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. 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 Better predictions of how many valuable materials behave under stress could be on the way from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where scientists have recently found evidence of an important similarity between the behavior of polycrystalline materials -such as metals and ceramics -and glasses. http://www.physorg.com/news164455263.html Physics Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:40:01 EST news164455263 Physicists at the California Institute of Technology have developed a nanoscale device that can be used for force detection, optical communication, and more. The device exploits the mechanical properties of light to create an optomechanical cavity in which interactions between light and motion are greatly strengthened and enhanced. These interactions, notes Oskar Painter, associate professor of applied physics at Caltech, and the principal investigator on the research, are the largest demonstrated to date. http://www.physorg.com/news163343394.html Nanotechnology Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:10:28 EST news163343394 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using DNA not as a genetic material but as a structural support, Cornell researchers have created thin sheets of gold nanoparticles held together by strands of DNA. The work could prove useful for making thin transistors or other electronic devices. http://www.physorg.com/news162056919.html Nanotechnology Wed, 20 May 2009 16:49:21 EST news162056919 Octopuses and squid are big brained species that use much of their mental powers to adjust their own appearances. This remarkable ability to camouflage on the fly has inspired the Office of Naval Research to award $7.5 million to Duke University and two collaborating institutions to learn more about how the animals do it. http://www.physorg.com/news162056751.html Biology Wed, 20 May 2009 16:47:20 EST news162056751 Graphene is an atomically thin sheet of carbon that has attracted significant attention due to its potential use in high-performance electronics, sensors and alternative energy devices such as solar cells. While the physics of graphene has been thoroughly explored, chemical functionalization of graphene has proven to be elusive. http://www.physorg.com/news161787252.html Chemistry Sun, 17 May 2009 13:55:13 EST news161787252 If one University of Houston professor has his way, the inexpensive plastic now used to manufacture CDs and DVDs will one day soon be put to use in improving the integrity of electronics in aircraft, computers and iPhones. http://www.physorg.com/news161612897.html Nanotechnology Fri, 15 May 2009 13:28:55 EST news161612897 (PhysOrg.com) -- Like tiny Jedi knights, tunable fluidic micro lenses can focus and direct light at will to count cells, evaluate molecules or create on-chip optical tweezers, according to a team of Penn State engineers. They may also provide imaging in medical devices, eliminating the necessity and discomfort of moving the tip of a probe. http://www.physorg.com/news161277474.html Physics Mon, 11 May 2009 16:18:36 EST news161277474 Carbon nanotubes have made a meteoric career in the past 15 years, even if their applications are still limited. Recent research results show that - apart from their favorable mechanical and electrical properties - they also have disadvantageous characteristics. http://www.physorg.com/news160726972.html Nanotechnology Tue, 05 May 2009 07:23:41 EST news160726972 African, American, and European researchers working in collaboration over a 10-year period have released the largest-ever study of African genetic data--more than four million genotypes--providing a library of new information on the continent which is thought to be the source of the oldest settlements of modern humans. http://www.physorg.com/news160319662.html Biology Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:14:45 EST news160319662 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia report in the Journal of Materials Chemistry that chemicals in tea are the best yet discovered to make consistent, biologically safe gold nanoparticles. More importantly, these gold nanoparticles show promising anticancer properties. http://www.physorg.com/news160065861.html Nanotechnology Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:45:11 EST news160065861 (PhysOrg.com) -- Based on studies of old volcanic basalt, scientists know that the Earth`s magnetic field reverses at irregular intervals, ranging from tens of thousands to millions of years. Volcanic basalt rock contains magnetite, and when the rock cools, its magnetic properties are frozen, recording the Earth's magnetic field of the time. With this data, scientists estimate that the last magnetic field reversal occurred about 780,000 years ago. http://www.physorg.com/news159704651.html Physics Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:24:39 EST news159704651 (PhysOrg.com) -- By "unzipping" carbon nanotubes, researchers have shown how to make flat graphene ribbons. Graphene, which is a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon that looks like chicken wire, has unique electrical properties that could have many future electronics applications. However, one of the biggest challenges researchers currently face is producing graphene in large quantities. http://www.physorg.com/news159436730.html Nanotechnology Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:59:11 EST news159436730 A clock that is so precise that it loses only a second every 300 million years - this is the result of new research in ultra cold atoms. The international collaboration is comprised of researchers from the University of Colorado, USA and the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen and the results have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal, Science. http://www.physorg.com/news159111429.html Physics Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:37:36 EST news159111429 Researchers have discovered an important element for making night vision possible in nocturnal mammals: the DNA within the photoreceptor rod cells responsible for low light vision is packaged in a very unconventional way, according to a report in the April 17th issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication. That special DNA architecture turns the rod cell nuclei themselves into tiny light-collecting lenses, with millions of them in every nocturnal eye. http://www.physorg.com/news159105142.html Biology Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:53:01 EST news159105142 With the human genome in hand, biochemists have cataloged the 3-D structures of thousands of proteins isolated from living cells. But one important class of proteins -- those stuck in the cell membranes -- has proven difficult to extract and study in 3-D crystals. Now an international team of scientists has developed a way to train such molecules to line up neatly on the surface of water in thin, tissue-like layers called nanofilms. This technique should allow biochemists to better see and study the molecules and may lead to a new generation of molecular electronics and ultra-thin materials only one molecule thick. http://www.physorg.com/news158930443.html Chemistry Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:22:17 EST news158930443 (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) -- Will the legacy of Nobel prize winner Richard Smalley finally be fulfilled? Ever since his pioneering work in the mid 1990's on the synthesis of carbon nanotubes, companies have been struggling to find a commercial application for this amazing material. There was a nanotech "bubble" of start-up companies, none of which managed to successfully IPO due to lack of realizable commercial revenue. Is that about to change? Recent research by Rice University and Unidym indicate that a fully realizable application is finally here for carbon nanotubes. Fortunately, it's in one of the fastest growing display markets, touch screens. http://www.physorg.com/news158587561.html Nanotechnology Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:06:35 EST news158587561 By combining the results of a number of powerful techniques for studying material structure at the nanoscale, a team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, working with colleagues in other federal labs and abroad, believe they have settled a long-standing debate over the source of the unique electronic properties of a material with potentially great importance for wireless communications. http://www.physorg.com/news158417087.html Physics Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:45:24 EST news158417087 (PhysOrg.com) -- Semiconductor nanowires -- tiny wires with a diameter as small as a few billionths of a meter - hold promise for devices of the future, both in technology like light-emitting diodes and in new versions of transistors and circuits for next generation of electronics. But in order to utilize the novel properties of nanowires, their composition must be precisely controlled, and researchers must better understand just exactly how the composition is determined by the synthesis conditions. http://www.physorg.com/news157894016.html Nanotechnology Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:27:29 EST news157894016 (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) -- Though a year has passed since the discovery of a new family of high-temperature superconductors, a viable explanation for the iron-based materials` unusual talent remains elusive. But a team of scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) may be close to the answer. http://www.physorg.com/news156615918.html Physics Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:25:47 EST news156615918 (PhysOrg.com) -- Materials containing bimetallic nanoparticles are attractive in vast technological fields because of their unique catalytic, electronic, and magnetic properties. One of the most promising of the bunch is made from palladium and gold, an alloy that could be used in a wide variety of catalytic activities including the water-gas shift reaction and the oxidation of carbon dioxide - both important steps in alternative energy applications like fuel cells. http://www.physorg.com/news156446716.html Nanotechnology Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:25:44 EST news156446716 (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 Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) 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/news156435623.html Physics Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:20:49 EST news156435623 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have already known that carbon nanotube thin films have mechanical and conductive advantages that could make them useful as electrodes in solar cells, solid state lighting, and electronic displays. However, studies so far have focused on how well nanotube films transmit light in the visible range, but have not explored the films` infrared properties. http://www.physorg.com/news155993510.html Nanotechnology Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:32:47 EST news155993510 New research from Rice University and the University of Oulu in Oulu, Finland, finds that carbon nanotubes could significantly improve the performance of electrical commutators that are common in electric motors and generators. http://www.physorg.com/news155939264.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:28:08 EST news155939264 Escherichia coli is a commonly used indicator organism for detecting the presence of fecal contamination in drinking water supplies. The importance of E. coli as an indicator organism has led to several studies looking at the transport behavior of this important microorganism in groundwater environments. Commonly only a single strain of E. coli is used in these studies, yet research has shown that a significant amount of genetic variability exists among strains of E. coli isolated from different host species and even from the same host species. If these genetic differences result in differences in cell properties that affect transport, different strains of E. coli may exhibit different rates of transport in the environment. http://www.physorg.com/news155827998.html Space & Earth Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:34:02 EST news155827998 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) as a test tube, scientists can explore chemistry at the nanoscale, which involves some unique effects. Nanotubes provide a confined, one-dimensional space in which to isolate molecules, allowing nanoscale confinement effects to influence the chemical reactions. http://www.physorg.com/news155563699.html Nanotechnology Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:10:08 EST news155563699 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Uppsala University have managed for the first time to measure magnetic properties in new materials quantitatively with the help of electron microscopy - with unparalleled precision. The secret behind the breakthrough is a successful elaboration of electron microscope technology. The findings, published in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters, means that the energy loss entailed in all electromagnetic materials can ultimately be minimized. http://www.physorg.com/news155317166.html Physics Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:40:16 EST news155317166