Feature Stories
Why a hydrogen economy doesn't make sense
Dec 11, 2006 |
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In a recent study, fuel cell expert Ulf Bossel explains that a hydrogen economy is a wasteful economy. The large amount of energy required to isolate hydrogen from natural compounds (water, natural gas, biomass), ...
Study Suggests the Existence of Ferroelectric Ice in the Universe
Nov 27, 2006 |
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Various forms of ice have been found in many locations within the frigid reaches of our galaxy, from interstellar clouds to comets, moons, and planets. But a particularly intriguing and rare type, “ferroelectric” ...
A New Approach to Superconducting Memory
Nov 06, 2006 |
4.3 / 5 (62) |
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Despite the potential of superconductor-based electronics to significantly impact the electronics industry – for example, a superconducting computer chip is a thousand times faster than the one within the laptop ...
Light-emitting transistor uses light to transfer an electrical signal
Nov 01, 2006 |
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In one of the early discoveries of the current "silicon electrophotonics era," scientists from Hitachi, Ltd. in Tokyo have built a light-emitting transistor (LET) that transfers, detects and controls an electrical ...
Scientists present method for entangling macroscopic objects
Oct 24, 2006 |
4.8 / 5 (107) |
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Building upon recent studies on optomechanical entanglement with lasers and mirrors, a group of scientists has developed a theoretical model using entanglement swapping in order to entangle two micromechanical ...
Particle decay may point to New Physics
Oct 11, 2006 |
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A tiny flaw has caught the attention of physicists: the Standard Model (SM) predicts that the B meson mixing phase should be measured at nearly the same result using two different classes of decay modes. However, ...
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Single-particle interference observed for macroscopic objects
Sep 28, 2006 |
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With a variation on the famous double-slit experiment of quantum mechanics, scientists Yves Couder and Emmanuel Fort from the University of Paris 7 are rewriting the textbooks. Their accomplishment, however, ...
A Printer that Delivers 1,000 Pages a Minute?
Sep 21, 2006 |
3.9 / 5 (157) |
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Two researchers from The College of Judea and Samaria in Israel have designed an ink-jet printer head that could lead to printers capable of chugging out 1,000 pages per minute – or even more.
A 'prisoner's dilemma' for real-life situations
Sep 20, 2006 |
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What's best for the individual and what's best for society are often not the same thing--this predicament is the premise for the famous "prisoner's dilemma" game. However, healthy societies depend on individuals ...
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New theory (and old equations) may explain causes of ship-sinking freak waves
Sep 13, 2006 |
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On a stormy April day in 1995, the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 was sailing in the North Atlantic when the ocean liner dipped into a "hole in the sea." Out of the darkness, a towering 95-foot wave threatened to crash ...
Dark Energy and Dark Matter – The Results of Flawed Physics?
Sep 11, 2006 |
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There are few scientific concepts as intriguing and mysterious as dark energy and dark matter, said to make up as much as 95 percent of all the energy and matter in the universe. And even though scientists ...
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LCDs get brighter with nano polarization recycler
Sep 06, 2006 |
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LCDs (liquid crystal displays) provide a popular method for lighting screens on everything from computers and TVs to watches, clocks, cell phones and more. However, as scientists Sang Hoon Kim, Joo-Do Park ...
Sterile neutrinos and the search for warm dark matter
Sep 01, 2006 |
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Matteo Viel, a research fellow at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, England, believes that particle physics and cosmology could be more compatible as scientists work toward understanding the origins ...
Snakes’ heat vision enables accurate attacks on prey
Aug 31, 2006 |
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Call it a sixth sense, or evolution’s gift to these cold-blooded reptiles: some snakes have infrared vision. Also called “heat vision,” the infrared rays, which have longer wavelengths than those of visible ...
Flies provide aerodynamic model for tiny flying vehicles
Aug 28, 2006 |
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When it comes to flying, the fly reigns supreme. This two-winged insect’s sophisticated flying behavior enables it to make sharp turns, aim at targets and hover – traits which make the insect an ideal prototype ...
