GIRAFFE at VLT reveals the turbulent life of distant galaxies

Studying several tens of distant galaxies, an international team of astronomers found that galaxies had the same amount of dark matter relative to stars 6 billion years ago as they have now. If confirmed, this suggests a much closer interplay between dark and normal matter than previously believed. The scientists also found that as many as 4 out of 10 galaxies are out of balance. These results shed a new light on how

While analysing the complex structure of the Milky Way, an international team of astronomers from Italy and the United Kingdom has recently derived the shape of the Galactic outer stellar disc, and provided the strongest evidence that, besides being warped, it is at least 70% more extended than previously thought. Their findings will be reported in an upcoming issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics, and is a new step in understanding the large-scale structure of our Galaxy.

Using the 2MASS

Unbalanced superfluid could be akin to exotic matter found in Quark Star

Rice University physicist Randall Hulet will discuss breakthrough efforts to create a long-sought quantum superfluid at a press conference at 2:30 p.m. today at the American Physical Society’s 2006 March Meeting.

In January, Hulet’s laboratory reported in the journal Science the observation of an elusive quantum state – a superfluid of fermions with mismatched numbers of dance partners. Despite

By designing a variant of an astronomical technique proposed by Einstein, researchers from The University of Auckland and Massey University, together with astronomers from Auckland’s Stardome Observatory, have found evidence for a new icy “Super Earth”.

While over 100 gaseous Jupiter-sized planets have been discovered in the last decade, and four medium Neptune-sized planets, until now there have been no discoveries of Earth-sized terrestrial planets that could support li

Two recent papers by Pitt physicist offer a deeper understanding of how electrons behave on surfaces, with applications in electronics and energy

Hrvoje Petek, University of Pittsburgh professor of physics and codirector of Pitt’s Gertrude E. and John M. Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering (PINSE), has published two papers in recent weeks that literally illuminate how electrons behave on various surfaces.

In the first paper, Petek and Miroslav Nyvl

Brown dwarfs — failed stars that fall somewhere between the smallest stars and the largest planets on the spectrum of heavenly objects — have always been viewed by astronomers as a critical link in the understanding of how both stars and planets form.
The trouble with brown dwarfs, however, is that they are hard to find and, so far, they have defied nearly all attempts to accurately assess their size.

But now astronomers, including a University of Wisconsin-Madison astronomer, rep

The first day of racing at the Cheltenham Festival, the Olympics of steeplechasing, gets under way today. There will be many betting tips offered over the next few days, and advice given on how to back a winner. However, Royal Veterinary College researchers reveal that a great racehorse is more than just quick footed – it must also be rather average.

The Royal Veterinary College research reveals the secret to what makes a fast thoroughbred. Some 80 percent of modern thoroughbred r

By smartly tagging data and content, an XML family offshoot is revolutionising business reports. It is now used extensively across Europe and is fast becoming a mandatory standard for financial and business reports worldwide.

“It’s about better, faster and cheaper business reporting,” says Olivier Servais, director of the IST project XBRL Europe. “This was once done with proprietary electronic formats. XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is an open standard that brings a

A virtual classroom proved superior to a traditional one in teaching medical students to identify heart sounds, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting. Stethoscope skills are alarmingly low among doctors in training, a handicap that often continues into patient practice.

Long bothered by this lack of proficiency, lead author Michael Barrett, M.D., clinical associate professor of medicine and cardiologist at Temple University School of Medicine and Hos

Scientists analyzing recent samples of comet dust have discovered minerals that formed near the sun or other stars. That means materials from the innermost part of the solar system could have traveled to the outer reaches, where comets formed.

“The interesting thing is we are finding these high-temperature minerals in materials from the coldest place in the solar system,” said Donald Brownlee, a University of Washington astronomer who is principal investigator, or lead scientist

The hidden face of the sun is fully visible for the first time, thanks to a new technique developed at Stanford University.

Only half of the sun–the near side–is directly observable. The far side always faces away from Earth and is therefore out of view. But the new technology allows anyone with a computer to download images of the entire solar surface–an important advance with practical applications, say researchers, because potentially damaging solar storms that form on the

Scientists at the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have designed and demonstrated the world’s most accurate gamma ray detector, which is expected to be useful eventually in verifying inventories of nuclear materials and detecting radioactive contamination in the environment.

The tiny prototype detector, described today at the American Physical Society national meeting in Baltimore, can pinpoint gamma ray emissions signatures

Electronics based on carbon

Graphite, the material that gives pencils their marking ability, could be the basis for a new class of nanometer-scale electronic devices that have the attractive properties of carbon nanotubes – but could be produced using established microelectronics manufacturing techniques.

Using thin layers of graphite known as graphene, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, in collaboration with the Centre National de l

In Roman mythology, Janus was the god of change and transition, often portrayed with two faces gazing in opposite directions. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Janus particles are providing insight into the movement of molecules, and serving as the basis for new materials and sensors.

“By modifying the surface of colloidal particles into a Janus chemical compound, we can measure the rotational dynamics of single colloidal particles in suspension as well as at int

Nanoparticle’s shape could improve chemical sensing, biological imaging

Who better to invent “nanorice” than researchers at Rice University? But marketing and whimsy weren’t what motivated the team of engineers, physicists and chemists from Rice’s Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) to make rice-shaped particles of gold and iron oxide.

“On the nanoscale, the shape of a particle plays a critical role in how it interacts with light,” said LANP Director Naomi H

A new range of mobile-terminal embedded information systems, marketed under the ubitouch brand has been developed by ASCENT. These ubitouch solutions are powerful new Java-compatible applications designed to be installed on terminals, enabling the whole of a customer’s publication, communication and gaming services, as well as advanced marketing functionalities, to be customised in a brand’s colours.

In comparison to existing resources, ubitouch solutions provide a greater degree