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) —Today, Los Alamos National Laboratory announced that for the first time, irradiated uranium fuel has been recycled and reused for molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) production, with virtually no losses in Mo-99 yields or uranium recovery. This demonstrates the viability of the separation process, as well as the potential for environmentally- and cost-friendly fuel recycling. Medical isotope production technology has advanced significantly now that scientists have made key advances in separating Mo-99 from an irradiated, low-enriched uranium (LEU) solution. http://phys.org/news287740670.html Physics Tue, 14 May 2013 09:10:02 EST news287740670 (Phys.org) —Researchers have married two biological imaging technologies, creating a new way to learn how good cells go bad. http://phys.org/news286120907.html Nanotechnology Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:01:54 EST news286120907 Thanks to USB sticks and video streaming, DVD players are becoming all but obsolete. But their cheap optics may find a new life in a cost-effective and speedy technique for on-the-spot HIV testing and other analytics. http://phys.org/news284888243.html Physics Thu, 11 Apr 2013 08:50:01 EST news284888243 Bringing the concept of an "artificial leaf" closer to reality, a team of researchers at MIT has published a detailed analysis of all the factors that could limit the efficiency of such a system. The new analysis lays out a roadmap for a research program to improve the efficiency of these systems, and could quickly lead to the production of a practical, inexpensive and commercially viable prototype. http://phys.org/news281638516.html Technology Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:55:23 EST news281638516 Scientists from Imperial College London, working at the Institut Laue-Langevin, have presented a new way of positioning nanoparticles in plastics, with important applications in the production of coatings and photovoltaic material that harvest energy from the sun. The study, presented in Advanced Materials (cover article), used neutrons to understand the role that light – even ambient light – plays in the stabilisation of these notoriously unstable thin films. As a proof of concept the team have shown how the combination of heat and low intensity visible and UV light could in future be used as a precise, low-cost tool for 3D printing of self-assembling, thin-film circuits on these films. http://phys.org/news281356833.html Nanotechnology Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:40:43 EST news281356833 (Phys.org)—Electrical engineer and entrepreneur Louis Michaud's AVEtec company has received funding from PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel's Breakout Labs program to build an experimental Atmosphere Vortex Engine (AVE). The $300,000 in startup funds is to go towards building a working engine to dispel or prove the viability of using such technology to produce electricity with virtually no carbon footprint. http://phys.org/news275046550.html Technology Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:49:19 EST news275046550 (Phys.org)—IBM announced today a major advance in the ability to use light instead of electrical signals to transmit information for future computing. The breakthrough technology – called "silicon nanophotonics" – allows the integration of different optical components side-by-side with electrical circuits on a single silicon chip using, for the first time, sub-100nm semiconductor technology. http://phys.org/news274347336.html Physics Mon, 10 Dec 2012 07:36:02 EST news274347336 Heavy rainfall and the problems of flooding in towns have never been far from peoples' minds or the news headlines over the past few weeks. Now scientists say that new research will help to accurately pinpoint which individual streets are most at risk from flooding during severe rainstorms. http://phys.org/news273911751.html Space & Earth Wed, 05 Dec 2012 06:36:58 EST news273911751 The printing of three-dimensional tissue has taken a major step forward with the creation of a novel hybrid printer that simplifies the process of creating implantable cartilage. http://phys.org/news272743685.html Technology Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:00:01 EST news272743685 What started out as a project to teach undergraduate students about network analysis, turned into an in-depth study of whether it was possible to analyze a National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball team's strategic interactions as a network. Arizona State University researchers discovered it is possible to quantify both a team's cohesion and communication structure. http://phys.org/news272301334.html Other Sciences Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:15:53 EST news272301334 (Phys.org)—Makers of minuscule moving machines—the kind being eyed for nanomanufacturing and assembly as well as other uses—do you know where your micro- and nanorobots really are? http://phys.org/news269682387.html Nanotechnology Wed, 17 Oct 2012 08:46:38 EST news269682387 The threat to U.S. warfighters from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is as varied as the makers of IEDs are resourceful in how they design and conceal the explosives. The Department of Defense has developed and deployed detection and counter-measures for many types of IEDs, but as the threat evolves, new defenses are required to keep warfighters safe. DARPA created the Methods of Explosives Detection at Standoff (MEDS) program to confront a specific class of IEDs: those deeply embedded in substances such as mud, meat or animal carcasses—i.e., opaque substances with high water content that cannot be safely and effectively probed with current technology. http://phys.org/news269681692.html Technology Wed, 17 Oct 2012 08:35:01 EST news269681692 (Phys.org)—Preventing activity of a key enzyme in potatoes could help boost potato quality by putting an end to cold-induced sweetening, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. http://phys.org/news269524517.html Biology Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:55:23 EST news269524517 Anyone relying on their nose to guide them to a toilet at Quebec's La Providence golf course won't find one—that's because its outhouse is odorless. http://phys.org/news268632521.html Technology Fri, 05 Oct 2012 05:12:01 EST news268632521 (Phys.org)—A University of Queensland staff member is sending a satellite into space more powerful than the Curiosity Rover which recently landed on Mars. http://phys.org/news267954863.html Space & Earth Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:54:53 EST news267954863 (Phys.org)—A new startup company at UC Davis aims to bring you a better shave through semiconductor manufacturing technology. Nano-Sharp Inc. plans to use silicon wafers to make razor blades and surgical tools far more cheaply than current silicon or ceramic blades. http://phys.org/news267175443.html Technology Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:24:13 EST news267175443 Mathematicians at the Institute for Advanced Study in New Jersey "bridged" topology and fractals and made a discovery that could lead to a new way of describing extremely complicated shapes such as the configuration of the tiniest defects in a metal or even the froth of a breaking wave. http://phys.org/news262861476.html Other Sciences Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:04:44 EST news262861476 Using recent advances in marine biomechanics, materials science, and tissue engineering, a team of researchers at Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have turned inanimate silicone and living cardiac muscle cells into a freely swimming "jellyfish." http://phys.org/news262177716.html Biology Sun, 22 Jul 2012 13:00:08 EST news262177716 (Phys.org) -- Intel sees a future where you simply, wirelessly, use your laptop to charge your phone. To prove its point, Intel pulled off a proof-of-concept charging feat this week at Computex where a laptop wirelessly powered a smartphone positioned alongside the computer. To demonstrate its action, Intel used an Acer Aspire laptop with a Samsung smartphone. The computer was shown as having a plug-in transmitter module on its right side, for the charging. The compatible phone, with its receiver placed alongside the laptop transmitter, started charging. A ping sound and notification confirm the connection has been made and the process is in effect. http://phys.org/news258349801.html Technology Fri, 08 Jun 2012 05:20:03 EST news258349801 Northwestern University scientists have developed a powerful analytical method that they have used to direct stem cell differentiation. Out of millions of possibilities, they rapidly identified the chemical and physical structures that can cue stem cells to become osteocytes, cells found in mature bone. http://phys.org/news250260561.html Biology Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:49:33 EST news250260561 A new study by food safety researchers at Drexel University demonstrates that plasma can be an effective method for killing pathogens on uncooked poultry. The proof-of-concept study was published in the January issue of the Journal of Food Protection. http://phys.org/news247422757.html Chemistry Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:32:47 EST news247422757 Atomic-level defects in graphene could be a path forward to smaller and faster electronic devices, according to a study led by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. http://phys.org/news247236879.html Nanotechnology Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:54:51 EST news247236879 For the 26 million Americans with diabetes, drawing blood is the most prevalent way to check glucose levels. It is invasive and at least minimally painful. Researchers at Brown University are working on a new sensor that can check blood sugar levels by measuring glucose concentrations in saliva instead. http://phys.org/news246544593.html Nanotechnology Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:37:28 EST news246544593 The metabolism of lung cancer patients is different than the metabolism of healthy people. And so the molecules that make up cancer patients' exhaled breath are different too. A new device pioneered at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and Nobel-Prize-winning Technion University in Haifa, Israel uses gold nanoparticles to trap and define these molecules in exhaled breath. By comparing these molecular signatures to control groups, the device can tell not only if a lung is cancerous, but if the cancer is small-cell or non-small-cell, and adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma. http://phys.org/news240747256.html Nanotechnology Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:14:31 EST news240747256 A common chemotherapy drug has been successfully delivered to cancer cells inside tiny microparticles using a method inspired by our knowledge of how the human immune system works. The drug, delivered in this way, reduced ovarian cancer tumours in an animal model by 65 times more than using the standard method. This approach is now being developed for clinical use. http://phys.org/news235042150.html Biology Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:29:27 EST news235042150 How a bare foot strikes the ground as one walks reveals your identity almost as well as a fingerprint, according to a study released Wednesday. http://phys.org/news234601525.html Other Sciences Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:05:54 EST news234601525 Chemists at Harvard and three other institutions have created a purified version of an organic semiconductor with electrical properties that put it among a small handful of organic compounds and that provides an important proof of concept for a screening process to find new compounds for solar panels. http://phys.org/news232814189.html Physics Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:37:13 EST news232814189 (AP) -- The Associated Press will be among 16 news organizations and Internet entrepreneurs sharing $4.7 million in funding to design innovative ways to find and deliver news in the digital age. http://phys.org/news227976690.html Technology Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:51:43 EST news227976690 Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have demonstrated in mice that the performance of a novel biomarker-development pipeline using targeted mass spectrometry is robust enough to support the use of an analogous approach in humans. The findings, by principal investigator Amanda Paulovich, M.D., Ph.D., an associate member of the Hutchinson Center's Clinical Research Division, are published in Nature Biotechnology. http://phys.org/news227707244.html Biology Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:01:24 EST news227707244 The Georgia Institute of Technology, in partnership with Northrop Grumman Corporation, has been selected to develop a new type of Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) gyroscope technology for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)'s Microscale Rate Integrating Gyroscope program. http://phys.org/news225458902.html Technology Tue, 24 May 2011 12:28:47 EST news225458902