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. By squeezing a typical metal alloy at pressures hundreds of thousands of times greater than normal atmospheric pressure, scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a material that does not expand when heated, as does nearly every normal metal, and acts like a metal with an entirely different chemical composition. http://www.physorg.com/news164301757.html Physics Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:57:02 EST news164301757 A species of bacteria, isolated from sediments deep under the Pacific Ocean, could provide a powerful clean-up tool for heavy metal pollution. http://www.physorg.com/news163394086.html Biology Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:15:37 EST news163394086 Members of a USC-led research team say they've made a big improvement in a new breed of electronic detectors for viruses and other biological materials - one that may be a valuable addition to the battle against epidemics. http://www.physorg.com/news162814488.html Nanotechnology Fri, 29 May 2009 11:15:18 EST news162814488 Ultrafast laser research at Kansas State University has allowed physicists to build on Nobel Prize-winning work in photo-electronics by none other than Albert Einstein. http://www.physorg.com/news162131852.html Physics Thu, 21 May 2009 13:38:14 EST news162131852 A University of Rhode Island chemistry professor's discovery of a new salt has been received with enthusiasm by companies seeking to develop an advanced lithium ion battery for use in the next generation of hybrid and electric vehicles. http://www.physorg.com/news161368047.html Chemistry Tue, 12 May 2009 17:28:10 EST news161368047 (PhysOrg.com) -- By modifying a commonly used commercial infrared spectrometer to allow operation at long-wave terahertz frequencies, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology discovered an efficient new approach to measure key structural properties of nanoscale metal-oxide films used in high-speed integrated circuits. Their technique, described in a recent paper,* could become an important quality-control tool to help monitor semiconductor manufacturing processes and evaluate new insulating materials. http://www.physorg.com/news160839248.html Physics Wed, 06 May 2009 14:35:33 EST news160839248 (PhysOrg.com) -- Spiderman would definitely have an easier time of things with this spider silk - for example, if he had to stop a getaway car moving off at 100 kilometres per hour. A five-millimetre-thick thread would do the job from a distance of 20 metres - assuming it had been treated by a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics. The same task would require a finger-thick thread of untreated spider silk and a steel rod as thick as a forearm. The Max Planck scientists strengthen the natural material by infiltrating it with metal ions. It may also be possible to strengthen other natural and synthetic fibres in this way. http://www.physorg.com/news159793291.html Physics Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:02:42 EST news159793291 Researchers at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) have succeeded in making the first ever piece of chiral palladium metal. The findings, by a research team led by Gadi Rothenberg, professor of Heterogeneous Catalysis and Sustainable Chemistry at the UvA, are significant because they lead to an entirely new class of materials. These are metallo-organics - they combine the variety of organic molecules with the special properties of metals. The research results are published this week in Nature Chemistry. http://www.physorg.com/news159686508.html Chemistry Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:22:23 EST news159686508 IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Infineon Technologies, Samsung Electronics, and STMicroelectronics have defined and are jointly developing a 28-nanometer, high-k metal gate (HKMG), low-power bulk complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process technology. http://www.physorg.com/news159467422.html Technology Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:31:06 EST news159467422 Scientists at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have succeeded in unlocking the potential of carbon dioxide - a common greenhouse gas - by converting it into a more useful product. http://www.physorg.com/news159098987.html Chemistry Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:10:21 EST news159098987 Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands) have developed an entirely new method for starting chemical reactions. For the first time they used mechanical forces to control catalytic activity - one of the most fundamental concepts in chemistry. This allowed them to initiate chemical reactions with mechanical force. This discovery paves the way to developing materials capable of repairing themselves under the influence of mechanical tension. The results of their research will be published online on 6 April 2009 in the new international journal Nature Chemistry. http://www.physorg.com/news158245330.html Chemistry Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:02:41 EST news158245330 The design of efficient systems for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, driven by sunlight is among the most important challenges facing science today, underpinning the long term potential of hydrogen as a clean, sustainable fuel. But man-made systems that exist today are very inefficient and often require additional use of sacrificial chemical agents. In this context, it is important to establish new mechanisms by which water splitting can take place. http://www.physorg.com/news158233827.html Chemistry Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:51:51 EST news158233827 (PhysOrg.com) -- Electronic products are having to accommodate more and more components, all of which generate heat. Too much heat could put laptops and other devices out of action, so manufacturers equip them with metal plates to discharge it. A new composite can do this better. http://www.physorg.com/news158227207.html Chemistry Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:01:17 EST news158227207 Researchers have developed a critical part of a hydrogen storage system for cars that makes it possible to fill up a vehicle's fuel tank within five minutes with enough hydrogen to drive 300 miles. http://www.physorg.com/news157900295.html Technology Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:12:19 EST news157900295 It is a completely transparent and flexible energy conversion and storage device that you can bend and twist like a poker card. http://www.physorg.com/news157721337.html Nanotechnology Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:29:27 EST news157721337 Drug-eluting stents were safe and superior to bare metal stents in preventing death and heart attacks among 262,700 "real-world" patients enrolled in a nationwide registry of cardiovascular disease, according to researchers from Duke University Medical Center. http://www.physorg.com/news157533919.html Medicine & Health Sun, 29 Mar 2009 08:26:06 EST news157533919 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a method for coating metal surfaces with an ultrathin film containing nanoparticles - particles measuring billionths of a meter - which renders the metal resistant to corrosion and eliminates the use of toxic chromium for this purpose. The scientists have been awarded U.S. Patent number 7,507,480 for their method and the corrosion-resistant metals made from it. The technology is available for licensing. http://www.physorg.com/news157206577.html Nanotechnology Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:30:24 EST news157206577 (PhysOrg.com) -- The normal structure of metals is crystalline. Glass, on the other hand, is amorphous. But it's possible to make amorphous forms of metal, metallic glasses, which can be remarkably strong, having many properties equal to or better than their crystalline metal cousins. The catch is that bulk metallic glasses are highly susceptible to fatigue, a severe problem for their use as structural materials. http://www.physorg.com/news157108855.html Physics Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:21:36 EST news157108855 In the quest to pack ever-smaller electronic devices more densely with integrated circuits, nanotechnology researchers keep running up against some unpleasant truths: higher current density induces electromigration and thermomigration, phenomena that damage metal conductors and produce heat, which leads to premature failure of devices. http://www.physorg.com/news156779285.html Nanotechnology Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:53:08 EST news156779285 (PhysOrg.com) -- The memristor is a computer component that offers both memory and logic functions in one simple package. It has the potential to transform the semiconductor industry, enabling smaller, faster, cheaper chips and computers. http://www.physorg.com/news156526733.html Nanotechnology Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:39:33 EST news156526733 (PhysOrg.com) -- A clever but simple new way of making transistors out of high-performance organic microwires presents a potential path for products such as smart merchandise tags, light and cheap solar panels, and flexible "digital paper." Engineers at Stanford and Samsung report the new method in a paper to be published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news156444683.html Technology Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:53:17 EST news156444683 The Polymer Chemistry Research Group at the University of Helsinki, Finland, has succeeded in producing nano-sized metallic copper particles. When the size of particles is reduced to a nano-scale (one nanometre being one billionth of a metre), the properties of the material undergo substantial changes. Unlike in bulk materials, in nanoparticles the number of surface atoms is considerably greater than the number of atoms inside the material, which, among other things, makes the melting temperature of nanomaterials very low. With suitable heat treatment (sintering), the particles manufactured by the research group can be made to form electricity-conducting layers and patterns on paper. http://www.physorg.com/news156436057.html Nanotechnology Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:28:21 EST news156436057 Single oxygen atoms dancing on a metal oxide slab, glowing brighter here and dimmer there, have helped chemists better understand how water splits into oxygen and hydrogen. In the process, the scientists have visualized a chemical reaction that had previously only been talked about. The new work improves our understanding of the chemistry needed to generate hydrogen fuel from water or to clean contaminated water. http://www.physorg.com/news156433818.html Physics Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:51:05 EST news156433818 A study published today online in The Lancet (March 13, 2009) presented two year data for the bioabsorbable everolimus coronary stent. Commenting on the results, interventional cardiology specialist, Professor Franz Eberli from the University Hospital Zurich (Switzerland) and official spokesperson for the European Society of Cardiology, said: http://www.physorg.com/news156168819.html Medicine & Health Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:14:30 EST news156168819 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ever since the Bronze Age, humans have experimented with combining different metals to create alloys with properties superior to either metal alone. But not all metals readily form alloys - for some pairs of elements the atoms are too dissimilar. Now researchers in an international team have discovered that previously impossible alloys can be created by subjecting atoms to high pressure―opening up possibilities for new materials in the future. http://www.physorg.com/news155994105.html Physics Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:42:19 EST news155994105 An educational initiative between Rice University computer scientists and Indian educators will enable schools in rural India to be some of the first to benefit from Rice's revolutionary, low-energy computer chips. http://www.physorg.com/news155939346.html Electronics Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:29:46 EST news155939346 (PhysOrg.com) -- Understanding the mechanisms by which the brain functions is one of the most complex challenges in science. One important aspect is the electrical conduction of stimuli in nerve cells. In order to study neuronal circuits, a sharp metal electrode is usually inserted into the brain to introduce a current. However, the response does not reflect the highly complex activation patterns of natural nerve stimuli. http://www.physorg.com/news154343296.html Chemistry Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:09:06 EST news154343296 Great advances have been made in treating blockages in the arteries of the brain using angioplasty to widen the narrowed artery and a stent to hold the artery open. However, in-stent stenosis, or a re-blockage of the artery within the stent due to scar tissue or blood clots, is estimated to occur in up to 30 percent of patients and can cause a stroke or death. http://www.physorg.com/news153579286.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:57:41 EST news153579286 When it comes to treating heart attacks, experience matters. New research shows that patients have a much better chance of survival when both their hospital and their physician have a strong track record in treating heart attack with angioplasty and stenting. http://www.physorg.com/news153424220.html Medicine & Health Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:58:44 EST news153424220 Need to store electricity more efficiently? Put it behind bars. That's essentially the finding of a team of Rice University researchers who have created hybrid carbon nanotube metal oxide arrays as electrode material that may improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries. http://www.physorg.com/news153404774.html Nanotechnology Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:27:24 EST news153404774