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) —A new process for generating nanometer-scale oil droplets in water has been reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie by Japanese researchers, who have developed a technique they named MAGIQ (monodisperse nanodroplet generation in quenched hydrothermal solution). Under standard conditions, hydrocarbons and water do not mix; however, at high temperatures and high pressures near the critical point of water, they freely mix. Quenching homogeneous solutions of dodecane and water under these conditions in the presence of a detergent produces nanoemulsions in just ten seconds. http://phys.org/news287821647.html Chemistry Wed, 15 May 2013 07:27:36 EST news287821647 (Phys.org)—For those who have wondered why shampoo moisturizes hair rather than drying it out, or how antidandruff shampoo works, it is due to a process known as coacervation. http://phys.org/news279967938.html Chemistry Wed, 13 Feb 2013 09:40:03 EST news279967938 (Phys.org)—Scientists at the University of Twente's MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology have developed a new material that is not only extremely water-repellent but also extremely oil-repellent. It contains minuscule pillars which retain droplets. What makes the material unique is that the droplets stay on top even when they evaporate (slowly getting smaller). This opens the way to such things as smartphone screens that really cannot get dirty. The study appears today in the scientific journal Soft Matter. http://phys.org/news267088695.html Physics Mon, 17 Sep 2012 08:30:01 EST news267088695 (Phys.org) -- Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology have used three-dimensional single-particle tracking to measure the dynamic behavior of individual nanoparticles adsorbed at the surface of micrometer-scale oil droplets in water. http://phys.org/news263204583.html Nanotechnology Fri, 03 Aug 2012 09:23:22 EST news263204583 (Phys.org) -- At Cornell, researchers are turning beer into biofuel. http://phys.org/news259993118.html Chemistry Wed, 27 Jun 2012 05:18:49 EST news259993118 Two years ago this week, oil began streaming from the seafloor into the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon platform. All told, the disaster cost 11 lives, released 4.9 million barrels of crude oil, and caused still unspecified impacts to marine life and the Gulf economy. http://phys.org/news253880338.html Space & Earth Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:30:06 EST news253880338 (PhysOrg.com) -- Imagine if instead of relying on special x-ray or electrical current testing technology to find really tiny cracks in the skin that covers an airplane, microcapsules filled with easily detected materials could be rolled around on their surface, stopping here and there to fill such cracks automatically so that they could then be easily found using a simple black light. That day may be coming soon, thanks to a joint effort between two teams. One, from the University of Pittsburgh, led by Anna Balazs, the other from the University of Massachusetts, led by Todd Emrick. Together they have created just such a type of capsule, as will be described in their paper to be published in Nature Nanotechnology. http://phys.org/news245413615.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:27:12 EST news245413615 (PhysOrg.com) -- A group of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, have shown that the emissions produced by aircraft idling at the gate, or lining up for takeoff, contain tiny oil droplets, that when exposed to ordinary sunlight, undergo a chemical reaction that causes them to solidify into tiny particles that can infiltrate the lungs and eventually the brain. http://phys.org/news224423183.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 May 2011 12:47:46 EST news224423183 (PhysOrg.com) -- To combat last year's Deepwater Horizon oil spill, nearly 800,000 gallons of chemical dispersant were injected directly into the oil and gas flow coming out of the wellhead nearly one mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, as scientists begin to assess how well the strategy worked at breaking up oil droplets, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) chemist Elizabeth B. Kujawinski and her colleagues report that a major component of the dispersant itself was contained within an oil-gas-laden plume in the deep ocean and had still not degraded some three months after it was applied. http://phys.org/news215257137.html Space & Earth Wed, 26 Jan 2011 09:39:15 EST news215257137 (PhysOrg.com) -- By rapidly manipulating colored oil droplets stacked on top of each other, a new electrowetting (EW) technique could lead to the development of electronic paper displays that can produce high-resolution color video. Displays that use the EW effect could have several advantages over today’s e-readers and other portable flat panel displays, most of which are based on electrophoretic (EPh) technology. http://phys.org/news199330889.html Technology Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:50:01 EST news199330889 Scientists studying the massive BP oil spill fear a decades-long, "cascading" effect on marine life that could lead to a shift in the overall biological network in the Gulf of Mexico. http://phys.org/news198654329.html Space & Earth Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:10:01 EST news198654329 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using a nanoparticle from corn, a Purdue University scientist has found a way to lengthen the shelf life of many food products and sustain their health benefits. http://phys.org/news179507163.html Nanotechnology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:08:43 EST news179507163 Scientists in Japan are reporting an advance toward giving artificial cells another hallmark of life -- the ability to tap an energy source and use it to undergo sustained movement. Their study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, describes the first “self-propelled” oil droplets (used as a model for research on artificial cells) that can run on a chemical “fuel.” http://phys.org/news160233585.html Chemistry Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:20:03 EST news160233585 Oil spills are a major environmental problem because they often occur at sea and in remote, ecologically-sensitive areas where their impact on birds, sea mammals and subsurface life may last for years. http://phys.org/news146328857.html Physics Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:54:17 EST news146328857