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. If you keep twisting a straight elastic string, at some moment it starts kinking in a wild way. Something similar occurs when one increases the electrical current flowing in a magnetized plasma doughnut: it takes on a wild helical shape, which spoils its performance. This phenomenon concerns scientists exploring fusion power, who use powerful magnetic fields to confine plasma during their experiments. http://www.physorg.com/news176402729.html Physics Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:20:02 EST news176402729 Though it looks like a tiny purple blowtorch, a pencil-sized plume of plasma on the tip of a small probe remains at room temperature as it swiftly dismantles tough bacterial colonies deep inside a human tooth. But it's not another futuristic product of George Lucas' imagination. It's the exciting work of USC School of Dentistry and Viterbi School of Engineering researchers looking for new ways to safely fight tenacious biofilm infections in patients - and it could revolutionize many facets of medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news163903949.html Physics Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:53:16 EST news163903949 Researchers at McGill University and the affiliated Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital - along with colleagues at the University of Manitoba and the University of British Columbia - may have found a chink in the armour of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the microorganism which causes AIDS. They have pinpointed the key cellular machinery co-opted by HIV-1 to hijack the human cell for its own benefit. Their study was published in May in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. http://www.physorg.com/news163864198.html Chemistry Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:50:20 EST news163864198 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Warwick have found what could be the signal of ideal wave "surfing" conditions for individual particles within the massive turbulent ocean of the solar wind. The discovery could give a new insight into just how energy is dissipated in solar system sized plasmas such as the solar wind and could provide significant clues to scientists developing fusion power which relies on plasmas. http://www.physorg.com/news170947797.html Physics Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:30:59 EST news170947797 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the cosmos, all celestial objects - planets, stars, galaxies and clusters of galaxies - have magnetic fields. On Earth, the magnetic field of our home planet is most easily observed in a compass where the needle points north. http://www.physorg.com/news174308539.html Space & Earth Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:30:02 EST news174308539 For years scientists have struggled with the difficult physics of inertial confinement fusion. This is the attempt to compress a target capsule containing isotopes of hydrogen with high-powered lasers to high enough pressure and temperature to initiate fusion burn. http://www.physorg.com/news175958305.html Physics Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:20:01 EST news175958305 In the quest to produce nuclear fusion energy, researchers from the DIII-D National Fusion Facility have recently confirmed long-standing theoretical predictions that performance, efficiency and reliability are simultaneously obtained in tokamaks, the leading magnetic confinement fusion device, operating at their performance limits. Experiments designed to test these predictions have successfully demonstrated the interaction of these conditions. http://www.physorg.com/news176402578.html Physics Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:30:03 EST news176402578 New research reveals how proteins that are critical for the transparency of the eye lens are properly sorted and localized in membrane bilayers. The study, published by Cell Press in the November 3rd issue of Biophysical Journal, analyzes how interactions between lipid and protein molecules can selectively concentrate proteins in certain regions of the cell membrane. http://www.physorg.com/news176474807.html Biology Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:50:06 EST news176474807 (PhysOrg.com) -- The U.S. ITER Project Office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has awarded two contracts totaling $33.6 million for 8,270 km of niobium tin strand and 4,795 km of copper strand for the Toroidal Field Conductor, a major component of U.S. contributions to the ITER Project. ITER's Toroidal Field Magnets will fill the plasma volume (~1000 cubic meters) with a magnetic field roughly 100,000 times the Earth's magnetic field. http://www.physorg.com/news173980230.html Physics Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:10:16 EST news173980230 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are adapting the same methods used in fusion-energy research to create extremely thin plasma beams for a new class of "nanolithography" required to make future computer chips. http://www.physorg.com/news169825442.html Nanotechnology Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:44:45 EST news169825442 Particle accelerators are among the largest and most expensive scientific instruments. Thirty years ago, theorists John Dawson and Toshiki Tajima proposed an idea for making them thousands of times smaller: surf the particles on plasma waves driven by short intense laser pulses. Since plasmas are free of the damage limits of conventional accelerators, much larger fields can be built up within such waves, enabling much smaller accelerators. http://www.physorg.com/news176402686.html Physics Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:20:01 EST news176402686 Using one of the greatest sources of radiation energy created by man, University of Nevada, Reno researcher and faculty member Roberto Mancini is studying ultra-high temperature and non-equilibrium plasmas to mimic what happens to matter in accretion disks around black holes. http://www.physorg.com/news171125659.html Physics Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:54:54 EST news171125659 (PhysOrg.com) -- Solar physicists at NASA have confirmed that small, sudden bursts of heat and energy, called nanoflares, cause temperatures in the thin, translucent gas of the sun's atmosphere to reach millions of degrees. http://www.physorg.com/news169483870.html Space & Earth Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:52:19 EST news169483870 (PhysOrg.com) -- Certain stars stream vast amounts of matter into space, creating some of the most beautiful objects in astronomers' telescopes. But while the astronomers can enjoy the beauty, they can't explain it. Adam Frank, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester is hoping to change that. http://www.physorg.com/news173373454.html Space & Earth Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:30:01 EST news173373454 According to Dutch researcher Hanneke Later-Nijland, it may be possible to shorten the duration of treatment for tuberculosis. Due to the long duration of treatment, not every patient sees it through. Partly because of this, tuberculosis is one of the most lethal diseases in developing countries. http://www.physorg.com/news171136864.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:10:01 EST news171136864