- Graphene rips follow rules
Research from Rice University and the University of California at Berkeley may give science and industry a new way to manipulate graphene, the wonder material expected to play a role in advanced electronic, mechanical and thermal...
(Issue date: 08 January 2012)
- Novel device removes heavy metals from water
An unfortunate consequence of many industrial and manufacturing practices, from textile factories to metalworking operations, is the release of heavy metals in waterways. Those metals can remain for decades, even centuries, in...
(Issue date: 18 December 2011)
- Tool detects patterns hidden in vast data sets
Researchers from the Broad Institute and Harvard University have developed a tool that can tackle large data sets in a way that no other software program can. Part of a suite of statistical tools called MINE, it can tease out...
(Issue date: 18 December 2011)
- Lead levels in drinking water spike when copper and lead pipes joined
Lead pipes once used routinely in municipal water distribution systems are a well-recognised source of dangerous lead contamination, but new research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that the partial replacement...
(Issue date: 18 December 2011)
- First low-mass star detected in globular cluster
Even the most powerful high-tech telescopes are barely able to record remote low-mass and thus faint stars. Together with researchers from Poland and Chile, an astrophysicist from the University of Zurich has now detected a...
(Issue date: 18 December 2011)
