News tagged with natural electric

Rewrite the textbooks: Findings challenge conventional wisdom of how neurons operate

(PhysOrg.com) -- Neurons are complicated, but the basic functional concept is that synapses transmit electrical signals to the dendrites and cell body (input), and axons carry signals away (output). In one ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 17, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (51) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

Physicists explain why superconductors fail to produce super currents

When high-temperature superconductors were first announced in the late 1980s, it was thought that they would lead to ultra-efficient magnetic trains and other paradigm-shifting technologies.

Physics / Superconductivity

created Jun 27, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (35) | comments 19 | with audio podcast

Researchers develop a way to funnel solar energy

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using carbon nanotubes (hollow tubes of carbon atoms), MIT chemical engineers have found a way to concentrate solar energy 100 times more than a regular photovoltaic cell. Such nanotubes could ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Sep 12, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (32) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

French physicists claim breakthrough in ultra-fast data access

French physicists said on Sunday they had used ultra-fast lasers that could accelerate storage and retrieval of data on hard discs by up to 100,000 times, pointing the way to a new generation of IT wizardry.

Physics / General Physics

created May 31, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (32) | comments 16

Physicists make discovery in quantum mechanics

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) -- Physicists at UC Santa Barbara have made an important advance in quantum mechanics using a superconducting electrical circuit. The finding is reported in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Sep 23, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (31) | comments 49

Engineers grow nanolasers on silicon, pave way for on-chip photonics

Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found a way to grow nanolasers directly onto a silicon surface, an achievement that could lead to a new class of faster, more efficient microprocessors, ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Feb 06, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (25) | comments 14 | with audio podcast

New study confirms exotic electric properties of graphene

(PhysOrg.com) -- First, it was the soccer-ball-shaped molecules dubbed buckyballs. Then it was the cylindrically shaped nanotubes. Now, the hottest new material in physics and nanotechnology is graphene: ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (23) | comments 1

Researchers crack full-spectrum solar challenge

In a paper published in Nature Photonics, U of T Engineering researchers report a new solar cell that may pave the way to inexpensive coatings that efficiently convert the sun's rays to electricity.

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Jun 26, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (24) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Electron is surprisingly round, say scientists following 10 year study

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Imperial College London have made the most accurate measurement yet of the shape of the humble electron, finding that it is almost a perfect sphere, in a study published in the ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 25, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (23) | comments 103 | with audio podcast

Nanotrees harvest the sun's energy to turn water into hydrogen fuel

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of California, San Diego electrical engineers are building a forest of tiny nanowire trees in order to cleanly capture solar energy without using fossil fuels and harvest it for ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Mar 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (21) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Discovery paves way for development of efficient, inexpensive plastic solar cells

Physicists at Rutgers University have discovered new properties in a material that could result in efficient and inexpensive plastic solar cells for pollution-free electricity production.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Oct 10, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (20) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Pair claim they have turned hydrogen to metal

(PhysOrg.com) -- Many have tried, but none have succeeded. For at least a hundred years, scientists looking at hydrogen have scratched their chins when musing over the fact that it, as an alkali metal, by ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Nov 15, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (20) | comments 28 | with audio podcast report

Inexpensive catalyst that makes hydrogen gas 10 times faster than natural enzyme

Looking to nature for their muse, researchers have used a common protein to guide the design of a material that can make energy-storing hydrogen gas. The synthetic material works 10 times faster than the original ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Aug 11, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (20) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

New 3-D photonic crystal has both electronic, optical properties

In an advance that could open new avenues for solar cells, lasers, metamaterials and more, researchers at the University of Illinois have demonstrated the first optoelectronically active 3-D photonic crystal.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jul 24, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (15) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Folding light: Wrinkles and twists boost power from solar panels

Taking their cue from the humble leaf, researchers have used microscopic folds on the surface of photovoltaic material to significantly increase the power output of flexible, low-cost solar cells.

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Apr 27, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 8 | with audio podcast