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Fast photon control brings quantum photonic technologies closer

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using photons instead of electrons to transmit information could lead to faster and more secure ways to communicate, among other advantages. Now a team of physicists has taken another step toward realizing ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created 11 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor

(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers have built the first carbon nanotube (CNT) transistor with a channel length below 10 nm, a size that is considered a requirement for computing technology in the next decade. Not ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (33) | comments 30 | with audio podcast feature

Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes

(PhysOrg.com) -- Gene duplications are arguably the driving force of organismal evolution – and if they survive, such duplicate genes will diverge in both regulatory and coding genomic regions. Coding ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 31, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast feature

The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers

(PhysOrg.com) -- A wide range of phenomena depend on ice – specifically, phase transitions during ice crystal surface melting. In this transition, which occurs near the melting point, the ice surface ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Jan 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast feature

Stock market network reveals investor clustering

(PhysOrg.com) -- The stock price of a company continuously changes, going up or down depending on the collective activity of a large number of investors. Although this process seems fairly straightforward, ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 27, 2012 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (23) | comments 8 | with audio podcast feature

Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes

(PhysOrg.com) -- Microfluidic chemistry is fast gaining popularity – and for good reason: In addition to allowing highly-precise reaction control, micro-reactions often exhibit higher yield and proceed ...

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Jan 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Study supports role of quantum effects in photosynthesis

(PhysOrg.com) -- Until a few years ago, photosynthesis seemed to be a straightforward and well-understood process in which plants and other organisms use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars, ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 25, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (13) | comments 7 | with audio podcast feature

Blunt nanostructures could make high-efficiency solar cells easier to fabricate

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most promising methods for increasing the efficiency of solar cells consists of coating the cells’ surfaces with a thin layer of metal nanoparticles. The nanoparticles scatter ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jan 24, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 9 | with audio podcast feature

DNA as invisible ink can reversibly hide patterns

(PhysOrg.com) -- While most people know of DNA as the building blocks of life, these large molecules also have potential applications in areas such as biosensing, nanoparticle assembly, and building supramolecular ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Scientists design solar cells that exceed the conventional light-trapping limit

(PhysOrg.com) -- The best performing solar cells are those that are thick enough to absorb light from the entire solar spectrum, while the cheapest solar cells are thin ones, since they require less, and potentially ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jan 20, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (36) | comments 27 | with audio podcast feature

Not by asteroid alone: Rethinking the Cretaceous mass extinction

(PhysOrg.com) -- At the end of the Cretaceous period some 65 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, causing severe but selective extinction. While that is widely accepted, ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 19, 2012 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (14) | comments 25 | with audio podcast feature

Bubble-propelled microrockets could operate in the human stomach

(PhysOrg.com) -- Recently, researchers have been designing a wide variety of self-propelled micromotors, many of which operate using an oxygen-bubble propulsion mechanism that requires a high concentration ...

Chemistry / Other

created Jan 18, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (12) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Decoding cosmological data could shed light on neutrinos, modified gravity

(PhysOrg.com) -- Today’s most powerful telescopes collect huge amounts of data from the most distant locations of the universe – yet much of the information is simply discarded because it involves ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 17, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (13) | comments 104 | with audio podcast feature

Light control technique could lead to tunable lighting and displays

(PhysOrg.com) -- Over the past several years, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have become a popular light source due to their advantages including bright displays, wide viewing angles, and the ability ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 11, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Leonardo da Vinci's tree rule may be explained by wind

(PhysOrg.com) -- More than 500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci observed a particular relationship between the size of a tree’s trunk and the size of its branches. Specifically, the combined cross-sectional ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 04, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (24) | comments 16 | with audio podcast feature