http://www.physorg.com/physics-news/physics/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on physics, materials, nanotech, science and technology. (PhysOrg.com) -- The Web site Neuroanthropology asks visitors to complete this quote, "One of the difficulties in understanding the brain is ...". In addition to the typical facetious remarks, such as "so few of us seem to have one" and "the damn thing is smart enough to realize what you are doing, and contrary enough to change the way it reacts just to spite you...," there are more serious ones, such as "... it's not a computer" and the methods we have available "are not enough accurate in saying how neural mechanisms correlates to behavior." http://www.physorg.com/news178906562.html Physics - General Physics Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:16:45 EST news178906562 (PhysOrg.com) -- As technology shrinks ever smaller, interest in objects and devices on the nanoscale becomes more apparent. However, visualizing these objects in three dimensions comes with special challenges. Alexander Govyadinov, a scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, points out that imaging nano-objects in 3-D typically requires measurements of the optical phase, a task which is so difficult that it is rarely done. http://www.physorg.com/news178870057.html Physics - General Physics Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:30:02 EST news178870057 (PhysOrg.com) -- The first experiment using the Linac Coherent Light Source to illuminate molecules via a "pump-probe" technique has been completed by an international team of more than 30 scientists from institutions including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, LCLS and the joint SLAC/Stanford PULSE Institute. Ryan Coffee, physicist with the LCLS Laser Group, presented initial results in a seminar at SLAC on Wednesday, November 18. http://www.physorg.com/news178822370.html Physics - General Physics Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:30:03 EST news178822370 An international team of applied scientists from Harvard, Hamamatsu Photonics, and ETH Zürich have demonstrated compact, multibeam, and multi-wavelength lasers emitting in the invisible part of the light spectrum (infrared). By contrast, typical lasers emit a single light beam of a well-defined wavelength. The innovative multibeam lasers have potential use in applications related to remote chemical sensing pollution monitoring, optical wireless, and interferometry. http://www.physorg.com/news178804893.html Physics - General Physics Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:40:01 EST news178804893 (PhysOrg.com) -- CERN's Large Hadron Collider has today become the world's highest energy particle accelerator, having accelerated its twin beams of protons to an energy of 1.18 TeV in the early hours of the morning. This exceeds the previous world record of 0.98 TeV, which had been held by the US Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory`s Tevatron collider since 2001. It marks another important milestone on the road to first physics at the LHC in 2010. http://www.physorg.com/news178781372.html Physics - General Physics Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:44:16 EST news178781372 The concept of confinement is one of the central ideas in modern physics. The most famous example is that of quarks which bind together to form protons and neutrons. Now Prof. Bella Lake from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (Germany) together with an international team of scientists report for the first time an experimental realization and a proof of confinement phenomenon observed in a condensed matter system. http://www.physorg.com/news178724926.html Physics - General Physics Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:49:37 EST news178724926 (PhysOrg.com) -- A group in The Netherlands has achieved a first: injection of spin-polarized electrons in silicon at room temperature. This has previously been observed only at extremely low temperatures, and the achievement brings spintronic devices using silicon as a semiconductor a step closer. http://www.physorg.com/news178526124.html Physics - General Physics Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:36:59 EST news178526124 (PhysOrg.com) -- European space agencies and an aerospace giant are developing a new re-entry heat shield that will use superconductor magnets to generate a magnetic field strong enough to deflect the superhot plasma formed during re-entry of returning spacecraft. They plan to test the new technology by attaching a test module to a missile and using a Russian submarine to fire it into space. http://www.physorg.com/news178442290.html Physics - General Physics Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:50:01 EST news178442290 MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) and other drug-resistant bacteria could face annihilation as low-temperature plasma prototype devices have been developed to offer safe, quick, easy and unfailing bactericidal cocktails. http://www.physorg.com/news178438994.html Physics - General Physics Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:24:08 EST news178438994 (PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists from the Japanese-led multi-national T2K neutrino collaboration announced today that over the weekend they detected the first events generated by their newly built neutrino beam at the J-PARC accelerator laboratory in Tokai, Japan. http://www.physorg.com/news178300806.html Physics - General Physics Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:01:48 EST news178300806 Having a tough time recalling a phone number someone spoke a few minutes ago or forgetting items from a mental grocery list is not a sign of mental decline; in fact, it's natural. http://www.physorg.com/news178220995.html Physics - General Physics Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:51:01 EST news178220995 Two circulating beams on Monday produced the first particle collisions in the world's biggest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), three days after its restart, scientists announced. http://www.physorg.com/news178212182.html Physics - General Physics Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:23:26 EST news178212182 A bit of imagination on the part of a measuring instrument wouldn't be a bad thing. It could help to add data from areas where the instrument is unable to measure. However, it must do so constructively. In order to infer missing data in an astronomical measurement with more than just imagination, physicists at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics have formulated a theory of spatial perception called information field theory. http://www.physorg.com/news178209326.html Physics - General Physics Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:36:47 EST news178209326 (AP) -- The world's largest atom smasher made another leap forward Monday by circulating beams of protons in opposite directions at the same time in the $10 billion machine after more than a year of repairs, organizers said. http://www.physorg.com/news178198886.html Physics - General Physics Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:42:04 EST news178198886 Understanding mixing in the ocean is of fundamental importance to modeling climate change or predicting the effects of an El Niņo on our weather. Modern ocean models primarily incorporate the effects of winds and tides. However, they do not generally take into account the mixing generated by swimming animals. http://www.physorg.com/news178119743.html Physics - General Physics Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:30:04 EST news178119743 (AP) -- Scientists are preparing the world's largest atom smasher to explore the depths of matter after successfully restarting the $10 billion machine following more than a year of repairs. http://www.physorg.com/news178024871.html Physics - General Physics Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:21:52 EST news178024871 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the NSLS and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) have demonstrated a technique that could be used to significantly improve the quantity and quality of light produced from a free-electron laser (FEL) - a source that provides pulses of light that can be 1,000 times shorter than those at conventional storage ring light sources. http://www.physorg.com/news177952043.html Physics - General Physics Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:24:58 EST news177952043 The world's biggest atom-smasher, shut down after its inauguration in September 2008 amid technical faults, restarted on Friday, a spokesman for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research said. http://www.physorg.com/news177951527.html Physics - General Physics Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:46 EST news177951527 (PhysOrg.com) -- A multi-trillion-watt laser at the University of Rochester has simulated a stellar jet -- an outpouring of matter from a fledgling star -- with unprecedented realism. http://www.physorg.com/news177949235.html Physics - General Physics Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:27:46 EST news177949235 (PhysOrg.com) -- The investment in nuclear power has been growing around the world over the last few years, being viewed as a means for countries to control their energy security, avoid the price fluctuations of other energy sources, and reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, but concerns are now being raised. http://www.physorg.com/news177839133.html Physics - General Physics Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:50:06 EST news177839133 A recent experiment at the DOE's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has found that a proton's nearest neighbors in the nucleus of the atom may modify the proton's internal structure. http://www.physorg.com/news177787801.html Physics - General Physics Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:31:37 EST news177787801 Like surfers on monster waves, electrons can ride waves of plasma to very high energies in a very short distance. Scientists have proven that plasma acceleration works. Now they're developing it as a way to dramatically shrink the size and cost of particle accelerators for science, medicine, industry, and myriad other uses. http://www.physorg.com/news177786729.html Physics - General Physics Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:13:04 EST news177786729 Like other users of microfluidic systems, National Institute of Standards and Technology researcher Javier Atencia was faced with an annoying engineering problem: how to simply, reliably and most of all, tightly, connect his tiny devices to the external pumps and reservoirs delivering liquids into the system. While pondering this one day, he randomly picked up two magnets and began playing with them. As the magnets pulled apart and then snapped back together, Atencia realized that he had his solution. http://www.physorg.com/news177761689.html Physics - General Physics Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:02 EST news177761689 (PhysOrg.com) -- In everything from computer processor chips to car engines to electric powerplants, the need to get rid of excess heat creates a major source of inefficiency. But new research points the way to a technology that might make it possible to harvest much of that wasted heat and turn it into usable electricity. http://www.physorg.com/news177761180.html Physics - General Physics Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:07:11 EST news177761180 The European Organization for Nuclear Research says it expects to restart the world's largest atom smasher by this weekend after more than a year of repairs. http://www.physorg.com/news177700443.html Physics - General Physics Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:14:20 EST news177700443 (PhysOrg.com) -- Studying the patterns that emerge in natural and social phenomena is a popular area of research, although usually individual phenomena are studied separately from each other. In a recent study, researchers have found innate correlations among some of these phenomena, showing that the amount of money that individuals in a society donate to a charity can be used to determine the distribution of personal wealth in that society. The connection between these two topics can also be used for exploring the complexity of a society's economic system. http://www.physorg.com/news177667305.html Physics - General Physics Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:10:03 EST news177667305 (PhysOrg.com) -- Even if you are not a cook, you might have wondered why a pinch of flour (or any small particles) thrown into a bowl of water will disperse in a dramatic fashion, radiating outward as if it was exploding. Pushpendra Singh, PhD, a mechanical engineering professor at NJIT who has studied and written about the phenomenon, has not only thought about it, but can explain why. http://www.physorg.com/news177616622.html Physics - General Physics Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:30:05 EST news177616622 (PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, it has been possible to measure electron density in individual molecular states using what is known as the photoelectric effect. Now published in Science, this method represents a key building block in the development of organic semiconductor elements. Supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the success of this project rested on the mathematical transformation of the measured data. This made it possible to interpret the distribution of the electrons and draw conclusions about the potential properties of organic semiconductor elements. http://www.physorg.com/news177582885.html Physics - General Physics Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:35:28 EST news177582885 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Harvard theoretical physicist has discussed with scientists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland the possibility that they may discover a theorized "stau" particle, with a lifetime of a minute or so, that could provide the first experimental confirmation of string theory. http://www.physorg.com/news177262216.html Physics - General Physics Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:34:37 EST news177262216 It's the biggest problem in physics: the matter we can see in the universe accounts for just five per cent of the observed gravity that holds galaxies together. http://www.physorg.com/news177230113.html Physics - General Physics Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:35:57 EST news177230113