http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. At this early stage in the search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system and beyond, the emphasis is on liquid water. Where it can exist on a planet's or moon's surface, so the thinking goes, life as we know it has a chance. Much of the observational and theoretical work in astrobiology therefore concerns the "habitable zone," the orbital band around stars where a rocky world's water neither freezes away nor boils off. http://phys.org/news286782360.html Space & Earth Fri, 03 May 2013 07:10:01 EST news286782360 With the global population now well over seven billion people there are few remaining parts of the world relatively untouched by human activity. We assess the current state and future prospects of five final frontiers: rainforests, Antarctica, the Arctic, the deep sea and space. http://phys.org/news284974643.html Space & Earth Fri, 12 Apr 2013 08:37:33 EST news284974643 Metropolises like San Francisco are in a state of constant flux. Excavators and wrecking balls tear down dilapidated old factories and houses that are beyond renovation, freeing up space for new structures. Entirely in this spirit of dynamism, a huge building complex will soon go up on a site where until recently a train station stood: the Transbay Transit Center, a five-story structure with glass facades, over 20,000 square meters of floor area, and a glass-covered park on the roof. A second phase will see the construction of an additional high-rise building. The budget is 4 billion US dollars. http://phys.org/news280063455.html Technology Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:24:24 EST news280063455 The next advance in weather forecasting may not come from a new satellite or supercomputer, but from a device in your pocket. University of Washington atmospheric scientists are using pressure sensors included in the newest smartphones to develop better weather forecasting techniques. http://phys.org/news279384293.html Space & Earth Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:45:02 EST news279384293 When materials are stressed, they eventually change shape. Initially these changes are elastic, and reverse when the stress is relieved. When the material's strength is exceeded, the changes become permanent. This could result in the material breaking or shattering, but it could also re-shape the material, such as a hammer denting a piece of metal. Understanding this last group of changes is the focus of research from a team including Carnegie's Ho-kwang "Dave" Mao. http://phys.org/news274621562.html Physics Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:00:01 EST news274621562 The mantles of Earth and other rocky planets are rich in magnesium and oxygen. Due to its simplicity, the mineral magnesium oxide is a good model for studying the nature of planetary interiors. New work from a team led by Carnegie's Stewart McWilliams studied how magnesium oxide behaves under the extreme conditions deep within planets and found evidence that alters our understanding of planetary evolution. It is published November 22 by Science Express. http://phys.org/news272810180.html Space & Earth Thu, 22 Nov 2012 14:00:08 EST news272810180 An international team of scientists working at the Plasma Technology research unit at Ghent University, Belgium, has determined for the first time the absolute density of active substances called radicals found in a state of matter known as plasma, in a study about to be published in European Physical Journal D. These findings could have important implications for medicine—for example, for stimulating tissue regeneration, or to induce a targeted antiseptic effect in vivo without affecting neighbouring tissues. http://phys.org/news271940697.html Physics Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:05:04 EST news271940697 Up to now, releasing components from molds has called for release agents. The problem is that the residues of these agents left behind must then be costly removed. Now, there is an alternative: a specially coated release film that leaves no residues. http://phys.org/news270975031.html Technology Thu, 01 Nov 2012 08:30:01 EST news270975031 (Phys.org)—Though not often considered beyond the plasma television, small-scale microplasmas have great utility in a wide variety of applications. Recently, new developments have begun to capitalize on how these microplasmas interact with liquids in applications ranging from killing bacteria for sterilizing a surface to rapidly synthesizing nanoparticles. http://phys.org/news269622317.html Physics Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:05:29 EST news269622317 (Phys.org)—Venus Express has spied a surprisingly cold region high in the planet's atmosphere that may be frigid enough for carbon dioxide to freeze out as ice or snow. http://phys.org/news268315037.html Space & Earth Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:57:57 EST news268315037 (Phys.org)—Preliminary weather reports from the Curiosity's Remote Environment Monitoring Station (REMS) are showing some surprisingly mild temperatures during the day. Average daytime air temperatures have reached a peak of 6 degrees Celsius at 2pm local time. A Martian day – known as a Sol – is slightly longer than Earths at 24 hours and 39 minutes. Temperatures have risen above freezing during the day for more than half of the Martian Sols since REMS started recording data. Because Mars's atmosphere is much thinner than Earth's and its surface much drier, the effects of solar heating are much more pronounced. At night the air temperatures sink drastically, reaching a minimum of -70 degrees just before dawn. http://phys.org/news268040350.html Space & Earth Fri, 28 Sep 2012 08:50:01 EST news268040350 (Phys.org)—Curiosity, the NASA rover that landed on Mars last month, is sending us remarkable weather observations from the Martian surface that are attracting interest from scientists. "From a weather point of view, Mars is the most 'Earth-like' of the other planets in our solar system, and many features of the weather there are similar to Earth," says Kevin Hamilton, a pioneer in the area of computer modeling of the Martian atmosphere. http://phys.org/news267773762.html Space & Earth Tue, 25 Sep 2012 06:36:10 EST news267773762 A team of researchers at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid has developed a device that works as a windshield wiper to eliminate Mars dust from the sensors on the NASA spacecrafts that travel to the red planet. http://phys.org/news267708890.html Space & Earth Mon, 24 Sep 2012 12:35:05 EST news267708890 Pressure in the magma chamber of Japan's Mount Fuji is now higher than it was the last time the volcano erupted more than 300 years ago, scientists say, according to a report Thursday. http://phys.org/news266126114.html Space & Earth Thu, 06 Sep 2012 04:55:25 EST news266126114 (Phys.org)—A new "nano machine shop" that shapes nanowires and ultrathin films could represent a future manufacturing method for tiny structures with potentially revolutionary properties. http://phys.org/news265477152.html Nanotechnology Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:39:20 EST news265477152 Carnegie scientists are the first to discover the conditions under which nickel oxide can turn into an electricity-conducting metal. Nickel oxide is one of the first compounds to be studied for its electronic properties, but until now scientists have not been able to induce a metallic state. The compound becomes metallic at enormous pressures of 2.4 million times the atmospheric pressure (240 gigapascals). The finding is published in Physical Review Letters. http://phys.org/news264870235.html Physics Wed, 22 Aug 2012 16:04:02 EST news264870235 Imagery from NOAA's GOES-13 satellite has shown some towering thunderstorms within the low pressure area called System 96L, located in the southern Gulf of Mexico. NASA continues to create the imagery from the GOES satellite and NASA satellites are also monitoring the developing low. If it does organize further and become a tropical storm over the weekend, it would be named "Debby." http://phys.org/news259603035.html Space & Earth Fri, 22 Jun 2012 17:02:43 EST news259603035 Smooth wrinkles and sharply crumpled regions are familiar motifs in biological and synthetic sheets, such as plant leaves and crushed foils, say physicists Benny Davidovitch, Narayanan Menon and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, but how a featureless sheet develops a complex shape has long remained elusive. http://phys.org/news258378543.html Physics Fri, 08 Jun 2012 12:49:38 EST news258378543 (Phys.org) -- How hydrogen--the most abundant element in the cosmos--responds to extremes of pressure and temperature is one of the major challenges in modern physical science. Moreover, knowledge gleaned from experiments using hydrogen as a testing ground on the nature of chemical bonding can fundamentally expand our understanding of matter. New work from Carnegie scientists has enabled researchers to examine hydrogen under pressures never before possible. Their work is published online in Physical Review Letters. http://phys.org/news253516790.html Physics Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:20:06 EST news253516790 In ancient Earth history, the sun burned as much as 30 percent dimmer than it does now. Theoretically that should have encased the planet in ice, but there is geologic evidence for rivers and ocean sediments between 2 billion and 4 billion years ago. http://phys.org/news252150837.html Space & Earth Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:00:12 EST news252150837 Green onions cause about five percent of outbreaks of food poisoning from produce, worldwide. Now a team of researchers from the University of Delaware, Newark, shows that high pressure treatment of green onions can kill various strains of Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Salmonella enterica, two major sources of food poisoning. Unlike heating, the pressure treatment preserves the produce's gustatory attributes. The research is published in the March Applied and Environmental Microbiology. http://phys.org/news251477753.html Biology Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:55:59 EST news251477753 An Indiana University geophysical experiment detected unusual seismic signals associated with tornadoes that struck regions across the Midwest last week -- information that may have value for meteorologists studying the atmospheric activity that precedes tornado disasters. http://phys.org/news250425970.html Space & Earth Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:46:15 EST news250425970 Contrary to its alluring name, Venus is the planet from hell, with an atmosphere so hot, toxic and heavy that any visitor would risk being simultaneously melted, suffocated and crushed. http://phys.org/news249742920.html Space & Earth Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:02:30 EST news249742920 Scientists in Poland have discovered that it is easy to clean and treat polluted water for extraction of valuable chemicals, such as those used in the production of drugs. The upshot of this is that the use of neither plants nor factories is required; only the Sun and a 'magic' powder are needed to get the job done. The study is presented in the journal Bioresource Technology. http://phys.org/news249301700.html Chemistry Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:28:28 EST news249301700 (PhysOrg.com) -- Superconductivity is a rare physical state in which matter is able to conduct electricity -- maintain a flow of electrons -- without any resistance. This phenomenon can only be found in certain materials at low temperatures, or can be induced under chemical and high external pressure conditions. Research to create superconductors at higher temperatures has been ongoing for two decades with the promise of significant impact on electrical transmission. New work from a team including Carnegie's Xiao-Jia Chen and Ho-kwang "Dave" Mao demonstrates unexpected superconductivity in a type of compounds called iron selenium chalcogenides. Their work is published online by Nature on February 22. http://phys.org/news249137214.html Physics Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:00:10 EST news249137214 A group with researchers of the Technical University of Munich, Germany, are the first to plot changes in the Earth's axis through laboratory measurements. To do this, they constructed the world's most stable ring laser. Previously, scientists were only able to track shifts in the axis indirectly by monitoring fixed objects in space. Capturing these shifts is crucial for navigation systems. http://phys.org/news243771083.html Physics Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:11:49 EST news243771083 (PhysOrg.com) -- The crushing pressures and intense temperatures in Earth's deep interior squeeze atoms and electrons so closely together that they interact very differently. With depth materials change. New experiments and supercomputer computations discovered that iron oxide undergoes a new kind of transition under deep Earth conditions. Iron oxide, FeO, is a component of the second most abundant mineral at Earth's lower mantle, ferropericlase. http://phys.org/news243514124.html Physics Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:48:51 EST news243514124 University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science researchers have climate scientists rethinking a commonly held theory about the ocean's role in the global climate system. The new findings can aid scientists in better understanding and predicting changes in the Pacific climate and its impacts around the globe. http://phys.org/news240574618.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:17:04 EST news240574618 Using plasmas, sealed plastic bags can be modified at atmospheric pressure so that human cells can adhere to and reproduce on their walls. Cell culture bags of this kind are an important aid for research and clinical purposes and may eventually replace the Petri dishes used today. http://phys.org/news239531107.html Technology Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:40:01 EST news239531107 An amorphous diamond – one that lacks the crystalline structure of diamond, but is every bit as hard – has been created by a Stanford-led team of researchers. http://phys.org/news237553983.html Physics Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:13:10 EST news237553983