News tagged with mechanical systems

Researchers develop method that shows diverse complex networks have similar skeletons

Northwestern University researchers are the first to discover that very different complex networks -- ranging from global air traffic to neural networks -- share very similar backbones. By stripping each network down to its ...

Technology / Computer Sciences

created 6 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

We need to talk: How cells communicate to activate notch

During formation of multi-cellular organisms, cells need to talk to each other to make critical decisions as to what kind of cell to become, as well as when and where to become that cell type. The Notch signaling system allows ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Fabrication of new elastic 'soft capsule' using nano-sized flakes

A research group headed by MANA Scientist Dr. Qingmin Ji of the National Institute for Materials Science (Japan), in joint study with Prof. Frank Caruso of the University of Melbourne, developed a new elastic ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created May 30, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Advances in mathematical description of motion

Complex mathematical investigation of problems relevant to classical and quantum mechanics by EU-funded researchers has led to insight regarding instabilities of dynamic systems. This is important for descriptions ...

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created May 29, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Mechanical motion rectifier leads to better energy harvesting

(Phys.org) -- Mechanical energy is all around us, whether in the form of a vehicle's vibrations, ocean waves, or vibrating train tracks. However, much of this energy is irregular and oscillatory - for example, road bumps ...

Technology / Engineering

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 26 | with audio podcast report

Scientists Identify Transition Between Easy and Difficult Tasks

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the primary ways in which we as humans can manipulate our environment involves working with our hands, using them to point, reach, and handle tools such as pens, needles, and screwdrivers. ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jan 12, 2010 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (17) | comments 9 | with audio podcast feature

Breakthrough in quantum computing: Resisting 'quantum bug'

Scientists have taken the next major step toward quantum computing, which will use quantum mechanics to revolutionize the way information is processed.

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jul 20, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (23) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Laser light used to cool object to quantum ground state

For the first time, researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in collaboration with a team from the University of Vienna, have managed to cool a miniature mechanical object to its lowest ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Oct 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Rice's 'quantum critical' theory gets experimental boost

New evidence this week supports a theory developed five years ago at Rice University to explain the electrical properties of several classes of materials -- including unconventional superconductors -- that ...

Physics / Superconductivity

created Jan 11, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (14) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Quantum physics first: Researchers observe single photons in two-slit interferometer experiment

Quantum mechanics is famous for saying that a tree falling in a forest when there's no one there doesn't make a sound. Quantum mechanics also says that if anyone is listening, it interferes with and changes the tree. And ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jun 02, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (23) | comments 44 | with audio podcast

Scientists observe how superconducting nanowires lose resistance-free state

Even with today's invisibility cloaks, people can't walk through walls. But, when paired together, millions of electrons can.

Physics / Superconductivity

created Sep 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Physicists working up from atoms to Schrodinger's cat

(PhysOrg.com) -- Schrodinger's cat, a macroscopic object that is both alive and dead at the same time, illustrates the strangeness of quantum mechanics. While such quantum properties have been widely observed for electrons ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 28, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (20) | comments 1 weblog

New way to calculate the effects of Casimir forces

(PhysOrg.com) -- MIT researchers have developed a powerful new tool for calculating the effects of Casimir forces, complicated quantum forces that affect only objects that are very, very close together, with ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created May 11, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (33) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Giant robotic worm mimics C. elegans nematode (w/ video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Leeds researcher has drawn inspiration from biology to build a giant robotic worm that can wiggle its way around obstacles.

Electronics / Robotics

created Jul 06, 2011 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Scientists find quantum mechanics at work in photosynthesis

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of University of Toronto chemists have made a major contribution to the emerging field of quantum biology, observing quantum mechanics at work in photosynthesis in marine algae.

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Feb 03, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (33) | comments 51 | with audio podcast