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 team of scientists from The Forsyth Institute, the University of Connecticut Health Center, the CDC and the Wadsworth Center, have used state-of-the-art technology to elucidate the molecular architecture of Treponema pallidum, the bacterium which causes syphilis. The previously unknown detailed structure of the bacteria can now be shown in three dimensions. This provides the first real image of the pathogen and reveals previously unknown features, which may help fight the spread of syphilis. http://www.physorg.com/news178810220.html Biology Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:30:02 EST news178810220 You can think of it as origami - very high-tech origami. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a technique for fabricating three-dimensional, single-crystalline silicon structures from thin films by coupling photolithography and a self-folding process driven by capillary interactions. http://www.physorg.com/news178212895.html Nanotechnology Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:10:13 EST news178212895 (PhysOrg.com) -- Sensors, communications devices and imaging equipment that use a prism and a special form of light -- a surface plasmon-polariton -- may incorporate multiple channels or redundant applications if manufacturers use sculptured thin films. http://www.physorg.com/news177086474.html Physics Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:42:05 EST news177086474 Dana Filoti of the University of New Hampshire will present thin films of silver and copper she has developed that can kill bacteria and may one day help to cut down on hospital infections. The antimicrobial properties of silver and copper have been known for centuries -- last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officially registered copper alloys, allowing them to be marketed with the label "kills 99.9% of bacteria within two hours." Copper ions are known to penetrate bacteria and disrupt molecular pathways important for their survival. http://www.physorg.com/news176997558.html Chemistry Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:30:02 EST news176997558 (PhysOrg.com) -- Preventing the havoc wrought when freezing rain collects on roads, power lines, and aircrafts could be only a few nanometers away. A University of Pittsburgh-led team demonstrates in the Nov. 3 edition of Langmuir a nanoparticle-based coating developed in the lab of Di Gao, a chemical and petroleum engineering professor in Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, that thwarts the buildup of ice on solid surfaces and can be easily applied. http://www.physorg.com/news176044143.html Chemistry Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:09:54 EST news176044143 (PhysOrg.com) -- Chemical engineers at Oregon State University have invented a new technology to deposit "nanostructure films" on various surfaces, which may first find use as coatings for eyeglasses that cost less and work better. http://www.physorg.com/news172321412.html Nanotechnology Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:04:16 EST news172321412 (PhysOrg.com) -- Those who like to watch spy movies like `Mission Impossible` are familiar with the self-destructing messages that inform the secret agents of the details of their mission and then dissolve in a puff of smoke. In the real world, there is serious interest in materials that don't exactly destroy themselves, but that store texts or images for a predetermined amount of time. http://www.physorg.com/news170495261.html Nanotechnology Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:48:33 EST news170495261 University of Washington researchers have found a way to measure exactly how much electrical current is carried by tiny bubbles and channels that form inside nanoscale solar cells, paving the way for development of more efficient materials. http://www.physorg.com/news168608261.html Nanotechnology Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:38:12 EST news168608261 A recent breakthrough by researchers at the Swiss Nanoscience Institute sees for the first time the creation of thin films with controllable electronic properties. This discovery could have a large impact on future applications in sensors and computing. The international collaboration of researchers from the Universities of Basel and Heidelberg and the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) have published the work in the prestigious scientific journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news167060684.html Nanotechnology Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:45:11 EST news167060684 A study of stickers peeling from windows could lead to a new way to precisely control the fabrication of stretchable electronics, according to a team of researchers including one at MIT. http://www.physorg.com/news164337084.html Technology Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:11:37 EST news164337084 Germany is one of the leading countries when it comes to efforts related to renewable energy sources. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Institute of Condensed Matter and Solid State Optics at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität in Jena, Germany, is a place where scientists are hard at work looking for ways to improve current solar cell technology. http://www.physorg.com/news164035942.html Nanotechnology Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:32:52 EST news164035942 Nanoparticle films are no longer a delicate matter: Vanderbilt physicists have found a way to make them strong enough so they don't disintegrate at the slightest touch. http://www.physorg.com/news163770109.html Nanotechnology Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:42:08 EST news163770109 A superconducting sheet of lead only two atoms thick, the thinnest superconducting metal layer ever created, has been developed by physicists at The University of Texas at Austin. http://www.physorg.com/news163676931.html Physics Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:49:24 EST news163676931 (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) -- One of the issues hindering the development of medical electronic devices capable of being implanted in the human body is the lack of suitable materials. Most semiconducting materials are stiff and brittle, while human tissue is soft and pliable. Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), appear to have taken a key step forward in implantable electronics research. http://www.physorg.com/news160652779.html Nanotechnology Mon, 04 May 2009 10:48:24 EST news160652779 Just one click and the window turns into a display. At the Hannover Messe from April 20 to 24, Fraunhofer research scientists will be demonstrating light-permeable conductive coatings as the basis for transparent displays. http://www.physorg.com/news158947829.html Technology Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:11:32 EST news158947829 (PhysOrg.com) -- Reprogrammable product tags, bendable displays and flexible solar cells--the field of organic semiconductor research is advancing these possibilities toward reality. By layering hydrocarbon molecules on thin plastic sheets, scientists can make flexible electronics on the cheap. http://www.physorg.com/news158342698.html Physics Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:05:57 EST news158342698 The next time an overnight snow begins to fall, take two bricks and place them side by side a few inches apart in your yard. http://www.physorg.com/news156349503.html Physics Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:25:42 EST news156349503 (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 (PhysOrg.com) -- Up until now, George Grüner tells PhysOrg.com, most of the studies regarding the properties - and uses - of carbon nanotubes have been restricted to the visible spectral range. `We, however, were interested in the properties in infrared range, in the window of the electromagnetic spectrum that is gaining increased prominence.` http://www.physorg.com/news155816845.html Nanotechnology Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:28:22 EST news155816845 Researchers may be able to "freeze" water into a solid, not by cooling but by confining it to narrow spaces less than one-millionth of a millimeter wide, according to new results from an interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers. http://www.physorg.com/news154349951.html Physics Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:00:12 EST news154349951 (PhysOrg.com) -- `Ferroelectric materials are interesting scientifically, and, while they are used for some things now, they are potentially useful for even more applications in the future,` Brian Stephenson tells PhysOrg.com. Stephenson is a scientist at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois. He has been working on a project to study chemical switching in a ferroelectric film. http://www.physorg.com/news152796442.html Physics Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:28:09 EST news152796442 Oregon researchers have synthesized an elusive metal-hydroxide compound in sufficient and rapidly produced yields, potentially paving the way for improved precursor inks that could boost semiconductor capabilities for large-area applications. http://www.physorg.com/news144675231.html Nanotechnology Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:33:51 EST news144675231 Scientists putting the squeeze on thin films of polystyrene have discovered that at very short length scales the polymer doesn't play by the rules. http://www.physorg.com/news142174656.html Nanotechnology Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:57:36 EST news142174656 (PhysOrg.com) -- How small is too small to be useful? Researchers at North Carolina State University have done nanoscale analysis on ferroelectric thin films - materials that are used in electronic devices from computer memories to iPhones and polarize when exposed to an electric charge - and found that when it comes to polarization, both size and location matter. http://www.physorg.com/news140106123.html Nanotechnology Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:22:03 EST news140106123 Bedsprings aren't often found in biology. Now, chemists have succeeded in making a layer of tiny protein coils attached to a surface, much like miniature bedsprings in a frame. This thin film made of stable and very pure helices can help researchers develop molecular electronics or solar cells, or to divine the biology of proteins. http://www.physorg.com/news138261639.html Chemistry Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:00:39 EST news138261639