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. (Phys.org)—Imagine a bus that uses electrical storage that costs much less than traditional batteries, can fully charge each time the bus stops, and has enough power to easily get to the next stop. The supercapacitor, once used to power robots and as a backup power source for computer memory, is now being hailed as such an energy source that could be the key to greener public transportation. http://phys.org/news268471692.html Technology Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:50:01 EST news268471692 Researchers sponsored by Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) today announced that they have developed a new laser-based method for ultra-fast anneal of thin photoresist films used to transfer semiconductor patterns onto silicon wafers. http://phys.org/news268468046.html Technology Wed, 03 Oct 2012 07:27:36 EST news268468046 (Phys.org)—Engineers at the University of Texas at Dallas have used advanced techniques to make the material graphene small enough to read DNA. http://phys.org/news268383075.html Nanotechnology Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:51:27 EST news268383075 If you throw a ball underwater, you'll find that the smaller it is, the faster it moves: A larger cross-section greatly increases the water's resistance. Now, a team of MIT researchers has figured out a way to use this basic principle, on a microscopic scale, to carry out biomedical tests that could eventually lead to fast, compact and versatile medical-testing devices. http://phys.org/news267777255.html Chemistry Tue, 25 Sep 2012 07:34:42 EST news267777255 (Phys.org)—Researchers from North Carolina State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated a less-expensive way to create textured nickel ferrite (NFO) ceramic thin films, which can easily be scaled up to address manufacturing needs. NFO is a magnetic material that holds promise for microwave technologies and next-generation memory devices. http://phys.org/news267705573.html Physics Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:39:51 EST news267705573 Inflammation is the hallmark of many human diseases, from infection to neurodegeneration. The chemical balance within a tissue is disturbed, resulting in the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as hydrogen peroxide, which can cause oxidative stress and associated toxic effects. http://phys.org/news267204757.html Nanotechnology Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:32:49 EST news267204757 (Phys.org)—Computers may be getting faster every year, but those advances in computer speed could be dwarfed if their 1's and 0's were represented by bursts of light, instead of electricity. http://phys.org/news266481745.html Nanotechnology Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:42:36 EST news266481745 (Phys.org)—Materials called transition metal oxides have physicists intrigued by their potentially useful properties—from magnetoresistance (the reason a hard drive can write memory) to superconductivity. http://phys.org/news266041641.html Physics Wed, 05 Sep 2012 05:27:32 EST news266041641 (Phys.org)—Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new nanolithography technique that is less expensive than other approaches and can be used to create technologies with biomedical applications. http://phys.org/news265631478.html Nanotechnology Fri, 31 Aug 2012 11:35:47 EST news265631478 (Phys.org)—A smart filter with a shape-shifting surface can separate oil and water using gravity alone, an advancement that could be useful in cleaning up environmental oil spills, among other applications, say its University of Michigan developers. http://phys.org/news265444005.html Chemistry Wed, 29 Aug 2012 07:27:02 EST news265444005 Chunks of concrete tumble from the Gardiner Expressway, the Algo Centre Mall collapses in Elliot Lake, shards of glass fall from Toronto condos, and a Radiohead stage gives way at Downsview Park. http://phys.org/news265017275.html Technology Fri, 24 Aug 2012 09:00:01 EST news265017275 A new class of organic materials developed at Northwestern University boasts a very attractive but elusive property: ferroelectricity. The crystalline materials also have a great memory, which could be very useful in computer and cellphone memory applications, including cloud computing. http://phys.org/news264860683.html Physics Wed, 22 Aug 2012 13:25:16 EST news264860683 University of Sheffield researchers have shown, for the first time, that a method of storing nuclear waste normally used only for high level waste, could provide a safer, more efficient, and potentially cheaper, solution for the storage and ultimate disposal of intermediate level waste. http://phys.org/news264852809.html Chemistry Wed, 22 Aug 2012 11:40:01 EST news264852809 The Korean team of Professor Keon Jae Lee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KAIST has developed a high performance flexible all-solid-state battery, an essential energy source for flexible displays. http://phys.org/news263468441.html Nanotechnology Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:40:55 EST news263468441 (Phys.org) -- UCLA researchers have developed a new transparent solar cell that is an advance toward giving windows in homes and other buildings the ability to generate electricity while still allowing people to see outside. Their study appears in the journal ACS Nano. http://phys.org/news262008005.html Nanotechnology Fri, 20 Jul 2012 13:00:22 EST news262008005 Modern-day computers are based on logic circuits using semiconductor transistors. To increase computing power, smaller transistors are required. Moore's Law states that the number of transistors that can fit on an integrated circuit should double every two years due to scaling. But as transistors reach atomic dimensions, achieving this feat is becoming increasingly difficult. Among the most significant challenges is heat dissipation from circuits created using today's standard semiconductor technology, complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS), which give off more heat as more transistors are added. This makes CMOS incapable of supporting the computers of the future. http://phys.org/news261147055.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:51:10 EST news261147055 (Phys.org) -- Graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of graphitic carbon, has attracted a great deal of attention for its potential use as a transistor that could make consumer electronic devices faster and smaller. http://phys.org/news260771637.html Nanotechnology Fri, 06 Jul 2012 05:36:33 EST news260771637 (Phys.org) -- The Jell-O-like material, from the labs of Stanford professors Yi Cui and Zhenan Bao, may have applications in areas as widespread as energy storage, medical sensors and biofuel cells. http://phys.org/news260082036.html Chemistry Thu, 28 Jun 2012 06:04:58 EST news260082036 (Phys.org) -- Memory devices for computers require a large collection of components that can switch between two states, which represent the 1's and 0's of binary language. Engineers hope to make next-generation chips with materials that distinguish between these states by physically rearranging their atoms into different phases. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have now provided new insight into how this phase change happens, which could help engineers make memory storage devices faster and more efficient. http://phys.org/news259505398.html Physics Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:05:27 EST news259505398 New research from North Carolina State University finds that gold nanoparticles with a slight positive charge work collectively to unravel DNA's double helix. This finding has ramifications for gene therapy research and the emerging field of DNA-based electronics. http://phys.org/news259407824.html Nanotechnology Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:43:54 EST news259407824 Researchers at MIT have found a new way of making complex three-dimensional structures using self-assembling polymer materials that form tiny wires and junctions. The work has the potential to usher in a new generation of microchips and other devices made up of submicroscopic features. http://phys.org/news258352136.html Nanotechnology Fri, 08 Jun 2012 05:29:12 EST news258352136 (Phys.org) -- Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers are working on a multi-university, nationwide project for the U.S. Navy that one day will put life-like autonomous robot jellyfish in waters around the world. http://phys.org/news257496935.html Technology Tue, 29 May 2012 07:56:14 EST news257496935 Drawing on powerful computational tools and a state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscope, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison and Iowa State University materials science and engineering researchers has discovered a new nanometer-scale atomic structure in solid metallic materials known as metallic glasses. http://phys.org/news255968100.html Physics Fri, 11 May 2012 15:15:07 EST news255968100 A group of researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have developed a technique to keep cool a semiconductor material used in everything from traffic lights to electric cars. http://phys.org/news255709643.html Nanotechnology Tue, 08 May 2012 15:27:47 EST news255709643 Professor Keon- Jae Lee's research team, KAIST (Korea), has developed a nanocomposite-based nanogenerator that successfully overcomes the critical restrictions existed in previous nanogenerators and builds a simple, low-cost, and large-scale self-powered energy system. The team produced a piezoelectric nanocomposite by mixing piezoelectric nanoparticles with carbon-based nanomaterials in a polydimethylsiloxane matrix and fabricated the nanocomposite generator by the simple process of spin-casting or bar-coating method. http://phys.org/news255609671.html Nanotechnology Mon, 07 May 2012 11:41:58 EST news255609671 A one-inch long grasshopper can leap a distance of about 20 inches. Cicadas can produce sound at about the same frequency as radio waves. Fleas measuring only millimeters can jump an astonishing 100 times their height in microseconds. How do they do it? They make use of a naturally occurring protein called resilin. http://phys.org/news254566757.html Biology Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:20:01 EST news254566757 Through a combination of atomic-scale materials design and ultrafast measurements, researchers at the University of Illinois have revealed new insights about how heat flows across an interface between two materials. http://phys.org/news254319439.html Nanotechnology Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:17:37 EST news254319439 Forests of carbon nanotubes are an efficient alternative for platinum electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC), according to new research by collaborators at Rice University and Tsinghua University. http://phys.org/news253882504.html Nanotechnology Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:55:29 EST news253882504 (Phys.org) -- Cornell materials scientists have developed an inexpensive, environmentally friendly way of synthesizing oxide crystal sheets, just nanometers thick, which have useful properties for electronics and alternative energy applications. http://phys.org/news253338464.html Nanotechnology Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:47:55 EST news253338464 (Phys.org) -- A team of University of Maryland scientists have discovered that when electric current is run through carbon nanotubes, objects nearby heat up while the nanotubes themselves stay cool, like a toaster that burns bread without getting hot. Understanding this completely unexpected new phenomenon could lead to new ways of building computer processors that can run at higher speeds without overheating. http://phys.org/news253295925.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:59:04 EST news253295925