Superconductor magnet heat shield being developed

Superconductor magnet spacecraft heat shield being developed

Physics / General Physics

created 20 hours ago | popularity 4.9 / 5 (19) | comments 16

(PhysOrg.com) -- European space agencies and an aerospace giant are developing a new re-entry heat shield that will use superconductor magnets to generate a magnetic field strong enough to deflect the superhot ...


Nanowire Formation

Nanowires key to future transistors, electronics

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created 14 hours ago | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new generation of ultrasmall transistors and more powerful computer chips using tiny structures called semiconducting nanowires are closer to reality after a key discovery by researchers ...


Past regional cold and warm periods linked to natural climate drivers

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created 14 hours ago | popularity 3.7 / 5 (10) | comments 15

Intervals of regional warmth and cold in the past are linked to the El Niño phenomenon and the so-called "North Atlantic Oscillation" in the Northern hemisphere's jet stream, according to a team of climate scientists. These ...


Bacteria

Plasma produces KO cocktail for MRSA

Physics / General Physics

created 21 hours ago | popularity 4.9 / 5 (11) | comments 2

MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) and other drug-resistant bacteria could face annihilation as low-temperature plasma prototype devices have been developed to offer safe, quick, easy and un ...


Waseda Flutist Robot

Musical robots perform duets (w/ Video)

Electronics / Robotics

created 18 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (5) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A flute playing robot unveiled by Waseda University last year has been joined by a robot saxophonist in a Classical music duet. The aim of the project was to design robots that could respond ...


The six elephants in Sierra Leone were shot and "crudely butchered"

S.Leone elephants 'wiped out' by poachers: official

Biology / Ecology

created 16 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 5

Poachers "wiped out" the entire elephant herd in Sierra Leone's only wildlife park, wildlife managers said Thursday after police said they had arrested a gang of 10 poachers.


First-ever blueprint of a minimal cell is more complex than expected

First-ever blueprint of a minimal cell is more complex than expected

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 14 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (14) | comments 1

What are the bare essentials of life, the indispensable ingredients required to produce a cell that can survive on its own? Can we describe the molecular anatomy of a cell, and understand how an entire organism ...


Building real security with virtual worlds

Technology / Computer Sciences

created 14 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Advances in computerized modeling and prediction of group behavior, together with improvements in video game graphics, are making possible virtual worlds in which defense analysts can explore and predict ...


Ecological speciation by sexual selection on good genes: Is speciation adaptive?

Biology / Ecology

created 14 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Darwin suggested that the action of natural selection can produce new species, but 150 years after the publication of his famous book, 'On the Origin of Species', debate still continues on the mechanisms of speciation. New ...


Research sheds light on workings of anti-cancer drug

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created 14 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The copper sequestering drug tetrathiomolybdate (TM) has been shown in studies to be effective in the treatment of Wilson disease, a disease caused by an overload of copper, and certain metastatic cancers. ...


Russia: no space for space tourists (AP)

Russia: no space for space tourists

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created 21 hours ago | popularity 2.7 / 5 (3) | comments 2

(AP) -- A top Russian space official says there is no space for tourists wishing to fly to the International Space Station.


McKinnon, accused of hacking into US military and NASA computers, faces extradition to the United States

UFO-obsessed Briton loses bid to block US extradition

Technology / Other

created 10 hours ago | popularity 3.8 / 5 (5) | comments 1

A Briton accused of hacking into US military and NASA computers faces extradition to the United States after the British government Thursday rejected last-ditch requests to block the move.


Whiteflies sabotage alarm system of plant in distress

Whiteflies sabotage alarm system of plant in distress

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 18 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- When spider mites attack a bean plant, the plant responds by producing odours which attract predatory mites. These predatory mites then exterminate the spider mite population, thus acting ...


Knockouts in human cells point to pathogenic targets

Knockouts in human cells point to pathogenic targets

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 17 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Whitehead researchers have developed a new approach for genetics in human cells and used this technique to identify specific genes and proteins required for pathogens.


Sony optimistic on 3-D TVs, in-house display (AP)

Sony optimistic on 3-D TVs, in-house display

Technology / Hi Tech

created 20 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- A third to a half of the Sony Corp. TV sets sold annually will be packed with 3-D features by the year ending March 2013, a senior executive said Thursday.