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) -- Is it possible to make even more compact digital memories for portable electronic devices and which consume even less energy? A team of French researchers has recently demonstrated that it is feasible, thanks to a new class of materials known as multiferroics, which combine unusual electric and magnetic properties. http://www.physorg.com/news178546236.html Physics Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:15:20 EST news178546236 (PhysOrg.com) -- Opposites may always attract. But they may not remain together long-term. In a counter-intuitive discovery published in the current edition of the journal Nature, researchers from Harvard, the University of California at Davis, Princeton, and Penn State University report that oppositely charged drops of water will not attract permanently, but instead will bounce off each other indefinitely when subjected to a force of attraction created by what physicists call an electric field that is too strong. http://www.physorg.com/news173033503.html Physics Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:57:26 EST news173033503 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the series Star Trek, Klingons and Romulans have spaceships outfitted with cloaking devices that hide their presence from sight, as well as from the sensors of their rivals' spaceships. Unlike current invisibility cloaks, which are mostly effective only over a narrow range, these fictional devices provide a broadband type of invisibility that so far has eluded modern scientists. http://www.physorg.com/news171876586.html Physics Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:00:01 EST news171876586 A group of University of Oklahoma researchers led by Dr. James P. Shaffer, Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, have discovered giant Rydberg molecules with a bond as large as a red blood cell. Determining how Rydberg molecules interact is important because Rydberg atoms are a key ingredient in atom based quantum computation schemes. http://www.physorg.com/news165059097.html Physics Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:45:28 EST news165059097 (PhysOrg.com) -- Florida Institute of Technology researchers are trying to solve one of the great mysteries in nature: how thunderstorms make lightning. Because, in principle, lightning is a big spark it should behave like other sparks -like the ones created when we touch a door knob on a dry day. Scientists have accumulated evidence, however, that lightning sometimes behaves in very un-spark-like ways. http://www.physorg.com/news163084480.html Space & Earth Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:15:24 EST news163084480 (PhysOrg.com) -- Multiferroics are materials in which unique combinations of electric and magnetic properties can simultaneously coexist. They are potential cornerstones in future magnetic data storage and spintronic devices provided a simple and fast way can be found to turn their electric and magnetic properties on and off. In a promising new development, researchers with the DOE's Berkeley Lab working with a prototypical multiferroic have successfully demonstrated just such a switch -- electric fields. http://www.physorg.com/news162223157.html Physics Fri, 22 May 2009 15:01:46 EST news162223157 (PhysOrg.com) -- Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have fabricated and tested a unique biosensor that measures concentrations of potassium and hydrogen ions in the human heart with high specificity. The research could lead to a superior method of monitoring indicators of acute myocardial ischemia, or AMI, one of the leading causes of cardiovascular failure. http://www.physorg.com/news159719279.html Physics Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:28:48 EST news159719279 Since the human genome was sequenced six years ago, the cost of producing a high-quality genome sequence has dropped precipitously. More recently, the National Institutes of Health called for cutting the cost to $1,000 or less, which may enable sequencing as part of routine medical care. http://www.physorg.com/news159024506.html Nanotechnology Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:28:50 EST news159024506 (PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Wisconsin-Madison research team has developed a new method for using nanoscale silicon that could improve devices that convert thermal energy into electrical energy. http://www.physorg.com/news157824253.html Nanotechnology Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:05:28 EST news157824253 (PhysOrg.com) -- For the past several years, researchers have been trying to take advantage of carbon nanotubes` good electrical properties for future nanoscale electronics applications. One of the biggest challenges in this area is finding ways to arrange and assemble the nanotubes into 3D configurations for carrying current in nanoscale devices. http://www.physorg.com/news143891566.html Nanotechnology Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:52:46 EST news143891566 Physicists of the University of Granada and the University of Valencia (Spain) have developed a proceeding to analyse specific data sent by the Huygens probe from Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, proving "in an unequivocal way" that there is natural electric activity in its atmosphere. The scientific community thinks that there is a higher probability that organic molecules precursors to life could form in those planets or satellites which have an atmosphere with electric storms. http://www.physorg.com/news143889585.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:19:45 EST news143889585 Detecting deadly fumes in subways, toxic gases in chemical spills, and hidden explosives in baggage is becoming easier and more efficient with a measurement technique called surface-enhanced Raman scattering. To further improve the technique's sensitivity, scientists must design better scattering surfaces, and more effective ways of evaluating them. http://www.physorg.com/news136557942.html Physics Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:45:42 EST news136557942 Ferroelectric materials are named after ferromagnetic ones because they behave in a similar way. The main difference: these materials are not magnetic, but permanently electrically polarized. They have great importance for data storage technology and novel piezoelectric devices. Dresden scientists were able to produce microscopic images of ferroelectric domains - tiny regions of a ferroelectric material -, where the electric polarization points into different directions. These results were published in the journal Physical Review Letters recently. http://www.physorg.com/news135581121.html Physics Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:25:21 EST news135581121 University of Florida and Florida Institute of Technology engineering researchers have narrowed the search for the source of X-rays emitted by lightning, a feat that could one day help predict where lightning will strike. http://www.physorg.com/news135351802.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:43:22 EST news135351802