While studying a compound made of the elements cerium- rhodium-indium, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have discovered that a magnetic state can coexist with superconductivity in a specific temperature and pressure range. The discovery is a step toward a deeper understanding of how Nature is organized in regimes ranging from the fabric of the cosmos to the most fundamental components of elementary particles.

In research pub

It came from the edge of the visible universe, the most distant explosion ever detected.

In this week’s issue of Nature, scientists at Penn State University and their U.S. and European colleagues discuss how this explosion, detected on 4 September 2005, was the result of a massive star collapsing into a black hole.

The explosion, called a gamma-ray burst, comes from an era soon after stars and galaxies first formed, about 500 million to 1 billion years after the Big

The University of Kent has launched UltraSoC Technologies Ltd, a new spin-out company that is developing a technology platform for real-time embedded systems-on-chip (SoC). This ground-breaking technology has produced improved debugging tools and testing methods for many computer systems within devices such as mobile phones, white goods and motor vehicles. The work has already resulted in applications for three worldwide patents.

UltraSoC Technologies Ltd recently won a Proof-of-Concept

Barrels of chemicals that ‘talk’ to each other to improve safety and smart shelves that automatically log inventory changes are just some of the ways businesses stand to benefit from new sensor network technology currently being developed in Europe.

The IST-funded CoBIs project is going a step beyond existing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems – the generally passive smart tags used to identify goods, pets and even people – to create Collaborative Business Items (CoBIs

’Synthetic validity’ holds promise for better hiring decisions, billions in savings

With the assembly line, Henry Ford created a unified production process that revolutionized the manufacturing industry. Now, a University of Calgary business professor has designed a unified selection process that promises to revolutionize the world of human resources.

Its technical name is ’synthetic validity,’ and it has been the Holy Grail of business academics for the past 50 ye

A team of astronomers from France, the USA, Japan, and Korea, led by Denis Burgarella has recently discovered new galaxies in the Early Universe. They have been detected for the first time both in the near-UV and in the far-infrared wavelengths. Their findings will be reported in a coming issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics. This discovery is a new step in understanding how galaxies evolve.

The astronomer Denis Burgarella (Observatoire Astronomique Marseille Provence, Laboratoire

The record-breaking performance of the Tevatron collider at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is pushing the search for dark matter, supersymmetric particles and extra dimensions to new limits. Repeatedly smashing peak luminosity records, the Tevatron has created record numbers of proton-antiproton collisions that provide the means to unveil the secrets of the universe. Accelerator experts at the lab announced today (March 2) that in only 14 months the Tevatron

Research financiers Vinnova in Sweden and Tekes in Finland have granted SEK 6 million to a Nordic research project in printed electronics and RFID, Radio Frequency Identification. Eventually RFID will replace bar codes on packaging, for example. With the help of radio technology, many items can then be identified at the same time, which is of great value in taking inventory, for instance. The research project was initiated by a research team in RFID technology at Mid Sweden University.

T

A survey has revealed that girls would miss their mobile phones most if they were denied them for 40 days while boys would not want to live without the Internet.

The poll, which was conducted by the University of Hertfordshire in the run up to the University’s 40th anniversary of the degree in Computer Science, asked students what technology they would miss most if they had to give it up for 40 days and which would they happily live without.

Respondents were asked to in

Cornell physicist Veit Elser has been engrossed recently in resolving a pivotal question in biological imaging. So he hasn’t had much time for brainteasers and number games.

But in discovering an algorithm critical for X-ray diffraction microscopy, Elser and colleagues solved two problems. First, they gave researchers a new tool for imaging the tiniest and most delicate of biological specimens. And second, they discovered that the same algorithm also solves the internati

Research could lead to better understanding of typhoons, oceanic flows

For decades, scientists who study hurricanes, whirlpools and other large fluid vortices have puzzled over precisely how these vast swirling masses of gas or liquid sustain themselves. How do they acquire the energy to keep moving? The most common theory sounded like it was lifted from Wall Street: The large vortices collect power as smaller vortices merge and combine their assets, in the same way that small co

Radar mapping polar caps, impact craters

Two Mars orbiter missions — one from NASA, the other from the European Space Agency (ESA) — will open new vistas in the exploration of Mars through the use of sophisticated ground-penetrating radars, providing international researchers with the first direct clues about the Red Planet’s subsurface structure.

Roger Phillips, Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences, is

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) working with Russian colleagues have significantly improved the design of optical atomic clocks that hold thousands of atoms in a lattice made of intersecting laser beams. The design, in which ytterbium atoms oscillate or “tick” at optical frequencies, has the potential to be more stable and accurate than today’s best time standards, which are based on microwaves at much lower frequencies. More accurate time standards co

Syngo iPilot supports physicians during interventions

Global Positioning Systems for cars search for the fastest and most practical way to reach a specific destination. The software function syngo iPilot from Siemens Medical Solutions (Med) works in a similar way: It supports the physician in guiding the catheter as smoothly as possible through the arteries during interventional procedures. During this time, syngo iPilot visualizes the two-dimensional fluoro image, which appears in

Everyday ice used to chill that glass of lemonade has helped researchers better understand the internal structure of icy moons in the far reaches of the solar system. A research team has demonstrated a new kind of “creep” or flow in a high-pressure form of ice by creating in a laboratory the conditions of pressure, temperature, stress, and grain size that mimic those in the deep interiors of large icy moons.

High-pressure phases of ice are major components of the giant icy moons of the o

PhD Student Tom Lysemose is the world’s first to have developed software that is able to effectively detect attacks by an unknown computer virus.

Possible customers include the large anti-virus companies. A problem with today’s anti-virus software is that they can only protect from known viruses. Unknown viruses are not stopped.

A great number of viruses exist. Some of these viruses need active handling by the user in order to infect a computer, such as when someone is tri