Invisible to the naked eye, muons are elementary particles created by the collisions of cosmic rays with molecules in the upper atmosphere. These muons are constantly beaming down on the earth's surface at various angles. ...
General Physics
Feb 16, 2017
0
12
With an average life span of 30-40 years, the cement around geothermal production wells eventually cracks over time. Because wells with cracked cement are vulnerable to leakage, reduced strength, and corrosion, it's important ...
Engineering
Feb 14, 2017
0
12
When it comes to solar power, storing electricity as fuel would let that energy work on dark or stormy days. The challenge is creating a catalyst that can push the reactions to produce a fuel, such as hydrogen, and later ...
Materials Science
Feb 2, 2017
0
74
Constant jostling for precious commodities—money, oil, high-speed Internet access, our morning coffee—shapes the world we live in.
Biochemistry
Jan 30, 2017
1
895
To create more efficient catalysts, sensing and separation membrane, and energy storage devices, scientists often start with particles containing tiny pore channels. Defects between the particles can hamper performance. At ...
Nanophysics
Jan 26, 2017
0
168
One reason we can't bottle summer sunshine and save the solar energy for rainy days is that we don't have an efficient way to store it. Nature stores energy in chemical bonds, like when plants photosynthesize our food. Researchers ...
Materials Science
Jan 25, 2017
0
30
Mined to make the first compass needles, the mineral magnetite is also made by migratory birds and other animals to allow them to sense north and south and thus navigate in cloudy or dark atmospheric conditions or under water. ...
Materials Science
Jan 23, 2017
0
1697
Using corn and soybeans as their testing ground, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory devised methods to peer into the mechanisms that modulate crop yield variability. They used statistical models to examine ...
Environment
Jan 20, 2017
0
8
If you were an ant, you would see that soil has networks of pores and channels that weave through the soil like interconnected straws. They're formed underground by the different minerals that compose soil and as a result ...
Environment
Jan 17, 2017
0
9
Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) recently studied how moisture influences soil heterotrophic respiration. That's the breathing-like process by which microbes convert dead organic carbon in the ...
Environment
Jan 16, 2017
0
79
