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. A Boise State University researcher has taken a lead role in developing the most current timetable on Earth's geologic history. http://phys.org/news288428349.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 May 2013 07:59:31 EST news288428349 The use of words with emotional content in books has steadily decreased throughout the last century, according to new research from the Universities of Bristol, Sheffield, and Durham. The study, published today in PLOS ONE, also found a divergence between American and British English, with the former being more 'emotional' than the latter. http://phys.org/news283019318.html Other Sciences Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:28:53 EST news283019318 One-billionth of a billionth of a second. That's the scale – an attosecond – at which scientists seek to image and control electronic motion in matter. Its natural time scale. http://phys.org/news280328421.html Physics Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:00:34 EST news280328421 LANL researchers and collaborators have made the first demonstration of rapidly switching on and off "slow light" in specially designed metamate­rials at room temperature. Metamaterials are assemblies of multiple individual elements fashioned from conventional microscopic materials arranged in periodic patterns. This work opens the possibility to design novel chip-scale, ultrafast devices for applications in terahertz wireless communications and all-optical computing. http://phys.org/news279878136.html Physics Tue, 12 Feb 2013 07:55:58 EST news279878136 Electrons move extremely rapidly inside atoms and molecules (the order of magnitude is the attosecond, i.e. 10-18 of a second). One way to observe these phenomena is to use isolated ultrashort pulses of light, which are successfully characterized at this time scale. As demonstrated by researchers at CEA-IRAMIS and the Applied Optics Laboratory (LOA, CNRS/ENSTA-Paris Tech/École Polytechnique), there is a particularly well-adapted light source that can be used to carry out such research into how matter behaves. The results are published in Nature Photonics on December 1, 2012. http://phys.org/news273493822.html Physics Fri, 30 Nov 2012 10:30:59 EST news273493822 Could computers become cleverer than humans and take over the world? Or is that just the stuff of science fiction? Philosophers and scientists at Britain's Cambridge University think the question deserves serious study. A proposed Center for the Study of Existential Risk will bring together experts to consider the ways in which super intelligent technology, including artificial intelligence, could "threaten our own existence," the institution said Sunday. http://phys.org/news273084683.html Technology Sun, 25 Nov 2012 16:51:38 EST news273084683 Atomic processes take place on extremely short time scales. Measurements at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) can now visualize these processes. http://phys.org/news256289218.html Physics Tue, 15 May 2012 08:27:16 EST news256289218 (PhysOrg.com) -- Some physicists today are investigating the possibility of using molecular magnets as information storage units in future quantum computers. Molecular magnets are molecules whose magnetic moments prefer to lie along a particular axis with respect to the molecular structure. They have electron spin structures that can be magnetically tuned to more than one state and, at low temperatures, can retain this state even in the absence of a magnetic field, potentially allowing them to store information. http://phys.org/news251539205.html Physics Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:10:01 EST news251539205 Supercomputer simulations at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are giving scientists unprecedented access to a key class of proteins involved in drug detoxification. http://phys.org/news242411916.html Chemistry Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:38:44 EST news242411916 (PhysOrg.com) -- One of the supposedly best understood and least interesting landscapes on Mars is hiding something that could rewrite the planet's history. Or not. In fact, about all that is certain is that decades of assumptions regarding the wide, flat Hesperia Planum are not holding up very well under renewed scrutiny with higher-resolution, more recent spacecraft data. http://phys.org/news237631740.html Space & Earth Wed, 12 Oct 2011 09:49:11 EST news237631740 University of Oregon researchers have devised a mathematically rich analytic approach to account for often-missing thermodynamic and molecular parameters in molecular dynamic simulations. http://phys.org/news235821304.html Physics Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:56:35 EST news235821304 (PhysOrg.com) -- When small earthquakes shake the central U.S., citizens often fear the rumbles are signs a big earthquake is coming. Fortunately, new research instead shows that most of these earthquakes are aftershocks of big earthquakes (magnitude 7) in the New Madrid seismic zone that struck the Midwest almost 200 years ago. http://phys.org/news176564939.html Space & Earth Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:49:32 EST news176564939 A theoretical physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed a method for calculating the motions and forces of thousands of atoms simultaneously over a wider range of time scales than previously possible. The method overcomes a longstanding timing gap in modeling nanometer-scale materials and many other physical, chemical and biological systems at atomic and molecular levels. http://phys.org/news176555152.html Physics Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:09:16 EST news176555152 After decades of debate and four years of investigation an international body of earth scientists has formally agreed to move the boundary dates for the prehistoric Quaternary age by 800,000 years, reports the Journal of Quaternary Science. http://phys.org/news172824857.html Space & Earth Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:20:02 EST news172824857 (PhysOrg.com) -- “Right now, classical computers are faster than quantum computers,” René Stock tells PhysOrg.com. “The goal of quantum computing is to eventually speed up the time scale of solving certain important problems, such as factoring and data search, so that quantum computing can not only compete with, but far outperform, classical computing on large scale problems. One of the most promising ways to possibly do this is with ion traps.” http://phys.org/news161348276.html Physics Tue, 12 May 2009 11:58:24 EST news161348276