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. A research paper co-written by a Virginia Tech faculty member explains a 60-year mystery behind a rare bat's nose that is unusually large for its species. The findings soon will be published in the scientific trade journal, Physical Review Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news166182701.html Physics Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:30:07 EST news166182701 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ever since the idea of a quantum world was discovered, physicists have been trying their best to create applications and uses that mirror the accomplishments of the classical world. However, due to the fact that the quantum world is often quirky and not always well understood, sometimes these attempts go awry. In the case of a quantum motor, though, a theoretical paper out of the University of Augsburg in Germany might shed some light on how some of the quantum quirks might be overcome, resulting in an ac-driven quantum motor. http://www.physorg.com/news166166648.html Physics Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:20:03 EST news166166648 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new calculation clarifies the complicated relationship between protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus and offers a fascinating resolution of the famous NuTeV Anomaly. http://www.physorg.com/news165500651.html Physics Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:25:10 EST news165500651 (PhysOrg.com) -- An ultra-powerful laser can turn regular incandescent light bulbs into power-sippers, say optics researchers at the University of Rochester. The process could make a light as bright as a 100-watt bulb consume less electricity than a 60-watt bulb while remaining far cheaper and radiating a more pleasant light than a fluorescent bulb can. http://www.physorg.com/news162821951.html Physics Fri, 29 May 2009 13:20:03 EST news162821951 (PhysOrg.com) -- True muonium, a long-theorized but never-seen atom, might be observed in future experiments, thanks to recent theoretical work by researchers at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Arizona State University. True muonium was first theorized more than 50 years ago, but until now no one had uncovered an unambiguous method by which it could be created and observed. http://www.physorg.com/news162815271.html Physics Fri, 29 May 2009 11:28:32 EST news162815271 (PhysOrg.com) -- `Axionlike particles are interesting because they come up regularly when scientists study string theory. By looking at their properties, you hope to learn about string theory, or some other unified theory of physics. From a cosmological point of view, axionlike particles are of interest because they could be connected to dark energy,` Clare Burrage tells PhysOrg.com. The main hiccup in this study of axionlike particles, however, is the fact that their existence - much like their cousins, axions - has yet to be proven. http://www.physorg.com/news162719375.html Physics Thu, 28 May 2009 08:50:18 EST news162719375 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Liverpool have developed a molecular structure that could help create current-generating machines at the nanoscale. http://www.physorg.com/news162640123.html Nanotechnology Wed, 27 May 2009 10:49:13 EST news162640123 (PhysOrg.com) -- "For certain tasks, quantum computers are more powerful than their classical counterparts. The task to be performed is the same for quantum or classical systems. However, the former ones can do it in a more efficient way," David Gross tells PhysOrg.com. "But we can`t pinpoint the exact reason why a quantum computer is more powerful. Until now, it has been accepted that the reason is entanglement. But entanglement is the easy answer, and we have discovered that it is not so simple." http://www.physorg.com/news162468404.html Physics Mon, 25 May 2009 11:07:15 EST news162468404 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have created a new type of invisibility cloak that is simpler than previous designs and works for all colors of the visible spectrum, making it possible to cloak larger objects than before and possibly leading to practical applications in "transformation optics." http://www.physorg.com/news162048302.html Physics Wed, 20 May 2009 14:25:35 EST news162048302 (PhysOrg.com) -- One of humanity`s earliest mathematical inquiries might have involved the geometric patterns in plants. The arrangement of leaves on a branch, seeds in a sunflower, and spines on a cactus appear with an intriguing regularity, providing a simple demonstration of mathematically complex patterns. http://www.physorg.com/news162035121.html Physics Wed, 20 May 2009 10:46:35 EST news162035121 (PhysOrg.com) -- Random lasing, Robin Kaiser tells PhysOrg.com, is like standard lasing, with a little bit of a twist: `You don`t know the direction the photons will go, as you do with a more standard laser. This is because the feedback normally produced by a cavity, which sets a propagation axis, is now provided by multiple scattering in all directions. Light is randomly scattered throughout the structure of the laser, exciting further light-emitting processes. Light in a random laser does not come out in a precise direction; it comes out in all directions.` http://www.physorg.com/news161863563.html Physics Mon, 18 May 2009 11:06:44 EST news161863563 (PhysOrg.com) -- In an effort to explore the boundary between thermodynamics and quantum mechanics -- two fundamental yet seemingly incompatible theories of physics -- a team from the UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy has created the world's smallest incandescent lamp. http://www.physorg.com/news160845710.html Nanotechnology Wed, 06 May 2009 16:22:20 EST news160845710 (PhysOrg.com) -- Detecting the coherent motion of a single electron is a challenge, for the simple reason of scale: the timescale of the coherent motion of a single-electron wave function is in the picosecond regime (one trillionth of a second), which presents significant technical difficulties. However, understanding single-electron dynamics is very important for a wide range of future quantum technologies. http://www.physorg.com/news160824176.html Physics Wed, 06 May 2009 10:23:36 EST news160824176 (PhysOrg.com) -- Stellar explosions called novæ are caused by nuclear reactions between the star's atoms. In order to better understand such violent phenomena, astrophysicists study the radiation emitted by certain types of atom, and in particular the fluorine-18 produced by these reactions. http://www.physorg.com/news160317543.html Physics Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:39:51 EST news160317543 (PhysOrg.com) -- "There's a lot of recent interest in understanding the functioning and optimal performance of small systems," Katja Lindenberg tells PhysOrg.com. Lindenberg is a scientist in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Institute for Nonlinear Science at the University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla. Along with Massimiliano Esposito, also at the Institute, and Christian Van den Broeck at Hasselt University in Diepenbeek, Belgium, Lindenberg has been studying the efficiency of very small thermochemical engines. http://www.physorg.com/news160220482.html Physics Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:42:27 EST news160220482 (PhysOrg.com) -- When studying cold atoms, scientists often use magnetic or optical traps to keep the atoms in place. However, in some cases experimentalists want to study free atoms, avoiding the effects of a trap. "One way to study free atoms," Cass Sackett tells PhysOrg.com, "is by bouncing them off a surface... most of the time, the atoms are free." He says that scientists have been interested in bouncing atoms for a long time, but that before now only about five bounces have been achieved. "Using magnets and certain lasers, it is possible to bounce atoms. However, they are lost relatively quickly." http://www.physorg.com/news160053848.html Physics Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:24:47 EST news160053848 (PhysOrg.com) -- The idea that far distant particles can somehow 'talk' to each other worried Einstein so much that he called it 'spooky action at a distance'. http://www.physorg.com/news160047045.html Physics Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:32:17 EST news160047045 With extremely short wavelengths and very high intensities, light-matter interaction seems to be different than previously accepted. http://www.physorg.com/news159788887.html Physics Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:50:29 EST news159788887 (PhysOrg.com) -- "In many ways, the standard model of cosmology works very well," Jose Cembranos tells PhysOrg. "However, there are very basic features that we just do not know. We have dark energy and dark matter. They dictate the evolution of late time cosmology. They both together constitute more than 95 percent of the energy content of the present Universe." If this is the case, why do we trust the standard model? It can`t explain such a large portion of the universe. http://www.physorg.com/news159444907.html Physics Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:17:07 EST news159444907 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory have proposed theoretical models to explain the normal magnetic properties in iron-based superconductors. This research was published in the December 21, 2008 issue of Nature Physics. Their research builds on earlier research they conducted proposing a theoretical model for superconductivity in newly discovered iron-based superconductors. That earlier research was published in Physical Review Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news158859865.html Physics Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:44:44 EST news158859865 (PhysOrg.com) -- The speed at which heat moves between two materials touching each other is a potent indicator of how strongly they are bonded to each other, according to a new study by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. http://www.physorg.com/news158859223.html Nanotechnology Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:34:11 EST news158859223 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Arkansas have shown that changing the chirality, or direction of spin, of a nanoscale magnetic vortex creates an electric pulse, suggesting that such a pulse might be of use in creating computer memory and writing information. http://www.physorg.com/news158431956.html Physics Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:52:53 EST news158431956 (PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have demonstrated a new ion trap that enables ions to go through an intersection while keeping their cool. Ten million times cooler than in prior similar trips, in fact. The demonstration, described in a forthcoming paper in Physical Review Letters,* is a step toward scaling up trap technology to build a large-scale quantum computer using ions (electrically charged atoms), a potentially powerful machine that could perform certain calculations -such as breaking today`s best data encryption codes -much faster than today`s computers. http://www.physorg.com/news158417507.html Physics Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:52:14 EST news158417507 Scientists from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, led by Rudolf Grimm offer new insights into the extremely complex few-body problem. For the first time, the quantum physicists provide evidence of universal four-body states that are closely connected to Efimov states, in an ultracold sample of cesium atoms. The scientists have just published their findings in the journal Physical Review Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news158310375.html Physics Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:06:42 EST news158310375 That sinking feeling when your hard disk starts screeching and you haven't backed up your holiday photos is a step closer to becoming a thing of the past thanks to research into a new kind of computer memory. http://www.physorg.com/news157976129.html Physics Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:16:32 EST news157976129 (PhysOrg.com) -- `Quantum wells have been instrumental in telecommunications, enabling light amplification,` Patanjali Kambhampati tells PhysOrg.com, `but theory has suggested that a very small - colloidal - quantum dot could amplify light even better than a quantum well. There have been problems, however, in getting lasers to work properly with colloidal quantum dots, so focus has shifted to other types of structures.` http://www.physorg.com/news157805833.html Physics Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:57:37 EST news157805833 (PhysOrg.com) -- No one knows exactly what a `fifth force` might be, but studies have shown that, if a long-range fifth force does exist, it could have surprising effects on the universe`s structure formation. A fifth force could reduce discrepancies between theory and observation in several areas of cosmology. http://www.physorg.com/news157292373.html Physics Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:20:41 EST news157292373 (PhysOrg.com) -- Usually, we think of spacetime as being four-dimensional, with three dimensions of space and one dimension of time. However, this Euclidean perspective is just one of many possible multi-dimensional varieties of spacetime. For instance, string theory predicts the existence of extra dimensions - six, seven, even 20 or more. As physicists often explain, it`s impossible to visualize these extra dimensions; they exist primarily to satisfy mathematical equations. http://www.physorg.com/news157203574.html Physics Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:40:14 EST news157203574 (PhysOrg.com) -- Quantum information processing is one of the hottest areas of science and technology right now. Making quantum information processing scalable is an important part of the efforts involved with regard to practical quantum computing. `By tuning the gap of a superconducting qubit, we can allow different types of coupling for use in quantum information processing,` Hans Mooij tells PhysOrg.com. http://www.physorg.com/news156769523.html Physics Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:05:56 EST news156769523 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study answers a key question at the very heart of nanotechnology: Why are nanorods so small? http://www.physorg.com/news156683298.html Nanotechnology Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:09:38 EST news156683298