Engineers at Purdue University have shown how researchers might better use tiny hollow fibers called “multi-walled carbon nanotubes” to more precisely measure structures and devices for electronics and other applications. Findings will appear in the November issue of the journal Nanotechnology.
Researchers attach the tubes to the ends of imaging instruments called atomic force microscopes. Because the tubes are long and slender, their shape is ideal for the emerging field of “nan
Researchers at the University of Essex have been awarded almost £1.2 million as part of a programme to develop a new generation of portable, handheld radiation detectors that could have a range of potential applications from disease diagnosis to weapons detection.
The new devices, which would be the size of a normal torch, will detect radiation in the THz (terahertz) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is hoped they could be used in applications such as screening for explos
Within the framework of the EU’s Sixth Framework Program, preliminary studies are underway to build a land-based telescope that will be by far the largest ever, thus offering entirely new potential for detailed observations. For one thing, researchers hope to be able to see so far into space, and thereby so far back in time, that they will be able to understand the creation of the universe and discover whether it is possible that there is life on other planets.
Recently a winner was pick
High precision single-particle measurements validate a corrected form of the equation describing Brownian motion
An international group of researchers from the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), the University of Texas at Austin and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany have demonstrated that Brownian motion of a single particle behaves differently than Einstein postulated one century ago.
Their results, to be published online Oct
Just how much data can we cram onto a hard disk? In a paper appearing online today in Physical Review Letters, EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) Professor Harald Brune and his colleagues report what they believe to be the ultimate density limit of magnetic recording.
His group created a self-assembled lattice of non-interacting two-atoms-high islands of cobalt on a single-crystal gold substrate. The islands’ density — 26 trillion islands per square inch — is
ESA PR 44-2005. Today at 21.00 CEST Mr Yuri Bakhvalov, First Deputy Director General of the Khrunichev Space Centre on behalf of the Russian State Commission officially confirmed that the launch of CryoSat ended in a failure due to an anomaly in the launch sequence and expressed his regret to ESA and all partners involved.
Preliminary analysis of the telemetry data indicates that the first stage performed nominally. The second stage performed nominally until main engine cut-off was
Danish astrophysicists have for the first time observed the visible light from a so-called short gamma-ray burst. Observations show that these short, intense bursts of gamma-ray emission most likely originate from the violent collision of two merging neutron stars. The results are being published in Nature on October 6th.
Stars do not always meet gently. Two neutron stars rarely meet, but when they do, they smash into each other and the expected result is a short, gigantic explosion.
Erik T.J. Nibbering of the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI) and colleagues report for the first time experimental evidence of the motions of hydrogen ions (protons, H+) from acids via water to bases. Until now this has only been estimated as a possible reaction mechanism with theoretical calculations. With this study, the international research team provides insight into fundamental processes in nature (acid-base neutralization, proton transmission thro
Colliding compact stars likely cause of short but powerful gamma-ray bursts
An international team of scientists using three NASA satellites and a host of ground-based telescopes believes it has solved the greatest remaining mystery of the mysterious gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most powerful explosions in the universe. The shorter of two versions of these bursts appear to be caused by the collision of closely orbiting neutron stars or one of those compact stars and a black hole,
ESO’s telescopes see afterglows of elusive short bursts
An international team of astronomers led by Danish astronomer Jens Hjorth [1] has for the first time observed the visible light from a short gamma-ray burst (GRB). Using the 1.5m Danish telescope at La Silla (Chile), they showed that these short, intense bursts of gamma-ray emission most likely originate from the violent collision of two merging neutron stars. The same team has also used ESO’s Very Large Telescope t
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania may not have turned lead into gold as alchemists once sought to do, but they did turn lead and selenium nanocrystals into solids with remarkable physical properties. In the October 5 edition of Physical Review Letters, online now, physicists Hugo E. Romero and Marija Drndic describe how they developed am artificial solid that can be transformed from an insulator to a semiconductor.
The Penn physicists are among many modern researchers
For almost a decade, scientists thought they understood the surface structure of cubic gallium nitride, a promising new crystalline semiconductor. Research by an interdisciplinary team of nanoscientists from Ohio University and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, however, turns that idea on its head.
Their study published in the Sept. 30 online issue of the journal Physical Review Letters provides a fresh – and they argue, more accurate – look at the surface structure of the cr
The October issue of the Royal Astronomical Society’s journal, “Astronomy and Geophysics”, contains the following feature articles.
Ptolemy, Babylon and the Rotation of the Earth
Many authors have questioned Ptolemy’s account of a lunar eclipse that was supposedly observed by the Babylonians. John Steele finds that Ptolemy was right to believe that Babylonian observers saw the eclipse of 23 December 383 BC – which poses a problem that can be solved by invoking a large c
Do giant flashes of lightning striking upwards from thunder clouds merely pose an extraordinarily spectacular view? Or do they actually alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere, playing a role in ozone depletion and the climate on Earth? This is the key question that may be answered by specially designed cameras, which ESA proposes to place on board the International Space Station.
The International Space Station (ISS) is the ideal setting for studies of spectacular na
Cassini performed back-to-back flybys of Saturn moons Tethys and Hyperion last weekend, coming closer than ever before to each of them. Tethys has a scarred, ancient surface, while Hyperion is a strange, spongy-looking body with dark-floored craters that speckle its surface. New images, mosaics and a movie of these bodies are available at http://ciclops.org, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.
Images of Tethys taken during Cassini’s close approach to
As preparations for the launch of CryoSat on 8 October continue on schedule, the satellite has now been sealed beyond physical control from the outside world.
On 26 September, the two half-shells of the payload fairing were fastened, encapsulating CryoSat. They will not be opened again until the spacecraft has left the atmosphere on its way to final orbit deployment 717 kilometers about the Earth.
The delicate operation of joining CryoSat to the Breeze upper stage took pla
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