Liquid Crystals Slow Light Pulses to a Snail's Pace
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.6 / 5 (100) |
13
In a vacuum, the speed of a light pulse is always a constant at 186,000 miles (300,000 km) per second. But by changing the medium through which light travels, physicists can slow down light pulses, and possibly ...
NASA Plans to Visit the Sun
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.8 / 5 (37) |
15
For more than 400 years, astronomers have studied the sun from afar. Now NASA has decided to go there. "We are going to visit a living, breathing star for the first time," says program scientist Lika Guhathakurta ...
Woolly-Mammoth Gene Study Changes Extinction Theory
Biology /
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.5 / 5 (37) |
0
A large genetic study of the extinct woolly mammoth has revealed that the species was not one large homogenous group, as scientists previously had assumed, and that it did not have much genetic diversity.
'Cursus' is older than Stonehenge
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.4 / 5 (29) |
1
Archeologists have come a step closer to solving the 285-year-old riddle of an ancient monument thought to be a precursor to Stonehenge.
'Saucy' software update finds symmetries dramatically faster
Technology / Computer Sciences
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.8 / 5 (20) |
0
Computer scientists at the University of Michigan developed open-source software that cuts the time to find symmetries in complicated equations from days to seconds in some cases.
Testing, Radiation Testing: Northwestern Transistors On Space Station
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.6 / 5 (19) |
2
Transistors based on a new kind of material created by Northwestern University researchers have been lifted into outer space on the space shuttle Endeavour and attached to the outside of the International ...
Hubble's sweeping view of the Coma Galaxy Cluster
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.3 / 5 (19) |
0
Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys has observed a large portion of the Coma Cluster, stretching across several million light-years. The entire cluster is more than 20 million light-years in diameter, is ...
How the brain separates audio signals from noise
Biology /
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.1 / 5 (18) |
3
How are we able to follow a single conversation in the midst of a crowded and noisy room? Little is known about how the human brain accomplishes the seemingly simple task of extracting meaningful signals from noisy acoustic ...
Scientists work to stop chocolate going the way of George Clooney
Jun 10, 2008 |
3.6 / 5 (18) |
2
What do George Clooney and old chocolate have in common? Both are still delicious but have greyed with age – and while this certainly hasn’t damaged the image of the former ER star, it does detract from the ...
Permafrost threatened by rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice, study finds
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 10, 2008 |
3.5 / 5 (18) |
4
The rate of climate warming over northern Alaska, Canada, and Russia could more than triple during periods of rapid sea ice loss, according to a new study led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The findings ...
European system for cutting CO2 emissions is working well: Lessons to be learned for US, globe
Jun 10, 2008 |
3 / 5 (18) |
5
In a bid to control greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change, the European Union has been operating the world's first system to limit and to trade carbon dioxide. Despite its hasty adoption and somewhat rocky beginning ...
Researchers develop better X-ray nanomirrors
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.4 / 5 (12) |
2
A new way of bending X-ray beams developed by MIT researchers could lead to greatly improved space telescopes, as well as new tools for biology and for the manufacture of semiconductor chips.
Scenes of nature trump technology in reducing low-level stress
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.4 / 5 (11) |
1
Technology can send a man to the moon, help unlock the secrets of DNA and let people around the world easily communicate through the Internet. But can it substitute for nature?
Detective astronomers unearth hidden celestial gem
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.4 / 5 (10) |
3
ESA’s orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has re-discovered an ignored celestial gem. The object in question is one of the youngest and brightest supernova remnants in the Milky Way, the corpse of a star ...
Arecibo joins global network to create 6,000-mile telescope
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jun 10, 2008 |
4.6 / 5 (9) |
0
On May 22, Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico joined other telescopes in North America, South America, Europe and Africa in simultaneously observing the same targets, simulating a telescope more than 6,800 miles (almost 11,000 ...
