Condensed Matter news
Researchers take the lead out of piezoelectrics
Nov 13, 2009 |
3 / 5 (2) |
0
There is good news for the global effort to reduce the amount of lead in the environment and for the growing array of technologies that rely upon the piezoelectric effect. A lead-free alternative to the current ...
Ionic Liquid's Makeup Measurably Non-Uniform at the Nanoscale
Nov 10, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Texas Tech University, Queen's University in Belfast, Ireland, the University of Rome and the National Research Council in Italy recently made a discovery about the non-uniform chemical compositions ...
Materials scientists find better model for glass creation
Nov 04, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (7) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Harvard materials scientists have come up with what they believe is a new way to model the formation of glasses, a type of amorphous solid that includes common window glass.
Why Does Water Expand When it Cools? A New Explanation
Jul 17, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (39) |
16
(PhysOrg.com) -- Most of us, when we take our first science classes, learn that when things cool down, they shrink. (When they heat up, we learn, they usually expand.) However, water seems to be the exception ...
Scientists Discover Material Harder Than Diamond
Feb 12, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (47) |
28
(PhysOrg.com) -- Currently, diamond is regarded to be the hardest known material in the world. But by considering large compressive pressures under indenters, scientists have calculated that a material called ...
Puzzled Physicists Solve Decade-Long Discrepancies
Oct 09, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (31) |
7
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team led by physicists at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) have resolved a decade-long puzzle that is set to have huge implications ...
Unexpected Hydrides Become Stable Metals at Pressure Near One Quarter Required to Metalize Pure Hydrogen Alone
Oct 12, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (11) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- From detailed assessments of electronic structure, researchers at the University at Buffalo, Cornell University, Stony Brook University and Moscow State University discovered that unexpected ...
PhD student solves decade-long mystery of magnetism
Oct 27, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (31) |
3
(PhysOrg.com) -- A PhD student from the London Centre for Nanotechnology has won a prize for solving a decade-long mystery central to understanding modern magnetic systems.
Transparent aluminium is 'new state of matter'
Jul 27, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (97) |
49
(PhysOrg.com) -- Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. 'Transparent aluminium' previously only existed in science ...
Single-Molecule Magnets Open New Door for Information Technology
Mar 09, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (24) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- Recent research by scientists in Italy and France shows that that single molecules have the ability to store information via their magnetic state. Their work is a first step toward a new generation ...
New Smart Material Bends Under Internal Heat Source
Feb 06, 2009 |
4 / 5 (9) |
6
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have developed a new smart material that can bend under the influence of an internal heat source. The material could be used as an aerodynamic flap in cars, in order to stabilize ...
New, Unusual Semiconductor is a Switch-Hitter
Jan 30, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (17) |
8
(PhysOrg.com) -- A research group in Germany has discovered a semiconducting material that can switch its semiconducting properties -- turning from one type of semiconductor to another -- via a simple change in temperature. ...
A Promising Catalyst for Solar-Based Hydrogen Energy Production
Dec 02, 2008 |
4.6 / 5 (99) |
37
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have found that a polymer material is an excellent catalyst in a process to produce hydrogen fuel using sunlight and water. The material meets the basic requirements for an ideal catalyst -- including ...
The lotus's clever way of staying dry (w/ Video)
Oct 22, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (3) |
1
An ancient Confucian philosopher once said, "I love the lotus because while growing from mud, it is unstained."
Why they grow? Getting to the roots of lethal metal whiskers
Sep 29, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (10) |
2
(PhysOrg.com) -- A short circuit can be quite hairy: satellites have failed, a NASA computer centre was repeatedly paralysed and the US public heath authority recalled thousands of pacemakers - all because ...
