Engineering
COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3b
May 17, 2013 1:53 pm | Comsol, Inc. | Product Releases | CommentsThe COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3b simulation platform features application-specific modules, including Multibody Dynamics, Wave Optics, Molecular Flow, and Semiconductor and Electrochemistry.
Physicists Create World's Smallest Droplets
May 17, 2013 8:54 am | by Vanderbilt University | News | CommentsPhysicists may have created the smallest drops of liquid ever made in the lab. That possibility has been raised by the results of a recent experiment conducted by Vanderbilt physicist Julia Velkovska and her colleagues at the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle collider located at the European Laboratory for Nuclear and Particle Physics (CERN) in Switzerland.
Carbon in a Twirl: The Science Behind a Self-assembled Nano-carbon Helix
May 16, 2013 12:54 pm | by University of Vienna | News | CommentsNanomaterials exhibit unique properties that can only unfold when the structures of the material are very small – that is, at the nanoscale. In order to exploit these special properties such as, for example, specific quantum effects it is very important to produce predefined nanostructures in a controlled way and interpret the formation of their shape. Scientists try to understand how to initiate...
New World Record set in Wireless Data Transmission
May 16, 2013 9:22 am | by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology | News | CommentsResearchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics and the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology have achieved the wireless transmission of 40 Gbit/s at 240 GHz over a distance of one kilometer. Their most recent demonstration sets a new world record and ties in seamlessly with the capacity of optical fiber transmission.
Achieving Net-zero Energy Homes
May 15, 2013 7:09 pm | by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) | News | CommentsChances are you know how many miles your car logs for each gallon or tankful of gas, but you probably have only a foggy idea of how much energy your house consumes, even though home energy expenditures often account for a larger share of the household budget.
Catching Elusive, Stunning Graphene Butterflies
May 15, 2013 2:59 pm | by University of Manchester | News | CommentsWriting in Nature, a large international team led Dr Roman Gorbachev from The University of Manchester shows that, when graphene placed on top of insulating boron nitride, or 'white graphene', the electronic properties of graphene change dramatically revealing a pattern resembling a butterfly. The pattern is referred to as the elusive Hofstadter butterfly that has been known in theory for many...
US Launches Drone from Aircraft Carrier
May 15, 2013 2:22 pm | by Brock Vergakis, Associated Press | News | CommentsA drone the size of a fighter jet took off from the deck of an American aircraft carrier for the first time May 14, 2013, in a test flight that could eventually open the way for the U.S. to launch unmanned aircraft from just about any place in the world. The X-47B is the first drone designed to take off and land on an aircraft carrier, meaning the U.S. military would not need permission from other countries to use their bases.
Nominations for SC13 Cray, Fernbach and Kennedy Awards Due July 1
May 15, 2013 1:57 pm | by SC13 | News | CommentsThe SC13 international conference for high performance computing, networking, storage and analysis, is accepting nominations for three distinguished awards that will be presented at the conference in November.The IEEE Seymour Cray Computer Science and Engineering Award, the IEEE Sidney Fernbach Memorial Award and the ACM-IEEE Ken Kennedy Award will be announced at SC13, to be held November 17 – 22 at the Colorado Convention Center.
Frequency-hopping Radios Become Practical
May 15, 2013 11:27 am | by Massachusetts Institute of Technology | News | CommentsCAMBRIDGE, MA -- The way in which radio spectrum is currently allocated to different wireless technologies can lead to gross inefficiencies. In some regions, for instance, the frequencies used by cellphones can be desperately congested, while large swaths of the broadcast-television spectrum stand idle.
New Friction Mechanism Discovered in the Nano-world
May 15, 2013 11:27 am | by Technische Universitaet Muenchen | News | CommentsFriction is an omnipresent but often annoying physical phänomenon: It causes wear and energy loss in machines as well as in our joints. In search of low-friction components for ever smaller components, a team of physicists led by the professors Thorsten Hugel and Alexander Holleitner now discovered a previously unknown type of friction that they call “desorption stick.”
Project Aims to Track Big City Carbon Footprints
May 13, 2013 10:00 am | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsEvery time Los Angeles exhales, odd-looking gadgets anchored in the mountains above the city trace the invisible puffs of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that waft skyward. Halfway around the globe, similar contraptions atop the Eiffel Tower and elsewhere around Paris keep a pulse on emissions from smokestacks and automobile tailpipes.
Nano-breakthrough: Solving the Case of the Herringbone Crystal
May 13, 2013 6:04 am | by University of Michigan | News | CommentsANN ARBOR---Leading nanoscientists created beautiful, tiled patterns with flat nanocrystals, but they were left with a mystery: Why did some sets of crystals arrange themselves in an alternating, herringbone style? To find out, they turned to experts in computer simulation at the University of Michigan and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Look but Don't Touch; Highly Fragile, Volatile Body Observed
May 13, 2013 6:04 am | by ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences | News | CommentsImproving our understanding of the human brain, gathering insights into the origin of our universe through the detection of gravitational waves, or optimizing the precision of GPS systems- all are difficult challenges to master because they require the ability to visualize highly fragile elements, which can be terminally damaged by any attempt to observe them. Now, quantum physics has provided a...
Wearable Robots Getting Lighter, More Portable
May 10, 2013 4:12 pm | by Carla K. Johnson, AP Medical Writer | News | CommentsWhen Michael Gore stands, it's a triumph of science and engineering. Eleven years ago, Gore was paralyzed from the waist down in a workplace accident, yet he rises from his wheelchair to his full 6-foot-2-inches and walks across the room with help from a lightweight wearable robot.
Perfectly Doped Quantum Dots Yield Colors to Dye For
May 10, 2013 1:53 pm | by University of Illinois at Chicago | News | CommentsQuantum dots are tiny nanocrystals with extraordinary optical and electrical properties with possible uses in dye production, bioimaging, and solar energy production. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have developed a way to introduce precisely four copper ions into each and every quantum dot. The introduction of these "guest" ions, called doping, opens up possibilities for...
Geologists Study Mystery of Eternal Flames
May 9, 2013 7:56 am | by Indiana University | News | Comments"Eternal flames" fueled by hydrocarbon gas could shine a light on the presence of natural gas in underground rock layers and conditions that let it seep to the surface, according to research by geologists at the Department of Geological Sciences and the Indiana Geological Survey at Indiana University Bloomington.
Spintronics Discovery expands Potential for Harnessing Magnetic Properties of Electrons
May 8, 2013 5:53 pm | by University of Delaware | News | CommentsFrom powerful computers to super-sensitive medical and environmental detectors that are faster, smaller and use less energy — yes, we want them, but how do we get them? In research that is helping to lay the groundwork for the electronics of the future, University of Delaware scientists have confirmed the presence of a magnetic field generated by electrons which scientists had theorized existed,...
Orion Crew Module at Kennedy Space Center
May 8, 2013 2:47 pm | News | CommentsOrion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry humans farther into space than ever before. The spacecraft will provide emergency abort capability, sustain crews during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep-space return velocities.
Rise of the Drones: China emerging as new force in drone warfare
May 6, 2013 3:28 pm | by Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press | News | CommentsDetermined to kill or capture a murderous Mekong River drug lord, China's security forces considered a tactic they'd never tried before: calling a drone strike on his remote hideaway deep in the hills of Myanmar. The attack didn't happen — the man was later captured and brought to China for trial
LAGEOS I, Laser Geodynamics Satellite, 1976
May 6, 2013 2:56 pm | News | CommentsThe LAGEOS I, Laser Geodynamics Satellite, was launched on May 4, 1976, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. The two-foot diameter, 900-pound satellite orbited the Earth from pole to pole and measured the movements of the Earth's surface relative to earthquakes, continental drift, and other geophysical phenomena.
Do-it-yourself Invisibility with 3-D Printing
May 6, 2013 10:51 am | by Duke University | News | CommentsDURHAM, N.C. – Seven years ago, Duke University engineers demonstrated the first working invisibility cloak in complex laboratory experiments. Now it appears creating a simple cloak has become a lot simpler. Three-dimensional printing, technically known as stereolithographic fabrication, has become increasingly popular
Engineers Manipulate a Buckyball by Inserting a Single Water Molecule
May 6, 2013 10:51 am | by Columbia University | News | CommentsNew York, NY—May 3, 2013—Columbia Engineering researchers have developed a technique to isolate a single water molecule inside a buckyball, or C60, and to drive motion of the so-called "big" nonpolar ball through the encapsulated "small" polar H2O molecule, a controlling transport mechanism in a nanochannel under an external electric field. They expect this method will lead to an array of new...
Microwave Oven Cooks Up Solar Cell Material
May 6, 2013 10:51 am | by University of Utah | News | CommentsSALT LAKE CITY, May 6, 2013 – University of Utah metallurgists used an old microwave oven to produce a nanocrystal semiconductor rapidly using cheap, abundant and less toxic metals than other semiconductors. They hope it will be used for more efficient photovoltaic solar cells and LED lights, biological sensors and systems to convert waste heat to electricity.
Controlling Robots with your Thoughts
May 3, 2013 9:13 am | by SINTEF | News | CommentsThis is Angel Perez Garcia. He can make a robot move exactly as he wants via the electrodes attached to his head. "I use the movements of my eyes, eyebrows and other parts of my face", he says. "With my eyebrows I can select which of the robot's joints I want to move" smiles Angel, who is a Master's student at NTNU.
More than a Game: Exploring New Digital Frontiers
May 3, 2013 7:40 am | by York, University of | News | CommentsA new initiative aims to unlock the potential for scientific and social benefits in digital games. The £1.2 million project aims to bring the UK digital games industry closer to scientists, teachers and healthcare workers to harness their ingenuity and innovation to contribute to advances in science and society.
