News tagged with applied physics

'Flipped classroom' teaching model gains an online community

Researchers at Harvard University have launched the Peer Instruction (PI) Network, a new global social network for users of interactive teaching methods.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Innovation promises expanded roles for microsensors

Researchers have learned how to improve the performance of sensors that use tiny vibrating microcantilevers to detect chemical and biological agents for applications from national security to food processing.

Technology / Engineering

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Building a better light bulb

Scientists study the movement of charge carriers to design an organic LED that is energy efficient and still casts a warm, natural glow.

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 4

Wireless power could revolutionize highway transportation, researchers say

A Stanford University research team has designed a high-efficiency charging system that uses magnetic fields to wirelessly transmit large electric currents between metal coils placed several feet apart. The ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (27) | comments 66 | with audio podcast

Flaky graphene makes reliable chemical sensors

Scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the company Dioxide Materials have demonstrated that randomly stacked graphene flakes can make an effective chemical sensor.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jan 17, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Light makes write for DNA information-storage device

Researchers have demonstrated a write-once-read-many-times information-storage device, made of DNA embedded with silver nanoparticles, that uses ultraviolet light to encode data.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jan 05, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Trapping butterfly wings' qualities

Butterflies have inspired humans since the time of ancient Egypt, but now they're also inspiring researchers to look toward nature to help create the next generation of waterproof materials for electronics ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 04, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

'Plasmonic nanoantennas' show promise in optical innovations

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have shown how arrays of tiny "plasmonic nanoantennas" are able to precisely manipulate light in new ways that could make possible a range of optical innovations such as more powerful ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Dec 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Plasma treatment zaps viruses before they can attack cells

Researchers test a pre-emptive anti-viral treatment on a common virus known to cause respiratory infections.

Physics / Plasma Physics

created Dec 16, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Synthetic cricket pricks up its 'ears'

The tiny hairs on the abdomen of a cricket have inspired researchers at the University of Twente, to make a new type of sensor which is ultra sensitive to air flows. These synthetic cricket hairs can now also ...

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 06, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

When it comes to churning out electrons, metal glass beats plastics

By adding carbon nanotubes to a glass-like metal compound, researchers have devised a new breed of field emission electrodes. This technology, which produces a stream of electrons, may have promising applications in the consumer ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Carbon nanotube forest camouflages 3-D objects

Carbon nanotubes, tiny cylinders composed of one-atom-thick carbon lattices, have gained fame as one of the strongest materials known to science. Now a group of researchers from the University of Michigan ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (6) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Butterfly wings inspire design of water-repellent surface

Researchers mimic the many-layered nanostructure of blue mountain swallowtail wings to make a silicon wafer that traps both air and light.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study: Ozone from rock fracture could serve as earthquake early warning

Researchers the world over are seeking reliable ways to predict earthquakes, focusing on identifying seismic precursors that, if detected early enough, could serve as early warnings.

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 17, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover promising hydrogen storage material

(PhysOrg.com) -- If hydrogen is to ever to serve as an onboard energy carrier for the transportation industry, a material will be needed that can store large amounts of hydrogen at ambient temperature and ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Nov 01, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 22 | with audio podcast feature