Weblog : News From the Web

Touchable hologram

Touchable Hologram Becomes Reality (w/ Video)

Technology / Hi Tech

created Aug 06, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (51) | comments 18

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed 3D holograms that can be touched with bare hands. Generally, holograms can't be felt because they're made only of light. But the new ...


angels demons

Physicists Scrutinize Antimatter in Angels & Demons

Physics / General Physics

created May 19, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (25) | comments 18

(PhysOrg.com) -- Could the Vatican really be destroyed by antimatter stolen from a CERN laboratory? The scheme might work in the plot of Angels & Demons, the most recent Hollywood thriller based on a book ...


wolfram alpha

Wolfram Alpha 'Knowledge Engine' is Like a Modern Farmer's Almanac

Technology / Internet

created May 08, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (22) | comments 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- Currently, there's a lot of hype and skepticism surrounding the latest "Google rival," a so-called search engine named Wolfram Alpha. In the near future, anyone with Internet access will be ...


Salt Water System

Salt Water System Could Generate Hydrogen

Physics / Soft Matter

created Mar 18, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (30) | comments 18

(PhysOrg.com) -- The idea of generating hydrogen from salt water has often been claimed to work effectively. However, the systems proposed so far generally require a much greater energy input than the energy ...


Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha Could Answer Questions that Google Can't

Technology / Internet

created Mar 09, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (34) | comments 17

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new search engine described as an "electronic brain" could make searching the Internet more intelligent. Called Wolfram Alpha, the search engine computes its own answers rather than looking ...


chip

Scientists Develop First Chip-Scale Thermoelectric Cooler

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Feb 02, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (11) | comments 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- As computer chips become more powerful, they also become hotter. Nearly all the power that flows into a chip comes out of it as waste heat, and that heat hurts the performance of the chip. ...


Physicists working up from atoms to Schrodinger's cat

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 28, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (19) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Schrodinger's cat, a macroscopic object that is both alive and dead at the same time, illustrates the strangeness of quantum mechanics. While such quantum properties have been widely observed for electrons ...


Space elevator

Long, Stretchy Carbon Nanotubes Could Make Space Elevators Possible

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jan 23, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (30) | comments 51

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from Cambridge University have developed a light, flexible, and strong type of carbon nanotube material that may bring space elevators closer to reality. Motivated by a $4 million ...


Cyclogyro

Cyclogyro Flying Robot Improves its Angles of Attack

Electronics / Robotics

created Jan 22, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (9) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the past few decades, researchers have been investigating a variety of flying machines. Most studies have focused on improving the flying performance of standard flying mechanisms, rather ...


Viswanathan Anand

Why Men Rank Higher than Women at Chess (It's Not Biological)

Other Sciences / Other

created Jan 12, 2009 | popularity 2.9 / 5 (21) | comments 27

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the recorded history of chess, world champions have always been male, not female. Further, there is currently only one woman in the top 100 chess players in the world. Because chess is ...


Scientists Propose Thermal Memory to Store Data

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 07, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (8) | comments 9

Most computers today store memory electronically, by maintaining a certain voltage. In contrast, a new kind of memory that stores data thermally, by maintaining temperature, is being investigated by researchers Lei Wang of ...


Sharp TV

Sharp Unveils Solar-Powered TV

Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets

created Jul 04, 2008 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (44) | comments 10

For the 1.6 billion people living in areas without utility-supplied electricity, Sharp has designed a TV that can get 100% of its power from the sun. The company plans to exhibit the 26-inch LCD prototype ...


Chocolate

Chocolate rich in flavanols may protect the skin from UV

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 06, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study has discovered for the first time that dark chocolate rich in flavanols may provide significant protection from the harmful effects of ultraviolet light.


Metal air battery

Metal-Air Battery Could Store 11 Times More Energy than Lithium-Ion

Technology / Energy

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (39) | comments 11

(PhysOrg.com) -- A spinoff company from Arizona State University plans to build a new battery with an energy density 11 times greater than that of lithium-ion batteries for just one-third the cost. With a ...


Space hotel taking bookings for 2012 opening

Space hotel taking bookings for 2012 opening

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (20) | comments 11

(PhysOrg.com) -- The first orbiting space hotel is on track to open for its first customers in 2012, but hurry, as bookings are filling fast.