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Physics - 26.12.2012
One step closer: scarcity of anti-matter
A pool holding four anti-neutrino detectors begins filling with ultra-pure water in September, 2012 at the Daya Bay Neutrino experiment. The experiment, just recognized by Science magazine as a breakthrough of the year, is helping to explain why the universe contains virtually no anti-matter. A collaboration with major participation by physicists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has made a precise measurement of elusive, nearly massless particles, and obtained a crucial hint as to why the universe is dominated by matter, not by its close relative, anti-matter.

Physics - Astronomy / Space - 20.12.2012
Los Alamos National Laboratory top science news of 2012
Los Alamos National Laboratory top science news of 2012
Top science stories for the year traveled from the canyons of Mars to the high desert forests of New Mexico, from cosmic particles to the structure of proteins and enzymes. Computer models of wildfires, and nuclear magnetic resonance signatures of plutonium, it all was fascinating for those following Los Alamos' science news.

Physics - Astronomy / Space - 18.12.2012
The solar wind is swirly
Using ESA's Cluster quartet of satellites as a space plasma microscope, scientists have zoomed in on the solar wind to reveal the finest detail yet, finding tiny turbulent swirls that could play a big role in heating it. Turbulence is highly complex and all around us, evident in water flowing from a tap, around an aircraft wing, in experimental fusion reactors on Earth, and also in space.

Physics - Life Sciences - 17.12.2012
Technique offers high-speed, 3-D images in living tissue
Technique offers high-speed, 3-D images in living tissue
Scientists trying to decipher the microenvironment of living biological tissues now have a way of taking high-resolution, high-speed, three-dimensional images of their inner workings. Cornell researchers led by Chris Xu, associate professor of applied and engineering physics, have demonstrated a new imaging technique that can quickly provide information not only about light intensity but also its "lifetime" - how long it takes for a photon to be re-emitted after excitation.

Physics - 17.12.2012
New Insight into an Intriguing State of Magnetism
New Insight into an Intriguing State of Magnetism
Magnonics is an exciting extension of spintronics, promising novel ways of computing and storing magnetic data. What determines a material's magnetic state is how electron spins are arranged (not everyday spin, but quantized angular momentum). If most of the spins point in the same direction, the material is ferromagnetic, like a refrigerator magnet.

Physics - Mechanical Engineering - 14.12.2012
Synchronized nanoscale oscillators may spur new devices
Synchronized nanoscale oscillators may spur new devices
Synchronization phenomena are everywhere in the physical world - from circadian rhythms to side-by-side pendulum clocks coupled mechanically through vibrations in the wall. Researchers have now demonstrated synchronization at the nanoscale, using only light, not mechanics. Two tiny mechanical oscillators, suspended just nanometers apart, can talk to each other and synchronize by means of nothing but light, according to new research published Dec.

Physics - Chemistry - 12.12.2012
Ultra-short laser pulses control chemical processes
How can molecules be split in a controlled manner? A new experiment at the TU Vienna shows how research into ultra-short laser pulses can be combined with chemistry. Chemical reactions occur so quickly that it is completely impossible to observe their progress or to control them using conventional methods.

Physics - Chemistry - 11.12.2012
Alternative to fullerenes in organic solar cells - just as exciting
An insight into the properties of fullerene is set to open the door to a new class of electronic acceptors which can be used to build better and cheaper organic solar cells. Organic solar cells have advanced a great deal since they were first invented nearly 20 years ago, but the fullerene component has remained largely the same and this has had a braking effect on the evolution of the technology.

Physics - Mechanical Engineering - 10.12.2012
Space-Age Ceramics Get Their Toughest Test
Space-Age Ceramics Get Their Toughest Test
Advanced ceramic composites can withstand the ultrahigh operational temperatures projected for hypersonic jet and next generation gas turbine engines, but real-time analysis of the mechanical properties of these space-age materials at ultrahigh temperatures has been a challenge - until now. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed the first testing facility that enables CT-scanning of ceramic composites under controlled loads at ultrahigh temperatures and in real-time.

Physics - Chemistry - 06.12.2012
Seeing in Color at the Nanoscale
Seeing in Color at the Nanoscale
If nanoscience were television, we'd be in the 1950s. Although scientists can make and manipulate nanoscale objects with increasingly awesome control, they are limited to black-and-white imagery for examining those objects. Information about nanoscale chemistry and interactions with light-the atomic-microscopy equivalent to color-is tantalizingly out of reach to all but the most persistent researchers.

Earth Sciences - Physics - 06.12.2012
Hot spots for world's more powerful earthquakes revealed
Hot spots for world’s more powerful earthquakes revealed
The locations of where the world's largest earthquakes are most likely to take place have been pinpointed with greater accuracy than ever before, by researchers from the University of Sydney. "Subduction zones, where one plate slips under another, have long been known to harbour very powerful earthquakes but our research suggests that regions where fracture zones on the seafloor meet subduction zones are at much higher risk," said Dietmar Müller , from the University's School of Geosciences.

Physics - Computer Science - 04.12.2012
Switching with a few photons for quantum computing
Switching with a few photons for quantum computing
Quantum computing, where bits of information, or "qubits," are represented by the state of single atomic particles or photons of light, won't be of much use unless we can read the results. Cornell researchers have taken a step in that direction with a device that can measure the presence of just a few photons without disturbing them.

Physics - Chemistry - 03.12.2012
Experiments bolster theory of how electrons cool in graphene
Experiments bolster theory of how electrons cool in graphene
It's a basic tenet of physics that scientists are trying to explain in graphene, single-atom thick sheets of carbon: When electrons are excited, or heated, how quickly do they relax, or cool? A research team supported by the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science has shed some light on the topic through the first known direct measurements of hot electrons cooling down in graphene.

Physics - Astronomy / Space - 29.11.2012
Paradigm shift offers a new look at the beginning of time
Paradigm shift offers a new look at the beginning of time
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. A new paradigm for understanding the earliest eras in the history of the universe has been developed by scientists at Penn State University. Using techniques from an area of modern physics called loop quantum cosmology, developed at Penn State, the scientists now have extended analyses that include quantum physics farther back in time than ever before - all the way to the beginning.

Physics - Electroengineering - 28.11.2012
Research discovery could revolutionise semiconductor manufacture
A completely new method of manufacturing the smallest structures in electronics could make their manufacture thousands of times quicker, allowing for cheaper semiconductors. Instead of starting from a silicon wafer or other substrate, as is usual today, researchers have made it possible for the structures to grow from freely suspended nanoparticles of gold in a flowing gas.

Physics - Electroengineering - 28.11.2012
Research Helps Improve Nano-manufacturing with Nanometer-scale Diamond Tip
Research Helps Improve Nano-manufacturing with Nanometer-scale Diamond Tip
One of the most promising innovations of nanotechnology has been the ability to perform rapid nanofabrication using nanometer-scale tips. Heating such tips can dramatically increase fabrication speeds, but high speed and high temperature have been known to blunt their atomically sharp points. Now, research conducted by a team that included the University of Pennsylvania's Robert Carpick and Tevis Jacobs has created a new type of nano-tip for thermal processing, which is made entirely made out of diamond.

Physics - Astronomy / Space - 28.11.2012
Graphite experiment shines new light on giant planets, white dwarfs & laser-driven fusion
An international team led by researchers from the University of Warwick and Oxford University is now dealing with unexpected results of an experiment with strongly heated graphite (up to 17,000 degrees Kelvin). The findings may pose a new problem for physicists working in laser-driven nuclear fusion and may also lead astrophysicists to revise our understanding of the life cycle of giant planets and stars.

Physics - Astronomy / Space - 26.11.2012
Researchers test novel power system for space travel
Researchers test novel power system for space travel
The research team recently demonstrated the first use of a heat pipe to cool a small nuclear reactor and power a Stirling engine. "Perhaps one of the more important aspects of this experiment is that it was taken from concept to completion in 6 months for less than a million dollars," said Los Alamos engineer David Dixon.

Physics - Chemistry - 22.11.2012
A Magic Formula to Predict Fracture in Steel
A Magic Formula to Predict Fracture in Steel
Researchers have elucidated a century-old mystery: how hydrogen destroys steels. A new mathematical model predicts this failure in the presence of the destructive atoms. A veritable gangrene for steels and other structural metals, hydrogen is one of the most important causes of ruptures in industrial parts, such as pipelines.

Physics - Life Sciences - 20.11.2012
Nanoscale ’rainbows’ could lead to improved solar cells and TV screens
New research at King's College London may lead to improved solar cells and LED-displays. Researchers from the Biophysics and Nanotechnology Group at King's, led by Anatoly Zayats in the Department of Physics have demonstrated in detail how to separate colours and create 'rainbows' using nanoscale structures on a metal surface.
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