Turning heat to electricity

Turning heat to electricity... efficiently

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (62) | comments 9

(PhysOrg.com) -- In everything from computer processor chips to car engines to electric powerplants, the need to get rid of excess heat creates a major source of inefficiency. But new research points the way ...


Hackers leak e-mails, stoke climate debate

Technology / Internet

created Nov 21, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (46) | comments 32

(AP) -- Computer hackers have broken into a server at a well-respected climate change research center in Britain and posted hundreds of private e-mails and documents online - stoking debate over whether some scientists have ...


Extinct goat Myotragus balearicus

Extinct goat was cold-blooded

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (37) | comments 12

(PhysOrg.com) -- An extinct goat that lived on a barren Mediterranean island survived for millions of years by reducing in size and by becoming cold-blooded, which has never before been discovered in mammals.


New hydrogen-storage method discovered

New hydrogen-storage method discovered

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 22, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (41) | comments 15

Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have found for the first time that high pressure can be used to make a unique hydrogen-storage material. The discovery paves the way for an entirely new way to approach ...


In the Brain, Seven Is A Magic Number

In the Brain, Seven Is A Magic Number

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (32) | comments 9

Having a tough time recalling a phone number someone spoke a few minutes ago or forgetting items from a mental grocery list is not a sign of mental decline; in fact, it's natural.


Sandia CR5

Machine Converts CO2 into Gasoline, Diesel, and Jet Fuel

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (30) | comments 19

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have built a machine that uses the sun's energy to convert carbon dioxide waste from power plants into transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel, ...


Scientists react as they stand in front of a screen at CERN

First atoms reported smashed in Large Hadron Collider (Update)

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (29) | comments 21

Two circulating beams on Monday produced the first particle collisions in the world's biggest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), three days after its restart, scientists announced.


Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved

Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (26) | comments 9

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) is telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as ...


Is global warming unstoppable?

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (30) | comments 32

In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions - the major cause of global warming - cannot be stabilized unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the ...


Computer Based on Insights From The Brain Moves Closer to Reality

Computer Based on Insights From The Brain Moves Closer to Reality

Technology / Computer Sciences

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (24) | comments 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- Today at SC 09, the supercomputing conference, IBM announced significant progress toward creating a computer system that simulates and emulates the brain's abilities for sensation, perception, ...


First Neutrino Events Observed at T2K Near Detector

First Neutrino Events Observed at T2K Near Detector

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 24, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (23) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists from the Japanese-led multi-national T2K neutrino collaboration announced today that over the weekend they detected the first events generated by their newly built neutrino beam ...


A view of a superconducting solenoid magnet at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva

CERN atom-smasher restarts after 14-month hiatus: official

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 20, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (23) | comments 0

The world's biggest atom-smasher, shut down after its inauguration in September 2008 amid technical faults, restarted on Friday, a spokesman for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research said.


Mysteriously warm times in Antarctica

Mysteriously warm times in Antarctica

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (23) | comments 31

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of Antarctica's past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages (interglacials) may have been higher than previously thought. The latest analysis ...


Proton's party pals may alter its internal structure

Proton's party pals may alter its internal structure

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (20) | comments 9

A recent experiment at the DOE's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has found that a proton's nearest neighbors in the nucleus of the atom may modify the proton's internal structure.


Oceans' uptake of manmade carbon may be slowing

Oceans' uptake of manmade carbon may be slowing

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (23) | comments 9

The oceans play a key role in regulating climate, absorbing more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans put into the air. Now, the first year-by-year accounting of this mechanism during the industrial ...