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) -- A flute playing robot unveiled by Waseda University last year has been joined by a robot saxophonist in a Classical music duet. The aim of the project was to design robots that could respond to each other's visual and aural cues. http://www.physorg.com/news178442951.html Electronics Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:30:01 EST news178442951 Physicists at UC Santa Barbara have made an important advance in electrically controlling quantum states of electrons, a step that could help in the development of quantum computing. The work is published online today on the Science Express Web site. http://www.physorg.com/news177938057.html Physics Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:18:55 EST news177938057 (PhysOrg.com) -- In a recently published paper, Aram Harrow at the University of Bristol and colleagues from MIT in the United States have discovered a quantum algorithm that solves large problems much faster than conventional computers can. http://www.physorg.com/news177011105.html Physics Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:20:02 EST news177011105 (PhysOrg.com) -- In recent years, quantum computers have lost some of their luster. In the 1990s, it seemed that they might be able to solve a class of difficult but common problems - the so-called NP-complete problems - exponentially faster than classical computers. Now, it seems that they probably can't. In fact, until this week, the only common calculation where quantum computation promised exponential gains was the factoring of large numbers, which isn't that useful outside cryptography. http://www.physorg.com/news174286879.html Physics Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:01:53 EST news174286879 Chaotic behavior is the rule, not the exception, in the world we experience through our senses, the world governed by the laws of classical physics. http://www.physorg.com/news174143570.html Physics Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:13:42 EST news174143570 (Santa Barbara, Calif.) -- Physicists at UC Santa Barbara have made an important advance in quantum mechanics using a superconducting electrical circuit. The finding is reported in this week's issue of the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news172936800.html Physics Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:00:50 EST news172936800 (PhysOrg.com) -- In comparison to classical physics, quantum physics predicts that the properties of a quantum mechanical system depend on the measurement context, i.e. whether or not other system measurements are carried out. A team of physicists from Innsbruck, Austria, led by Christian Roos and Rainer Blatt, have for the first time proven in a comprehensive experiment that it is not possible to explain quantum phenomena in non-contextual terms. The scientists report on their findings in the current issue of Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news167461123.html Physics Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:00:04 EST news167461123 (PhysOrg.com) -- In his discussion of accelerated motion on page 60 of The Meaning of Relativity, Albert Einstein made an approximation that allowed him to develop the theory of relativity further. Einstein apparently never had the opportunity to check his original approximation. Now, a University of Missouri physicist has uncovered some clues about the basis of Einstein's theories and presented a more general approximation, which may better link quantum physics with classical physics. http://www.physorg.com/news166874604.html Physics Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:03:55 EST news166874604 (PhysOrg.com) -- A highly ambitious European project used basic cognitive function, eye-tracking and keystroke logging as the starting point for the study of human-computer interaction for translation. It could be the dawn of a new era, with cognition-strength interfaces that work with brainwaves. http://www.physorg.com/news166094371.html Technology Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:20:05 EST news166094371 University of Oregon physicists have successfully landed a one-two punch on a tiny glass sphere, refrigerating it in liquid helium and then dosing its perimeter with a laser beam, to bring its naturally occurring mechanical vibrations to a near standstill. http://www.physorg.com/news164461299.html Physics Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:42:32 EST news164461299 A team of researchers at the University of Illinois has demonstrated that, counter to classical Newtonian mechanics, an entire collection of superconducting electrons in an ultrathin superconducting wire is able to "tunnel" as a pack from a state with a higher electrical current to one with a notably lower current, providing more evidence of the phenomenon of macroscopic quantum tunneling. http://www.physorg.com/news162650639.html Nanotechnology Wed, 27 May 2009 13:48:12 EST news162650639 (PhysOrg.com) -- `Right now, classical computers are faster than quantum computers,` René Stock tells PhysOrg.com. `The goal of quantum computing is to eventually speed up the time scale of solving certain important problems, such as factoring and data search, so that quantum computing can not only compete with, but far outperform, classical computing on large scale problems. One of the most promising ways to possibly do this is with ion traps.` http://www.physorg.com/news161348276.html Physics Tue, 12 May 2009 11:58:24 EST news161348276 Combating several human pathogens, including some biological warfare agents, may one day become a bit easier thanks to research reported by a University of Iowa chemist and his colleagues in the April 16 issue of the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news159112477.html Biology Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:55:03 EST news159112477 (AP) -- Even before they played their first note together, they were listed as one of the world's most inspiring orchestras. http://www.physorg.com/news159099570.html Technology Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:21:51 EST news159099570 (PhysOrg.com) -- Humans don`t always make the most rational decisions. As studies have shown, even when logic and reasoning point in one direction, sometimes we chose the opposite route, motivated by personal bias or simply "wishful thinking." This paradoxical human behavior has resisted explanation by classical decision theory for over a decade. But now, scientists have shown that a quantum probability model can provide a simple explanation for human decision-making - and may eventually help explain the success of human cognition overall. http://www.physorg.com/news158928941.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:56:09 EST news158928941 (PhysOrg.com) -- Dendritic cells were discovered more than 30 years ago, but their pedigree has never been fully charted. They were known to be key immune system cells born in bone marrow, but their adolescence remained a mystery, their path to infection-fighting adulthood confused. Now, in experiments published in Science, researchers at The Rockefeller University have identified these special cells` rites of passage: They have shown the developmental point when dendritic cells part ways with closely related immune cells known as monocytes, at least in mice. The findings could have important implications for research on dendritic cell-based vaccines all over the world. http://www.physorg.com/news156708357.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:06:36 EST news156708357 (PhysOrg.com) -- Local realism is something we live with every day, even if we don`t realize it. The principle of local realism combines two assumptions: locality and realism. Locality says that distant objects cannot directly and instantaneously influence each other (since nothing can travel faster than the speed of light). Realism says that the things we measure and sense are indeed really there apart from our measurements, and it`s not just our measurements that make them exist. http://www.physorg.com/news155382024.html Physics Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:40:56 EST news155382024 (PhysOrg.com) -- McGill University chemistry professor Chao-Jun (C.J.) Li is known as one of the world leading pioneers in green chemistry, an entirely new approach to the science which eschews the use of toxic, petrochemical-based solvents in favour of basic substances like water and new ways of making molecules. http://www.physorg.com/news154708602.html Chemistry Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:38:32 EST news154708602 (PhysOrg.com) -- Schrodinger's cat, a macroscopic object that is both alive and dead at the same time, illustrates the strangeness of quantum mechanics. While such quantum properties have been widely observed for electrons and molecules, recent experiments have shown that larger objects may also demonstrate quantum effects. Just how large, though, is still an open question. http://www.physorg.com/news152369994.html Physics Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:00:43 EST news152369994 Masses of immune cells that form as a hallmark of tuberculosis (TB) have long been thought to be the body's way of trying to protect itself by literally walling off the bacteria. But a new study in the January 9th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, offers evidence that the TB bacteria actually sends signals that encourage the growth of those organized granuloma structures, and for good reason: each granuloma serves as a kind of hub for the infectious bugs in the early stages of infection, allowing them to expand further and spread throughout the body. http://www.physorg.com/news150643255.html Biology Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:20:55 EST news150643255 A team from the French Food Safety Agency, Lyon, France, has identified a prion protein characteristic that is unique to some natural but unusual sheep scrapie cases. This finding, reported August 29th in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, may provide a novel method by which to study prion diversity and their possible changes during cross-species transmission. http://www.physorg.com/news139206108.html Biology Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:21:48 EST news139206108 Quantum mechanics is full of counterintuitive concepts. The idea of entanglement - when two or more particles instantaneously exhibit dependent characteristics when measured, no matter how far apart they are - is one of them. Now, physicists have discovered another counterintuitive result that deals with the line between the quantum and classical worlds. http://www.physorg.com/news139051854.html Physics Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:30:54 EST news139051854 The advantage of using medical equipment to study classical musical instruments has been proven by a Dutch researcher from the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). In collaboration with a renowned luthier, Dr. Berend Stoel put classical violins, including several made by Stradivarius, in a CT scanner. The results are published in the July 2 issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE. The homogeneity in the densities of the wood from which the classical violins are made, in marked contrast to the modern violins studied, may very well explain their superior sound production. http://www.physorg.com/news134193065.html Other Sciences Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:51:05 EST news134193065