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 group in The Netherlands has achieved a first: injection of spin-polarized electrons in silicon at room temperature. This has previously been observed only at extremely low temperatures, and the achievement brings spintronic devices using silicon as a semiconductor a step closer. http://www.physorg.com/news178526124.html Physics Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:36:59 EST news178526124 To exploit the quantum world to the fullest, a key commodity is entanglement -the spooky, distance-defying link that can form between objects such as atoms even when they are completely shielded from one another. Now, physicists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a collaborative organization of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland, have developed a promising new source of entangled photons using quantum dots tweaked with a laser. The JQI technique may someday enable more compact and convenient sources of entangled photon pairs than presently available for quantum information applications such as the distribution of "quantum keys" for encrypting sensitive messages. http://www.physorg.com/news177763808.html Physics Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:50:39 EST news177763808 (PhysOrg.com) -- The NSLS-II Experimental Facilities Division achieved an important milestone in September when the conceptual design reports for the initial six project beamlines were completed and submitted to NSLS-II management. http://www.physorg.com/news177061572.html Physics Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:00:02 EST news177061572 (PhysOrg.com) -- Many scientists believe that quantum entanglement is required in order for effective quantum computing. Entanglement takes place when there is a connection that exists between two objects - even when they are spatially separated - that allows what happens to one to happen to the other. The link is such that each entangled object cannot be adequately described without its counterpart. So far, entangling qubits for practical use has been difficult, since scientists want to be able to entangle several qubits at once. http://www.physorg.com/news176364815.html Physics Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:01 EST news176364815 (PhysOrg.com) -- The trail to a new multiferroic started with the theories of a U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory scientist and ended with a multidisciplinary collaboration that created a material with potential impact on next generation electronics. http://www.physorg.com/news175279911.html Physics Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:08:32 EST news175279911 For scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Monterotondo, Italy, what seemed like a disappointing result turned out to be an important discovery. Their findings, published online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), provide conclusive proof that, when a muscle is injured, white blood cells called macrophages play a crucial role in its regeneration. The scientists also uncovered the genetic switch that controls this process, a finding that opens the door for new therapeutic approaches not only to sports injuries but also to diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. http://www.physorg.com/news172824387.html Medicine & Health Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:00:01 EST news172824387 The simple picture of star formation calls for giant clouds of gas and dust to collapse inward due to gravity, growing denser and hotter until igniting nuclear fusion. In reality, forces other than gravity also influence the birth of stars. New research shows that cosmic magnetic fields play a more important role in star formation than previously thought. http://www.physorg.com/news171720091.html Space & Earth Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:02:11 EST news171720091 (PhysOrg.com) -- While many people think that Blu-ray will replace DVDs in the near future, a new study shows that DVDs may still have a lot to offer. Researchers have designed a five-dimensional DVD that can store 1.6 terabytes of data on a standard-size DVD, which is the equivalent of about 30 Blu-ray discs. The 5D DVDs could also be compatible with current DVD disc-drive technology. http://www.physorg.com/news162138048.html Physics Thu, 21 May 2009 15:21:30 EST news162138048 Driving Miranda, a protein in fruit flies crucial to switch a stem cell's fate, is not as complex as biologists thought, according to University of Oregon biochemists. They've found that one enzyme (aPKC) stands alone and acts as a traffic cop that directs which roads daughter cells will take. http://www.physorg.com/news161519009.html Biology Thu, 14 May 2009 11:24:08 EST news161519009 Applied scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) in collaboration with researchers from Hamamatsu Photonics in Hamamatsu City, Japan, have demonstrated, for the first time, lasers in which the direction of oscillation of the emitted radiation, known as polarization, can be designed and controlled at will. The innovation opens the door to a wide range of applications in photonics and communications. Harvard University has filed a broad patent on the invention. http://www.physorg.com/news158814118.html Physics Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:02:48 EST news158814118 (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) -- Ferroelectric materials display a spontaneous electric polarization below the Curie temperature that can be reoriented, typically by applying an electric field. In this study, researchers from Argonne, Northern Illinois University, and The University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that the chemical environment can control the polarization orientation in an ultrathin ferroelectric film. http://www.physorg.com/news154799563.html Physics Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:53:16 EST news154799563 Physicists at Rutgers University have discovered unusual electronic properties in a material that has potential to improve solar cell efficiency and computer chip design. http://www.physorg.com/news154276198.html Physics Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:30:25 EST news154276198 The logic and memory functions of future electronic devices could shrink dramatically - to one or two nanometers (billionths of a meter) instead of the many tens of nanometers that characterize today's most advanced elements - if a way can be found to control domain walls, the ultrathin transition zones that separate regions of a material having different magnetic, electric, or other properties. http://www.physorg.com/news152470937.html Physics Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:03:17 EST news152470937 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of University of Toronto physicists have demonstrated a new technique to squeeze light to the fundamental quantum limit, a finding that has potential applications for high-precision measurement, next-generation atomic clocks, novel quantum computing and our most fundamental understanding of the universe. http://www.physorg.com/news150121818.html Physics Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:30:18 EST news150121818