Phoning home from 93 billion miles away–only E.T. and other science fiction characters can do that. But with the help of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) know-how, reality soon may catch up with imagination.
Conceptual designs for a “realistic interstellar explorer,” or RISE — a highly autonomous craft that would travel far beyond this solar system to collect scientific data — call for a laser-based communications link to Earth that relies in part on a recent NIST i
The success of many advanced technologies that use devices such as sensors and actuators, including gyroscopes and optical devices, depends on microscopic components called microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices made of polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon). Researchers at Case Western Reserve University report in the November 8 issue of Science that miniature micron-sized polysilicon laboratory specimens subjected to cyclic tension/compression loading undergo fatigue, and could ultimately fa
A diet rich in flaxseed seems to reduce the size, aggressiveness and severity of tumors in mice that have been genetically engineered to develop prostate cancer, according to new research from Duke University Medical Center. And in 3 percent of the mice, the flaxseed diet kept them from getting the disease at all.
“We are cautiously optimistic about these findings,” said Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, Ph.D., associate professor, division of urology and senior author of the study that appears in t
An international team of astronomers, led by scientists at the University of Manchester have produced new evidence that most of the energy in the Universe is in the form of the mysterious “Dark Energy”. The new evidence comes from a 10-year census of the sky for examples of gravitational lenses, which are seen when a galaxy bends the light from a distant quasar to form several images of the same quasar. Linking the number of lenses they found with the latest information on the numbers of galaxies, th
A special place on the market of food supplements belongs to ecdysteroid-containing preparations that are helpful as a tonic for sportsmen during intensive training sessions, for people of various professions connected with physical and psychological stresses, and also for elderly people. Ecdysteroids heal wounds and burns.
A plant containing very high concentrations of ecdysteroids has been found by a team headed by Vladimir Volodin from the Institute of Biology in Syktyvkar. This is saw-w
The “island effect” is one of the main problems in photovoltaic compound solar systems.
The doctoral thesis of Pablo Sanchis, presented in the Public University of Navarre (Basque Country), proposes three main contributions: the first one is a new control strategy of a booster inverter for autonomous systems; the second one is a new implementation of impedance measurement method, and the third one, a new methodology for the design of drift method in frequency, which guarantees with t
A new optical antenna, developed by researchers at the University of Warwick, will bring significant benefits to credit card payments, wireless networks, household electronics and longer distance data transfer.
The device was developed by Professor Roger Green and Roberto Ramirez-Iniguez, in the University of Warwick`s Engineering Department. It applies techniques used to manipulate radio frequencies to select the incoming “signal frequencies” carried on infrared beams to produce the optica
Researchers in Finland are working to develop a comprehensive, multidisciplinary model of the carbon cycle and its impacts on climate change in northern ecosystems. The focus of work in the Academy of Finland’s Global Change Research Programme (FIGARE) has been on the uptake and release of carbon in different ecosystem reservoirs, the atmosphere, vegetation, trees, forest land and lakes.
‘The carbon dioxide content in the earth’s atmosphere is slowly and steadily increasing. Given the resul
Seeing is believing, unless you’re blind or visually impaired. To this group, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) says, “feeling is believing.”
Computer scientists and engineers at NIST have created a tactile graphic display that brings electronic images to the blind and visually impaired in the same way that Braille makes words readable.
The new imaging device was developed at NIST by the same research team that recently created an electronic Braille reader.
Emergency management teams, faced with an approaching hurricane, can access GIS map data through voice and gestures for real-time decision making on issues ranging from protecting hazardous materials sites to evacuating assisted-living facilities by using a computer system developed by Penn State researchers.
The research team says the system also can assist planners and transportation engineers visualize the impacts of potential developments and highways as well as help crisis management pe
Loss and deterioraton of indigenous habitat increasingly affect natural populations worldwide. As a result of these processes, new selection pressures are imposed upon organisms, increasing local extinction rates. Simultaneously, reduced movement among remnant patches lowers colonisation rates and affects demographic and genetic population parameters. Yet, organisms with comparable life histories often respond to habitat disturbance in various ways. Why so is a matter of great importance to evolution
An international team of scientists has discovered a novel genetic trait that protects its carriers against the deadliest forms of malaria, while people without the trait are more likely to succumb to its fatal consequences.
This trait — a mutation or “polymorphism” in the NOS2 gene — controls the production of nitric oxide, a small chemical that can kill parasites and prevent malaria disease. Results of their study are published in the Nov. 9, 2002, issue of The Lancet.
The gen
Das in Lissabon gesetzte Ziel rückt in immer weitere Ferne
Europa muss größere Anstrengungen im Hinblick auf eine echte “wissensgestützte Wirtschaft” unternehmen, wie vom Europäischen Rat in Lissabon (März 2000) gefordert wurde. Dies lässt sich dem letzten Bericht der Europäischen Kommission mit wichtigen Zahlen zu den Bereichen Wissenschaft, Technologie und Innovation (2002) entnehmen. Gemäß dem von der Kommission entwickelten Gesamtindikator für Investitionen in die wissensgestützte
The lotus – a flowering wetland plant native to Asia – may not at first glance be of interest to the nanotechnologist. But researchers at German chemical company BASF are developing a spray-on coating that mimics the way lotus leaves repel water droplets and particles of dirt. The story is reported on nanotechweb.org, the Institute of Physics’ global portal for nanotechnology.
The leaves of Lotus plants are coated with minute wax crystals around 1 nm in diameter which repel water, droplets f
Scientists’ understanding of the movement of the Earth’s crust is being helped by new observing facility which is taking measurements that may one day help predict earthquakes.
Newcastle University’s School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences has become only one of two UK centres feeding Global Positioning System (GPS) data into the International GPS Service (IGS), which researchers and professionals throughout the world – including geophysicists – can access via the Internet. The other cen
Syracuse University researchers pick up where Darwin left off: Groundbreaking study to be published in the Nov. 8 issue of Science
When it comes to mating and determining whose sperm reaches the elusive egg, females control both the playing field and the rules of the game, according to a new study on male sperm competition vs. female choice to be published in the Nov. 8 issue of Science.
“Our study demonstrates, unambiguously, the active role females play in determining the condi
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