Transform a ball into a rock -- or make it invisible -- using transformation optics
9 hours ago |
3 / 5 (2) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Science fiction and fantasy tales are full of the ability to "cloak" characters with invisibility. Whether it is a spaceship with a cloaking device, or a young wizard with an invisibility ...
Physicists Demonstrate Quantum Memory with Matter Qubits
Jul 03, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (20) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, scientists have successfully operated a quantum gate between two remote particles of matter, marking an important step toward the development of a quantum computer. In ...
Jellyfish Robot Swims Like its Biological Counterpart
Jun 26, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (9) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- "Jellyfish are one of the most awesome marine animals, doing a spectacular and psychedelic dance in water," explain engineers Sung-Weon Yeom and Il-Kwon Oh from Chonnam National University ...
Could Maxwell's Demon Exist in Nanoscale Systems?
Jun 24, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (18) |
32
(PhysOrg.com) -- Maxwell’s demon may be making a comeback. Physicists know that the demon, an imaginary creature that decreases the entropy of a system, cannot exist in macroscopic systems due to the energy ...
Living Safely with Robots, Beyond Asimov's Laws
Jun 22, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (59) |
40
(PhysOrg.com) -- "In 1981, a 37-year-old factory worker named Kenji Urada entered a restricted safety zone at a Kawasaki manufacturing plant to perform some maintenance on a robot. In his haste, he failed ...
'Look Mom No Electricity': Transmitting Information with Chemistry
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Jun 19, 2009 |
4 / 5 (13) |
19
(PhysOrg.com) -- While information technology is generally thought to require electrons or photons for transmitting information, scientists have recently demonstrated a third method of transmission: chemical ...
Scientists report significant advances in flexible electronics research
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jun 18, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (9) |
1
In work that represents a key step toward bringing bendable, flexible electronic devices into our homes and businesses, Stanford University researchers have created very thin, high-performance transistors using networks of ...
A Polymer Solar Cell with Near-Perfect Internal Efficiency
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (42) |
17
An international group of scientists has developed a polymer-based solar cell with an ability not yet seen in similar cells: almost every single photon it absorbs is converted into a pair of electric-charge carriers, and ...
Working out a timescale for quantum operations
Jun 17, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
0
One of the issues affecting quantum systems is coherence. Understanding coherence and how it breaks down (decoherence) is one of the keys to putting together a powerful quantum computer. And, because wires made from metal ...
Space Robot Can Autonomously Reconfigure Itself
Jun 15, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (14) |
6
A robot designed to work in space should ideally be a Jack of all trades, with the ability to perform a wide variety of tasks by itself. By having one robot that can handle many jobs, astronauts can cut down ...
Using nanoparticles to increase the effiiciency of thin film solar cells
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jun 12, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (19) |
8
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 Twin Paradox Twist, the Accelerated Twin is Older
Jun 09, 2009 |
3.3 / 5 (40) |
94
Just when you thought you were beginning to understand the twin paradox (maybe), scientists have found something new to ponder. In the original version of the famous thought experiment on time dilation, one ...
Nanopillars Promise Cheap, Efficient, Flexible Solar Cells
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
3 hours ago |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have demonstrated a way to fabricate efficient solar cells ...
Physicists take first step towards super-fast search algorithms for quantum computers
5 hours ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
1
When you toss a coin, you either get heads or tails. By contrast, things are not so definite at the microcosmic level. An atomic 'coin' can display a superposition of heads and tails when it has been thrown. However, this ...
Methane-eating microbes can use iron and manganese oxides to 'breathe'
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
5 hours ago |
4.7 / 5 (3) |
0
Iron and manganese compounds, in addition to sulfate, may play an important role in converting methane to carbon dioxide and eventually carbonates in the Earth's oceans, according to a team of researchers ...
