08/02/2013

New process speeds conversion of biomass to fuels

(Phys.org)—Scientists made a major step forward recently towards transforming biomass-derived molecules into fuels. The team led by Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers elucidated the chemical mechanism of the critical ...

Calculating quantum vacuum forces in nanostructures

(Phys.org)—One of the surprising predictions of quantum mechanics is that uncharged conductors can attract each other over small distances, even in empty space. While the resulting "Casimir force" has been accurately measured ...

First 'directed' SETI search comes up empty

(Phys.org)—Researchers working on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project have completed their first "directed" search of a part of space and report in a paper they've uploaded to the preprint server ...

Stranger in the night: space rock to make close Earth flyby

(Phys.org)—A little-known asteroid will skim past Earth on 15 February, passing just 28 000 km from our planet. The 50 m-diameter chunk of space rock was discovered last year by ESA-sponsored amateur astronomers in Spain.

Free the quarks: Calculating the strong force

This year sees the 40th anniversary of the ground-breaking proposal that the interactions between quarks becomes weaker as they come closer together, laying the foundations of quantum chromodynamics, or QCD, the modern theory ...

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