news 2011

Researchers from the University of Birmingham and Lancaster University, analysing data taken by the ATLAS experiment, have been at the centre of what is believed to be the first clear observation of a new particle at the Large Hadron Collider. The research is published today (22 December 11) on the online repository arXiv.

Scientists at University of Sheffield map out Britain's sun spots Britain is getting brighter according to solar experts at the University of Sheffield who have also revealed the coastal city of Portsmouth was the UK's sunniest place in 2011. At the other end of the sunshine scale, Loch Maree in North West Scotland was found to be the least sunny place in the UK last year.

Cambridge, MA - Astronomers using NASA's Kepler mission have detected two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant star. This discovery marks a milestone in the hunt for alien worlds, since it brings scientists one step closer to their ultimate goal of finding a twin Earth. "The goal of Kepler is to find Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone.

Identifying the composition of the earth's core is key to understanding how our planet formed and the current behavior of its interior. While it has been known for many years that iron is the main element in the core, many questions have remained about just how iron behaves under the conditions found deep in the earth.

The new measurements are approximately 100 times higher in resolution than previous mechanical measurements, a nanotechnology feat which reveals an isolated protein molecule, surprisingly, is neither a solid nor a liquid. "Proteins are the molecular machines of life, the molecules we are made of," Zocchi (UCLA) said.

Physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider have received an early Christmas present. Using apparatus partly designed in Bristol, the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) collaboration has presented the first tentative evidence of the Higgs boson. The discovery of this new particle has been described as the 'holy grail of particle physics' and would confirm our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature.

University of Sydney scientists working with an international team using the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, have made an important step towards the discovery of the Higgs boson - a theoretical particle that physicists predict will explain why matter has mass. Known as the 'God particle', the Higgs boson has captured the imagination of both the public, and the physicists searching for evidence of the proposed particle.

At the KTH Symposium, the director of the U.S. National Science Foundation explains how scientific co-operation with Sweden benefits American research. Reception and service at central level for international students after arrival at KTH. For Master's students For Exchange students It's not easy to determine the elastic properties of steel by experimenting on single crystals.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.-They shook light from darkness. They coaxed something out of what we normally think of as nothing-the vacuum of space. And now their work has been named one of the top 10 breakthroughs of the year by Physics World, the international magazine announced today. University of Michigan physics researcher Franco Nori is involved in The physicists directly observed, for the first time, light particles that flicker in and out of existence in the vacuum.

AUSTIN, Texas — The efficiency of conventional solar cells could be significantly increased, according to new research on the mechanisms of solar energy conversion led by chemist Xiaoyang Zhu at The University of Texas at Austin. Zhu and his team have discovered that it's possible to double the number of electrons harvested from one photon of sunlight using an organic plastic semiconductor material.

In August, as amateurs and professionals alike turned their telescopes on the nearest Type Ia supernova discovered in decades, University of California, Berkeley, research astronomer Weidong Li focused instead on what could not be seen. Li pulled up images of the northern sky taken over the past nine years by the Hubble Space Telescope in search of the star and its binary companion as they looked before the supernova explosion.

Professor Aephraim Steinberg and colleagues at the Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control at the University of Toronto had the top physics breakthrough of the year according to Physics World magazine. Steinberg led an international team in applying a modern measurement technique to the historical two-slit interferometer experiment in which a beam of light shone through two slits results in an interference pattern on a screen behind.

At the KTH Symposium, the director of the U.S. National Science Foundation explains how scientific co-operation with Sweden benefits American research. Reception and service at central level for international students after arrival at KTH. For Master's students For Exchange students KTH researchers and their colleagues from France and Japan have found a method to reveal previously unknown details of the atomic binding process.

Protein dynamics are helped by water, synchrotron researchers find Central to life and all cellular functions, proteins are complex structures that are anything but static, though often illustrated as two-dimensional snapshots in time. Cornell scientists, using the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), have gained new insight into the underlying mechanisms of how protein structures change at low temperatures.

It was the brightest and closest stellar explosion seen from Earth in 25 years, dazzling professional and backyard astronomers alike. Now, thanks to this rare discovery—which some have called the "supernova of a generation"—astronomers have the most detailed picture yet of how this kind of explosion happens.

Avalanches created in controlled laboratory environments are helping us to understand the potentially lethal processes that these natural disasters unleash. In September 2002, one hundred million cubic metres of rock and ice separated from the northern slope of the Kazbek massif in North Ossetia, Russia.

Search for Higgs boson at an "exciting beginning”, Durham University expert says The search for the Higgs boson is at a "very exciting and positive beginning", according to a Durham University physics expert. Scientists working on two experiments - Atlas and CMS - at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), at CERN, in Geneva, today reported seeing hints of the Higgs boson at a similar mass, though they have not yet claimed a discovery.

Experiments at CERN point towards the discovery of the Higgs boson particle, scientists at the organisation have said. Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider, an underground facility near Geneva, have been searching for evidence of the theoretical particle first postulated by Peter Higgs. Scientists at have said that tantalising hints have been seen by experiments there, but these are not yet strong enough to claim a discovery.

Patients with life-threatening heart valve disease could be helped with alternative scanning techniques that provide greater insight into the condition. University researchers used an imaging technique that could help predict which patients will need open heart surgery to replace their heart valves.

University pledges continued cooperation with NCAA inquiry Hotels to support RAINN over commencement weekend A message from President Rodney Erickson As lawmakers review child abuse laws, Erickson expresses support Blue out, canning efforts raise $47,000 to fight child abuse, rape A new chemical technique for depositing a noncrystalline form of silicon into the long, ultra-thin pores of optical fibers has been developed by an international team of scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom.