http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- With its complete lack of atoms, a vacuum is often considered to be the best known insulator. For this reason, vacuums are regularly used to reduce heat transfer, such as in the lining of a thermos to keep beverages hot or cold. However, in a recent study scientists have found a material even less able to conduct heat: a stack of photonic crystals layered within a vacuum can create a material with a thermal conductance just half that of empty space alone. http://www.physorg.com/news179672831.html Physics Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:07:50 EST news179672831 Fujitsu Laboratories today announced that, using carbon nanotubes as heat-dissipation material in amplifier transistors, Fujitsu has become the first to achieve the successful operation of high-frequency, high-power (100W-class) flip-chip amplifiers employing carbon nanotubes, for mobile base stations designed for fourth-generation (4G, IMT-Advanced) systems. http://www.physorg.com/news179762688.html Technology Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:05:53 EST news179762688 NASA researchers studying urban landscapes have found that the intensity of the "heat island" created by a city depends on the ecosystem it replaced and on the regional climate. Urban areas developed in arid and semi-arid regions show far less heating compared with the surrounding countryside than cities built amid forested and temperate climates. http://www.physorg.com/news180120409.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:30:02 EST news180120409 A University of Pittsburgh team overcame a major hurdle plaguing the development of nanomaterials such as those that could lead to more efficient catalysts used to produce hydrogen and render car exhaust less toxic. The researchers reported Nov. 29 in Nature Materials the first demonstration of high-temperature stability in metallic nanoparticles, the vaunted next-generation materials hampered by a vulnerability to extreme heat. http://www.physorg.com/news178810410.html Nanotechnology Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:34:21 EST news178810410 (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 Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:50:01 EST news178442290 Boston College researchers have observed the "hot electron" effect in a solar cell for the first time and successfully harvested the elusive charges using ultra-thin solar cells, opening a potential avenue to improved solar power efficiency, the authors report in the current online edition of Applied Physics Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news179739056.html Physics Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:31:22 EST news179739056 Carbon is usually typecast as a villain in terms of the environment but researchers at the University of Warwick have devised a novel way to miniaturise a technology that will make carbon a key material in some extremely green heating products for our homes and in air conditioning equipment for our cars. http://www.physorg.com/news177076423.html Technology Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:10:02 EST news177076423 Lehigh University's Energy Research Center (ERC) has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop methods of recovering and reusing the heat that would be generated by the carbon-dioxide (CO2) compression process in a carbon capture system. The goal of the research project is to facilitate carbon capture and sequestration, or storage (CCS), and thus limit the amount of CO2, a greenhouse gas, emitted into the atmosphere by coal-fired power plants. http://www.physorg.com/news177940311.html Space & Earth Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:54:44 EST news177940311 A Peruvian scientist has called on his country to help slow the melting of Andean glaciers by daubing white paint on the rock and earth left behind by receding ice so they will absorb less heat. http://www.physorg.com/news176526912.html Space & Earth Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:15:32 EST news176526912 (PhysOrg.com) -- Heat transport in the earth's mantle and in the atmosphere is probably not as effective as previously thought. http://www.physorg.com/news179053848.html Physics Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:40:01 EST news179053848 Does your laptop sometimes get so hot that it can almost be used to fry eggs? New technology may help cool it and give information technology a unique twist, says Jairo Sinova, a Texas A&M University physics professor. http://www.physorg.com/news176037299.html Physics Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:15:50 EST news176037299 (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 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:07:11 EST news177761180 (PhysOrg.com) -- "The very thought of you ... the mere idea of you" -- from the song "The Very Thought of You" by Ray Noble. Can the mere thought of your loved one reduce your pain? http://www.physorg.com/news177344980.html Medicine & Health Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:30:34 EST news177344980 An abundant greenhouse gas could someday help clean up the earth. Converting methane to liquid methanol could produce clean, low-cost fuel and prevent the potent greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere. Exploiting methane in this way could also produce a hydrogen source for fuel cells and yield other industrial applications. http://www.physorg.com/news175434422.html Chemistry Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:10:01 EST news175434422 (PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes, when harvest conditions are less than ideal, silage with lower-than-optimum moisture levels is put into a silo, potentially leading to excessive heating and a spontaneous-combustion fire. http://www.physorg.com/news175879200.html Other Sciences Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:50:03 EST news175879200