Scientists from the University of Cambridge’s Astrophysics Group have today (21 June 2002) announced a collaboration with teams based in New Mexico, Puerto Rico and at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC to design, install and operate a novel type of astronomical telescope for ultra-high angular resolution observations of stars, galaxies and quasars.

The agreement between researchers based in the Astrophysics (AP) Group at the Cavendish Laboratory and the Magdalena Ridge Observato

Theoretical physicist Lennaert Huiszoon has described a new family of strings in research conducted at the National Institute for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics. He investigated so-called open strings which can describe elementary particles with a strong interaction.

With string theory, physicists are trying to construct a unifying theory for gravity and quantum mechanics. The theory describes extremely heavy and very small objects such as the universe shortly after the Big Bang or

Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered a new technique to form tiny perfect crystals that have high optical quality, a finding that could usher in a new era of ultra-fast computing and communication using photons instead of electrons.

These crystals, called photonic crystals, could greatly improve both speed and bandwidth in communications systems, says University Professor Geoffrey Ozin of the Department of Chemistry.

“All of the promises of what photonic crysta

Adaptive optics technology can remove the blurring effect of the Earth’s atmosphere that has long plagued astronomers, allowing ground-based telescopes to achieve a clarity of vision previously attainable only by space-based instruments. Current adaptive optics (AO) systems are able to make images that are superior to those of the Hubble Space Telescope in infrared light.

The technology still has limitations, however. For example, today’s adaptive optics systems on the largest tel

The Russian astrophysicists have theoretically modelled coronal loop oscillations and have shown that the plasma present in coronal loops is quite “normal”. So, the puzzle of the Sun`s atmosphere heating remains unresolved.

Coronal loops, immense magnetic arches more hot and dense than the coronal gas, are formed by magnetic fields. They are anchored in the Sun`s visible surface rising up to 100 – 200 thousand kilometres. In the active regions of the Sun these loops, which are 1000 –

In a discovery that could greatly reduce the size and cost of computer chips, Princeton researchers have found a fast method for printing ultrasmall patterns in silicon wafers.

The method, described in the June 20 issue of Nature, could allow electronics manufacturers to increase the density of transistors on silicon chips by 100-fold while dramatically streamlining the production process. Packing more transistors onto chips is the key to making more powerful computer processors and memory c

Philips has demonstrated the world’s first fully functional miniature optical disc drive using blue laser technology. Up to 1 Gbyte of data can be stored on a single-sided optical disc of just 3 cm in diameter, matching the size constraints of portable devices such as digital cameras, mobile phones, PDAs and portable Internet devices. This prototype illustrates Philips’ leadership in optical storage technology, which is driven by superb media robustness and the low cost per Mbyte of the storage me

Physicists have to tread carefully when it comes to fertiliser, but the first tentative steps to a better understanding of the ancient art of fertilising the soil are described in a paper published today in the Institute of Physics publication, The Journal of Measurement Science and Technology.

Frederic Cointault, Philippe Sarrazin and Michel Paindavoine of the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France show how to take a snapshot of particles of fertiliser as a centrifugal spreader spits them

A manikin called Walter that can be used to test new clothes for extreme environments is described in research published today in the Institute of Physics publication Journal Measurement Science and Technology. Jintu Fan and Yisong Chen of the Institute of Textiles and Clothing at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in Kowloon, explain in the journal how Walter`s special skin can simulate perspiration while his motorised limbs can be moved to make the manikin walk, for a more realistic test.

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The scientists from NPO Astrofizika, have designed a terrestrial telescope, which has no match all over the world. Fundamentally new technical solutions ensure that a unique telescope with the mirror of 25 meters in diameter is able to investigate previously invisible celestial objects of up to the 29-th magnitude.

What makes astronomers design the telescopes with the larger and larger mirrors? Certainly, astronomers are driven by the capacity of a telescope to provide more informati

A team of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the University of Oslo in Norway has provided new insight into the superconductivity of magnesium diboride (MgB2), an unusual superconductor discovered only last year. The new result appears in the June 17, 2002 issue of Physical Review Letters.

Understanding the origin of superconductivity — the ability of som

After 15 years of observation and a lot of patience, the world’s premier planet-hunting team has found a planetary system that reminds them of our home solar system.

Geoffrey Marcy, astronomy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and astronomer Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C., today announced the discovery of a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star at nearly the same distance as the Jovian system orbits our sun.

“All other extr

Durham University scientists have successfully carried out a basic computer operation using a magnetic microchip – a major step along the way to establishing a new generation of electronics and computer technology.

They are working in the rapidly growing field of nanotechnology, harnessing the magnetic properties of electrons, rather than their electrical charge on which conventional electronics is based. Magnetic microchips could, in the future, offer a range of benefits over standard chips

Researchers at the University of Michigan’s Center for Optical Coherent and Ultrafast Science (FOCUS) and Department of Physics have reported the first demonstration of laser-cooling of individual trapped atoms of different species. This may be an important step in the construction of a future “quantum computer,” in which quantum superpositions of inputs are processed simultaneously in a single device. Trapped atoms offer one of the only realistic approaches to precisely controlling the complex

IBM supercomputers connected via high-speed, optical-fiber network

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University and Indiana University have succeeded in linking their IBM supercomputers in a computational grid via the universities’ high-speed optical network, creating a facility capable of performing a trillion operations per second.

The process works by breaking complex programs into small segments, which are then “distributed” across hundreds of separate processors contain

Three small, faint stars, apparently locked in the gravitational embrace of much larger and brighter companions, have been discovered in the first light from a new infrared camera with innovative optics on the 100-inch telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, California.

“This is the first time the historic Mount Wilson telescope has looked at the universe through this new infrared eye, and already it is making new discoveries,” says Jian Ge, assistant professor of astronomy an