UN warns of 'megadisasters' linked to climate change
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (58) |
32
The United Nations on Tuesday raised the prospect of "megadisasters" affecting millions of people in some of the world's biggest cities unless more is done to heed the threat of climate change.
A Polymer Solar Cell with Near-Perfect Internal Efficiency
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (42) |
13
An international group of scientists has developed a polymer-based solar cell with an ability not yet seen in similar cells: almost every single photon it absorbs is converted into a pair of electric-charge carriers, and ...
Ocean current experts warn of risks if eastern Gulf is opened to drilling
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (39) |
14
While Congress considers opening the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil-and-gas drilling, experts on ocean currents warn of a potential environmental nightmare that could reach the coast of South Florida.
A sonic boom in the world of lasers
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (22) |
6
It was an idea born out of curiosity in the physics lab, but now a new type of ‘laser’ for generating ultra-high frequency sound waves instead of light has taken a major step towards becoming a unique and highly useful 21st ...
Passing cars to generate energy for new UK supermarket
Jun 17, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (21) |
33
A new grocery store in the UK opening today will generate energy every time a customer drives into the parking lot. Sainsbury's, located in Gloucester, is the first European store to feature "Kinetic Road ...
First direct evidence of lightning on Mars detected
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (14) |
3
For the first time, direct evidence of lightning has been detected on Mars, say University of Michigan researchers who found signs of electrical discharges during dust storms on the Red Planet.
Jatropha Helps Air New Zealand Cut Its CO2 Emissions by More Than 60%
Jun 17, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (14) |
14
Recently, Air New Zealand ran a test flight of a jet plane fueled with a biofuel blend made with jatropha. The results showed a fuel savings of 1.2%, amounting to more than a ton of fuel over the course of ...
Unusual shape of exploded star puzzles scientists
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (12) |
2
Penn State astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to produce a new image of a ghostly exploded star with an unusual shape in a galaxy near the Milky Way. Astronomers think the object may be ...
Bacteria can plan ahead
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (11) |
1
Bacteria can anticipate a future event and prepare for it, according to new research at the Weizmann Institute of Science. In a paper that appeared today in Nature, Prof. Yitzhak Pilpel, doctoral student Amir Mitchell and re ...
Spintronic -- the new electronic?
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (10) |
2
European researchers have developed novel concept devices using ferromagnetic semiconductors.
Discovery could help electronics industry enter new phase
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (10) |
0
Electronic devices of the future could be smaller, faster, more powerful and consume less energy because of a discovery by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Genome-wide map shows precisely where microRNAs do their work
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jun 17, 2009 |
5 / 5 (9) |
0
MicroRNAs are the newest kid on the genetic block. By regulating the unzipping of genetic information, these tiny molecules have set the scientific world alight with such wide-ranging applications as onions ...
The power of prayer?
Jun 17, 2009 |
3.3 / 5 (13) |
17
Health and religion have always been intertwined, most obviously through prayer on behalf of the sick. Does intercessory prayer for sick people actually help heal them? For thousands of years some people have believed so. ...
Working out a timescale for quantum operations
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (9) |
0
One of the issues affecting quantum systems is coherence. Understanding coherence and how it breaks down (decoherence) is one of the keys to putting together a powerful quantum computer. And, because wires made from metal ...
Odd discovery may help refine theories about how planets form
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (7) |
9
An international team of researchers has found a planet around another star whose orbit is steeply tilted from the plane of the star's equator, a finding that contradicts some theories about how solar systems form.
