Latest and Breaking Chemistry & Physics News

Food, water safety provide new challenges for today's sensors
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Sensors that work flawlessly in laboratory settings may stumble when it comes to performing in real-world conditions, according to researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Beetle-infested pine trees contribute to air pollution and haze in forests
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(National Science Foundation) The hordes of bark beetles that have bored their way through more than six billion trees in the western United States and British Columbia since the 1990s do more than kill stately pine, spruce and other trees.

Scientists evaluate different antimicrobial metals for use in water filters
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(American Institute of Physics) Researchers from Princeton University in New Jersey used atomic force microscopy measurements to study the adhesion interaction between Escherichia coli bacteria and colloidal silver, silver nanoparticles, and copper nanoparticles, as well as the interactions of the bacteria and the three different types of metal to porous clay-based ceramic surfaces.

EPSRC announces first recipients of Fellowships in Manufacturing
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has today announced its first ever Fellowships in Manufacturing, worth around £1 million each.

Nuisance seaweed found to produce compounds with biomedical potential
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(University of California - San Diego) A seaweed considered a threat to the healthy growth of coral reefs in Hawaii may possess the ability to produce substances that could one day treat human diseases, a new study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has revealed.

Sound increases the efficiency of boiling
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(American Institute of Physics) Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology achieved a 17-percent increase in boiling efficiency by using an acoustic field to enhance heat transfer.

Tiny planet-finding mirrors borrow from Webb Telescope playbook
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NASA's next flagship mission -- the James Webb Space Telescope -- will carry the largest primary mirror ever deployed. This segmented behemoth will unfold to 21.3 feet in diameter once the observatory reaches its orbit in 2018.

A nanoclutch for nanobots
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(American Institute of Physics) Chinese researchers have designed and tested simulations of a "nanoclutch," a speed regulation tool for nanomotors.

Discarded data may hold the key to a sharper view of molecules
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Oregon State University) There's nothing like a new pair of eyeglasses to bring fine details into sharp relief. For scientists who study the large molecules of life from proteins to DNA, the equivalent of new lenses have come in the form of an advanced method for analyzing data from X-ray crystallography experiments.

Feola, at University of Kentucky, receives NIH grant to study cystic fibrosis
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(University of Kentucky) David Feola, a University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy faculty member in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, received a five-year, $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue his research investigating immune responses in the lungs that will potentially lead to the discovery of medical treatments for patients with cystic fibrosis and other chronic pulmonary inflammatory conditions.