science wire

Physicists at Harvard University have found that a high-voltage nanotube can cause cold atoms to spiral inward under dramatic acceleration before disintegrating violently. Their experiments, the first to demonstrate something akin to a black hole at atomic scale, are described in the current issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.

Researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have unveiled a new class of reverse-osmosis membranes for desalination that resist the clogging which typically occurs when seawater, brackish water and waste water are purified.

Stanford engineers have created a nanoscale probe they can implant in a cell wall without damaging the wall. The probe could allow researchers to listen in on electrical signals within the cell. That could lead to a better understanding of how cells communicate or how a cell responds to medication. The probe could also provide a better way of attaching neural prosthetics and with modification, might be an avenue for inserting medication inside a cell.

05 May 2005 Joint news release from University of Sheffield and University of Warwick Movement of atoms viewed at 100 times higher resolution than ever before A paper published in Nature, by scientis

A research group at the School of Biotechnology at KTH together with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala and Cambridge University has taken a step forward in Alzheimer research. They have been helped by the fruit fly. Together the researchers from the three schools of learning describe how a new molecule can prevent a poisonous protein which it is considered causes Alzheimer's disease from accumulating in the brain.

Professor Nora De Leeuw (UCL Chemistry) has won £1.1 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to lead a project that aims to produce a catalytic reactor that

A new technique developed by Princeton University engineers for producing electricity-conducting plastics could dramatically lower the cost of manufacturing solar panels.

Liverpool, UK - 30 March 2010: World renowned scientists will take part in the University of Liverpool¿s `Science and Society¿ public lecture series to discuss the impact scientific research can have on global communities. Speakers in the series include, crew member of Space Shuttle Columbia, Professor Larry DeLucas ; former Chairman of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Council, Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith ; and scientist from the Discovery Research Institute, RIKEN, Dr Yousoo Kim.

The long-awaited opening of the Stanford Libraries' kiosk is at hand. Coupa Café will serve a variety of freshly prepared food items as well as organic coffee drinks, teas, chais and other beverages.

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, March 25, 2010—Self-repairing materials within nuclear reactors may one day become a reality as a result of research by Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists.

Scientists open lab space to develop new technology to address metabolic diseases Researchers will develop new technology for people with Type 1 diabetes %0A " Thursday 25 March 2010 By Colin Smith S

) method could reduce the substantial cost of cleaning up areas contaminated with industrial waste by around half, say the University researchers who have developed the technology. safely removes toxic chemicals left behind in soil and groundwater. It burns substances such as oils and petrochemicals away in a controlled combustion reaction, but the process stops once the contaminants are removed - leaving the original soil or groundwater behind.

The researchers hope the porous materials will be used to line factory chimneys to take carbon dioxide pollutants from the air, reducing the effects of climate change.

Researchers at Vienna University of Technology's Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics are really happy about the accreditation of their X-ray laboratory, which is the only one of its type in Austria.

Sir James Black OM was Emeritus Professor of Analytical Pharmacology at King's College London.

The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA and the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) at Japan's Kyoto University have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on international research efforts and academic exchanges.

As today's Daily Mail reports the breakthrough comes from work by researchers at Oxford University, the John Radcliffe Hospital, and the Georgia Institute of Technology using STFC 's ISIS neutron source.

Scientists go into battle to disarm superbug Imperial researchers talk about tackling %0A " By Lucy Goodchild Friday 19 March 2010 Two recent pieces of research from Imperial reveal new ways of tackl

PA 56/10 Unique research into 'artificial life' forms at The University of Nottingham is being showcased in an unusual exhibition at the Royal College of Art in London.

PA 54/10 Scientists at The University of Nottingham are aiming to take their innovative lab-based tissue engineering technology closer to the clinic as part of a research project that could revolutionise hip replacement operations in the future.

UCLA plans to contest citations and $23,900 in fines proposed by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) in connection with a November 2007 accident in a campus chemistry and biochemistry laboratory.

Computer model predicts how materials meet in the middle Watch a video of Imperial researchers explaining how they are predicting the structure of interfaces in materials, and why this is important

Science paper to describe unexpected structural features shown by LANL camera The invisible structures of space are becoming less so, as scientists look out to the far edges of the solar wind bubble that separates our solar system from the interstellar cloud through which it flies. Using the High Energy Neutral Atom Imager, led by Los Alamos National Laboratory, the NASA Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission has sent back data that indicates a "noodle soup" of solar material has accumulated at the outer fringes of the heliosphere bubble.

A Princeton University-led research team has discovered that protein competition over an important enzyme provides a mechanism to integrate different signals that direct early embryonic development. The work suggests that these signals are combined long before they interact with the organism's DNA, as was previously believed, and also may inform new therapeutic strategies to fight cancer.

Five Columbia faculty members were named research fellows by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which awards two-year, $50,000 grants to support the work of exceptional young researchers early in their academic careers. They were honored along with 118 scientists, mathematicians and economists. Navin Kartik , an associate professor of economics, does research in the fields of applied microeconomic theory and political economy, primarily using game theory models.

To facilitate the ever-evolving advancements in the chemical field today, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is opening the new Warren and Katharine Schlinger Laboratory for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

Scientists have made synthetic 'sea shells' from a mixture of chalk and polystyrene cups - and produced a tough new material that could make our homes and offices more durable.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. MIT chemical engineers have built a sensor array that, for the first time, can detect single molecules of hydrogen peroxide emanating from a single living cell.

The new method involves pulling a thin thread of material (top) from a liquid solution (bottom), and in the process the individual polymer filaments, which start out as a tangled mass, become very highly aligned.

Two scientists from UC San Diego have been elected to the governing council of the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's preeminent organization of scientists, which advises Congress and the U.S. government on matters of science and technology.

Thomas Pigford, professor emeritus and founding chair of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and an influential voice in nuclear policy, has died at the age of 87.

"Green" labels do not pack the same wallop for California wines that they do for low-energy appliances, organically grown produce and other environmentally friendly products, but it's not because there's anything wrong with the wine, a new UCLA-led study has found.

LANL gets young women involved in math and science at 31st Expanding Your Horizons Conference April 6 Teacher conference also planned LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, March 4, 2010—Los Alamos National Laboratory is again cosponsoring the Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science?

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Microelectromechanical devices gave us the Wii and the digital projector. MIT researchers have found a way to manufacture them by stamping them on plastic, opening up the possibility of coating large areas with tiny sensors.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. " MIT neuroscientists have designed a new MRI sensor that responds to the neurotransmitter dopamine, an achievement that may significantly improve the specificity and resolution of future brain imaging procedures.

Dark matter, for more than 70 years as mysterious and unknowable a subject to science as the legendary island of Atlantis has been to history, is bringing 140 scientists from the U.S. E

It's great to see that Oxford's Dorothy Hodgkin is honoured in a new set of Royal Mail stamps celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society.

In the Life Sciences the safe long-term storage of living materials such as cells or whole organisms as well as their worldwide exchange between research groups is becoming more and more important.

Compostable Plastics Have a Sweet Ending New degradable plastic could be used in food packaging - %0A " EPSRC News Release Wednesday 17 February 2010 Food packaging and other disposable plastic items could soon be composted at home along with organic waste thanks to a new sugar-based polymer.

BERKELEY — While airplane and rocket experiments have proved that gravity makes clocks tick more slowly — a central prediction of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity — a new experiment in an atom interferometer measures this slowdown 10,000 times more accurately than before, and finds it to be exactly what Einstein predicted.

A new nanotech catalyst developed by McGill University Chemists Chao-Jun Li, Audrey Moores and their colleagues offers industry an opportunity to reduce the use of expensive and toxic heavy metals.

BIOSS researcher investigates new engineering strategies for cartilage-implants Freiburg, 15. Injuries to joints and cartilage can have serious consequences, including osteoarthritis.

Columbia University students have earned top honors at the Sara and Frank McKnight Prize in Undergraduate Sciences competition.

Cambridge, Mass. February 14, 2010 - By creating diamond-based nanowire devices, a team at Harvard has taken another step towards making applications based on quantum science and technology possible.

BERKELEY — In research that gives literal meaning to the term "power suit," University of California, Berkeley, engineers have created energy-scavenging nanofibers that could one day be woven into clothing and textiles.

Departments recognised for women-friendly work practices give advice on how to win a Silver SWAN Last year's winners reflect on their awards, acknowledging good employment practises for women in scie