The sun is a star when it comes to sustainable energy
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (25) |
56
At a national scientific meeting last week where biofuels - principally ethanol - were uniformly trashed as an environmental train wreck, one bright, carbon-free light gleamed in our energy future: the sun.
Scientists Find Asteroids Are Missing, and Possibly Why
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (20) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- The patterns of missing asteroids are like the footprints of wandering giant planets preserved in the asteroid belt.
Fossilised pregnant fish was one of the first animals to have sex
Biology /
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (14) |
3
(PhysOrg.com) -- A pregnant fossil fish at the Natural History Museum in London has shed light on the possible origin of sex, according to a study published in Nature today by an international team includ ...
13,000-Year-Old Stone Tool Cache in Colorado Shows Evidence of Camel, Horse Butchering
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (14) |
5
(PhysOrg.com) -- A biochemical analysis of a rare Clovis-era stone tool cache recently unearthed in the city limits of Boulder, Colo., indicates some of the implements were used to butcher ice-age camels and ...
Researchers show small robots can prepare lunar surface for NASA outpost
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (12) |
13
(PhysOrg.com) -- Small robots the size of riding mowers could prepare a safe landing site for NASA's Moon outpost, according to a NASA-sponsored study prepared by Astrobotic Technology Inc. with technical ...
Oceanic seesaw links Northern and Southern hemisphere during abrupt climate change
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Feb 25, 2009 |
4 / 5 (13) |
8
Very large and abrupt changes in temperature recorded over Greenland and across the North Atlantic during the last Ice Age were actually global in extent, according to an international team of researchers led by Cardiff University.
Ants on the brain
Biology /
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
3
(PhysOrg.com) -- Colonies of social insects such as ants and bees could collectively make decisions using mechanisms similar to those used in primate brains, according to new research from the University of ...
Bizarre bird behavior predicted by game theory
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (11) |
0
A team of scientists, led by the University of Exeter, has used game theory to explain the bizarre behaviour of a group of ravens. Juvenile birds from a roost in North Wales have been observed adopting the ...
Knowing when to fold: Engineers use 'nano-origami' to build tiny electronic devices (Video)
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (10) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Folding paper into shapes such as a crane or a butterfly is challenging enough for most people. Now imagine trying to fold something that's about a hundred times thinner than a human hair ...
Probing and Controlling 'Molecular Rattling' May Mean Better Preservatives
Feb 25, 2009 |
5 / 5 (8) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- For centuries, people have preserved fruit by mixing it with sugar, making thick jams that last for months without spoiling. Now scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology ...
Cross-Dressing Rubidium May Reveal Clues for Exotic Computing
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (8) |
5
(PhysOrg.com) -- Neutral atoms--having no net electric charge--usually don't act very dramatically around a magnetic field. But by “dressing them up” with light, researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute, a collaborative ...
Models present new view of nanoscale friction
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (8) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- To understand friction on a very small scale, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers had to think big.
Discovering the secret code behind photosynthesis
Biology /
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (7) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London have discovered that an ancient system of communication found in primitive bacteria, may also explain how plants and algae control the process of photosynthesis.
Self-aligning carbon nanotubes could be key to next generation of devices
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Feb 25, 2009 |
5 / 5 (6) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists and engineers the world over have thought for years that the next generation of smaller, more-efficient electronic and photonic devices could be based on the use of carbon nanotubes, ...
All prejudice isn't created equal; whites distribute it unequally to minorities
Feb 25, 2009 |
2.9 / 5 (10) |
6
The Declaration of Independence may proclaim that all men are created equal, but American whites tend to distribute their prejudice unequally toward certain members of minority groups, according to new research.
