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. An "artificial cricket hair" used as a sensitive flow sensor has difficulty detecting weak, low-frequency signals – they tend to be drowned out by noise. But now, a bit of clever tinkering with the flexibility of the tiny hair's supports has made it possible to boost the signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of 25. This is turn means that weak flows can now be measured. Researchers at the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology have presented details of this technology in the New Journal of Physics. http://phys.org/news289723465.html Nanotechnology Thu, 06 Jun 2013 07:44:33 EST news289723465 Conventional, as well as compact, laser-based particle acceleration schemes hinge on accelerating electric fields and are therefore ineffective for neutral atoms, which do not respond to these fields. Researchers at UPHILL lab at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (India) have generated a table-top mega-electron-volt neutral atom source. The technique involves the stripping of eight electrons per Argon atom in a cluster, accelerate the ions and subsequently put back the electrons into the ions with 100 percent conversion efficiency. http://phys.org/news278504268.html Physics Sun, 27 Jan 2013 13:00:11 EST news278504268 Researchers at the Advanced Science Institute at Wako, Japan, have discovered a material whose magnetic orientation can be fully switched by electric voltages. Such switchable materials have applications for magnetic data storage or novel electronic devices that use the electron's magnetic properties. As Yusuke Tokunaga from the research team explains, "Reversal of magnetization by a voltage enables ultra-low power consumption electronic devices because applying a voltage and not an electrical current means that such devices are free from Joule heating loss." http://phys.org/news276513336.html Physics Fri, 04 Jan 2013 09:15:43 EST news276513336 Flatscreen televisions, computers and mobile phone displays all require transparent electrical conductors to connect embedded electrical devices without obstructing back illumination. Indium tin oxide (ITO) is currently used for this purpose, but it is expensive and fragile. A low-cost alternative, based on a composite film made of graphene and a ferroelectric polymer, is now available thanks to an international research team, including researchers from the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) in Singapore. http://phys.org/news269074773.html Nanotechnology Wed, 10 Oct 2012 08:40:01 EST news269074773 The alphabet of data processing could include more elements than the "0" and "1" in future. An international research team has achieved a new kind of bit with single electrons, called quantum bits, or qubits. With them, considerably more than two states can be defined. So far, quantum bits have only existed in relatively large vacuum chambers. The team has now generated them in semiconductors. http://phys.org/news251554744.html Physics Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:19:14 EST news251554744 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in Hong Kong have reported, in ArXiv, their experiments to make a graphene battery that they say generates an electrical current by drawing on the ambient thermal energy in the solution in which it is immersed. http://phys.org/news251095233.html Nanotechnology Fri, 16 Mar 2012 06:10:01 EST news251095233 Cancer cells that break free from a tumor and circulate through the bloodstream spread cancer to other parts of the body. But this process, called metastasis, is extremely difficult to monitor because the circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can account for as few as one in every billion blood cells. http://phys.org/news249302327.html Chemistry Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:40:01 EST news249302327 Just as a corset improves the appearance of its wearer by keeping everything tightly together, rigidly constraining insulating materials in electrical components can increase their energy density and decrease their rates of failure. http://phys.org/news238765679.html Physics Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:48:09 EST news238765679 (PhysOrg.com) -- Crystals and ceramics pale when compared to a material researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory discovered that has 10 times their piezoelectric effect, making it suitable for perhaps hundreds of everyday uses. http://phys.org/news235975871.html Chemistry Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:52:19 EST news235975871 A Duke University team has seen for the first time how soft polymers, such as wire insulation, can break down under exposure to electrical current. http://phys.org/news218438254.html Chemistry Fri, 04 Mar 2011 05:18:01 EST news218438254 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Utah researchers developed a new concept in water treatment: an electrobiochemical reactor in which a low electrical voltage is applied to microbes to help them quickly and efficiently remove pollutants from mining, industrial and agricultural wastewater. http://phys.org/news213558885.html Technology Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:55:13 EST news213558885 For months, Anthony West could hardly believe what he and his colleagues were seeing in the lab -- or the only explanation for the unexpected phenomena that seemed to make sense. http://phys.org/news204283595.html Physics Tue, 21 Sep 2010 10:26:49 EST news204283595 Power-generating rubber films developed by Princeton University engineers could harness natural body movements such as breathing and walking to power pacemakers, mobile phones and other electronic devices. http://phys.org/news183832835.html Nanotechnology Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:41:02 EST news183832835 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente, The Netherlands, working with American researchers, have succeeded in using an electrical signal to control both the elastic and the magnetic properties of a nanomaterial at a very localized level. This opens up new possibilities for data storage with very high data densities. Their findings are to be published in November in the leading scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology. http://phys.org/news175445828.html Nanotechnology Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:58:37 EST news175445828 (PhysOrg.com) -- Bacterial diseases are usually detected by first enriching samples, then separating, identifying, and counting the bacteria. This type of procedure usually takes at least two days after arrival of the sample in the laboratory. Tests that work faster, in the field, and without complex sample preparation, whilst being precise and error-free, are thus high on the wish list. http://phys.org/news167289726.html Chemistry Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:22:48 EST news167289726 Catalysts do function, despite the fact that not all the chemical reactions (and partial reactions) which occur are fully understood, including those which take place during the treatment of automobile exhaust. If scientists understood these processes better not only would they be able to optimize exhaust gas catalysts but also other phenomena which are observed on surfaces, for instance when molecules orient themselves in either right or left handed fashion (i.e. as an image or mirror image). Knowing this would, not least, open new avenues of development in pharmacology for the manufacturers of medicines. http://phys.org/news162828115.html Nanotechnology Fri, 29 May 2009 15:02:32 EST news162828115