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. (PhysOrg.com) -- IBM scientists today unveiled a significant step towards replacing electrical signals that communicate via copper wires between computer chips with tiny silicon circuits that communicate using pulses of light. As reported in the recent issue of the scientific journal Nature, this is an important advancement in changing the way computer chips talk to each other. http://phys.org/news186856712.html Physics Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:39:01 EST news186856712 (PhysOrg.com) -- Metalloproteins, such as the copper-containing azurin, play a major role in catalyzing electron transfer in cellular reactions. Understanding how their structure relates to function can give rise to advances in biotechnology and medicine. To accurately characterize the nature of the bonding -- covalent vs. ionic vs. hybrid -- around azurin's metal center, a team of researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln obtained the first high-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal of a copper site in a copper protein. http://phys.org/news185732238.html Chemistry Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:30:02 EST news185732238 With scientific evidence linking high levels of copper and iron to Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, and other age-related disorders, a new report in ACS' Chemical Research in Toxicology suggests specific steps that older consumers can take to avoid build up of unhealthy amounts of these metals in their bodies. "This story of copper and iron toxicity, which I think is reaching the level of public health significance, is virtually unknown to the general medical community, to say nothing of complete unawareness of the public," George Brewer states in the report. http://phys.org/news183211867.html Medicine & Health Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:11:33 EST news183211867 We don't always turn out like our parents. Sometimes we become even better. How this happens is the subject of a new research project at the University of Gothenburg. http://phys.org/news179498500.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:00:01 EST news179498500 ANSTO (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) research has shown that an area of desert in north-western China was once a thriving Bronze Age manufacturing and agricultural site. The new findings may help shed light on the origins and development of the earliest applications of Bronze Age technology. http://phys.org/news178992526.html Other Sciences Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:20:02 EST news178992526 Three papers scheduled for publication in the January issue of the Journal of Hospital Infection, published by Elsevier, suggest that copper might have a role in the fight against healthcare-associated infections. http://phys.org/news178888117.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:11:07 EST news178888117 The concept of confinement is one of the central ideas in modern physics. The most famous example is that of quarks which bind together to form protons and neutrons. Now Prof. Bella Lake from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (Germany) together with an international team of scientists report for the first time an experimental realization and a proof of confinement phenomenon observed in a condensed matter system. http://phys.org/news178724926.html Physics Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:49:37 EST news178724926 (PhysOrg.com) -- The copper sequestering drug tetrathiomolybdate (TM) has been shown in studies to be effective in the treatment of Wilson disease, a disease caused by an overload of copper, and certain metastatic cancers. That much is known. Very little, however, is known about how the drug works at the molecular level. http://phys.org/news178458552.html Chemistry Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:00:03 EST news178458552 Agricultural soils accumulate trace metals, particularly copper and zinc, as a result of their presence in wastes (sewage biosolids and manures) and fungicides that are applied over long periods of time. Regulations and guidelines for tolerable concentrations of these potentially plant-toxic elements in soils are based on the assumption that the toxic effects of the metals are substantially independent and not additive. However, additivity would imply that soil tolerance limits for each metal must be adjusted to compensate for the presence of another metal. There has been very little experimental work to date to provide a basis for determining the degree to which copper-zinc interaction in soils is additive as defined by the toxicity response in crops. http://phys.org/news177076138.html Space & Earth Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:10:01 EST news177076138 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Cornell research team has invented a simple way to make graphene electrical devices by growing the graphene directly onto a silicon wafer. http://phys.org/news177062908.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:10:01 EST news177062908 Dana Filoti of the University of New Hampshire will present thin films of silver and copper she has developed that can kill bacteria and may one day help to cut down on hospital infections. The antimicrobial properties of silver and copper have been known for centuries -- last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officially registered copper alloys, allowing them to be marketed with the label "kills 99.9% of bacteria within two hours." Copper ions are known to penetrate bacteria and disrupt molecular pathways important for their survival. http://phys.org/news176997558.html Chemistry Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:30:02 EST news176997558 Good news for heterogeneous catalysis and the hydrogen economy: computers can now be used to make accurate predictions of the reactions of (hydrogen) molecules with surfaces. An international team of researchers, headed by Leiden theoretical chemist Geert-Jan Kroes, published on this subject this week in the journal Science. http://phys.org/news176726540.html Chemistry Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:43:37 EST news176726540 (PhysOrg.com) -- New insight into how nature handles some fundamental processes is guiding researchers in the design of tailor-made proteins for applications such as artificial photosynthetic centers, long-range electron transfers, and fuel-cell catalysts for energy conversion. http://phys.org/news176564279.html Chemistry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:38:36 EST news176564279 A new generation of high-energy (>kJ) petawatt (HEPW) lasers is being constructed worldwide to study high intensity laser matter interactions, including fast ignition. Fast ignition is a laser-based technique for heating and igniting deuterium and tritium fuel to fusion temperatures in a two-step process. In the first phase, laser beams vaporize a fuel pellet and compress it to a thousand times its original density, while in the second phase, electrons accelerated by an intense-laser pulse deposit energy within the fuel assembly, causing rapid heating. This is akin to the way a gasoline engine works with a spark plug. http://phys.org/news176403056.html Physics Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:00:01 EST news176403056 (PhysOrg.com) -- A PhD student from the London Centre for Nanotechnology has won a prize for solving a decade-long mystery central to understanding modern magnetic systems. http://phys.org/news175857283.html Physics Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:15:30 EST news175857283 (PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists, chemists and engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated a novel method for the controlled formation of patchy particles, using charged, self-assembling molecules that may one day serve as drug-delivery vehicles to combat disease and perhaps be used in small batteries that store and release charge. http://phys.org/news175276626.html Nanotechnology Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:57:56 EST news175276626 (PhysOrg.com) -- It may look like little more than fishing line, but plastic optical fibre or POF promises to revolutionise high-speed last-mile communications networks. Its evolution is being aided by groundbreaking research in Europe. http://phys.org/news175183984.html Technology Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:30:03 EST news175183984 Copper bracelets and magnetic wrist straps are ineffective in relieving arthritis pain, according to a new study led by a University of York academic. http://phys.org/news174914289.html Medicine & Health Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:18:44 EST news174914289 UCL researchers are helping to unlock the secrets of a material that could ultimately be used in a new generation of electronic devices. http://phys.org/news174852159.html Nanotechnology Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:10:01 EST news174852159 (PhysOrg.com) -- The Applied Superconductivity Center at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory has received $1.2 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to understand and enhance a new form of superconducting material that could be used to build more-powerful magnets used in a wide range of scientific research. http://phys.org/news174676669.html Physics Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:20:01 EST news174676669 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team led by physicists at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) have resolved a decade-long puzzle that is set to have huge implications for use of one of the most versatile classes of materials available to us for future technology applications: copper oxide ceramics. The results are published online this week in the journal Nature Physics. http://phys.org/news174307778.html Physics Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:50:34 EST news174307778 (PhysOrg.com) -- At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco Wednesday, the company announced a new optical cable that will be able to transfer data, between electrical devices, starting at speeds of 10 gigabits per second. http://phys.org/news173018367.html Technology Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:39:50 EST news173018367 At the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (Hamburg, Germany), IMEC presents a large-area solar with a conversion efficiency of 18.4%. http://phys.org/news172821225.html Technology Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:56:37 EST news172821225 (PhysOrg.com) -- MIT materials scientists have developed a new technique for growing carbon nanotubes that could replace the vertical wires in chips, permitting denser packing of circuits. http://phys.org/news171812351.html Nanotechnology Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:30:02 EST news171812351 (PhysOrg.com) -- The century-old challenge of transporting acetylene may have been solved in principle by a team of scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. A NIST research team has figured out why a recently discovered material can safely store at low pressure up to 100 times as much of the volatile chemical as can be done with conventional methods. http://phys.org/news170517346.html Chemistry Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:30:03 EST news170517346 CERN 's Large Hadron Collider will initially run at an energy of 3.5 TeV per beam when it starts up in November this year. This news comes after all tests on the machine's high-current electrical connections were completed last week, indicating that no further repairs are necessary for safe running. http://phys.org/news168792030.html Physics Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:41:11 EST news168792030 Today's tourists may stop by the Berkeley Pit in Butte, Mont., to see how large-scale mining resulted in a Superfund site, but Americans in the 1950s had different reasons for visiting the mine, says Montana State University historian Tim LeCain. http://phys.org/news168612788.html Other Sciences Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:53:41 EST news168612788 A leading microbiologist from the University of Southampton has told a conference that his research has found copper is effective in inhibiting the influenza A H1N1 virus. http://phys.org/news167574621.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:31:30 EST news167574621 A recent breakthrough by researchers at the Swiss Nanoscience Institute sees for the first time the creation of thin films with controllable electronic properties. This discovery could have a large impact on future applications in sensors and computing. The international collaboration of researchers from the Universities of Basel and Heidelberg and the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) have published the work in the prestigious scientific journal Science. http://phys.org/news167060684.html Nanotechnology Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:45:11 EST news167060684 Superconductivity appears to rely on very different mechanisms in two varieties of iron-based superconductors. The insight comes from research groups that are making bold statements about the correct description of superconductivity in iron-based compounds in two papers about to be published in journals of the American Physical Society. http://phys.org/news166680373.html Physics Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:06:49 EST news166680373