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Physics and Matter News - January 2010 Archives
Two UIC geoscientists have built a device for laboratory simulations of deep-sea pressure and temperature conditions that allows X-ray sample analysis. They've received an $85,000 National Science Foundation grant to improve the device, which may be used for a range of scientific tests.
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 | Using the Janus laser at LLNL and the Omega laser at the University of Rochester, Livermore scientists and Rochester and UC Berkeley colleagues showed that when shock waves are applied to diamond with powerful lasers, it can support almost a million times atmospheric pressure before being crushed. ...> Full Article |
 | In an advance that might interest Q-Branch NIST and partners from industry and academia have designed and tested experimental antennas that are highly efficient and yet a fraction of the size of standard antenna systems with comparable properties. ...> Full Article |
 | Researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute can speed up photons to seemingly faster-than-light speeds through a stack of materials by adding a single, strategically placed layer. ...> Full Article |
Brandeis University announced today a $1 million, three-year award from the W.M. Keck Foundation to help support experimental research into a new category of materials known as active matter. The project seeks to elucidate the behavior of active matter at length scales ranging from the microscopic to the macroscopic.
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 | A new computer algorithm developed by researchers at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory allows scientists to view nuclear fission in much finer detail than ever before. ...> Full Article |
A URI bubble scientist is studying how to detect and count ocean bubbles of different sizes to help scientists in other disciplines create more accurate models. Ocean bubbles play a role in cloud formation and climate change, and they are important when studying ocean acoustics.
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 | Tripling the steps in a read cycle can significantly improve signal to noise ratios in quantum data storage. ...> Full Article |
 | The remarkable feat of tying light in knots has been achieved by a team of physicists working at the universities of Bristol, Glasgow and Southampton, UK, reports a paper in Nature Physics this week.
Understanding how to control light in this way has important implications for laser technology used in wide a range of industries.
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 | Is there anybody out there? In Alejandro Jenkins' case, the question refers not to whether life exists elsewhere in the universe, but whether it exists in other universes outside of our own. ...> Full Article |
Northwestern University researchers have developed compact, mid-infrared laser diodes that generate more light than heat -- a breakthroughs in quantum cascade laser efficiency.
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 | Physicists have finally managed to demonstrate quantum entanglement of spatially separated electrons in solid state circuitry. ...> Full Article |
In an important first for a promising new technology, scientists have used a quantum computer to calculate the precise energy of molecular hydrogen. This groundbreaking approach to molecular simulations could have profound implications not just for quantum chemistry, but also for a range of fields from cryptography to materials science.
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 | Physicists may see data by late summer from a prototype for a $278 million NOvA neutrino experiment that can yield clues to the universe's mysteries. Construction is underway on a 220-ton "integration prototype" detector and a larger 14,000-ton detector, a project of Fermilab and University of Minnesota. About 40 scientists will fine-tune design Jan. 8-10 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, their first meeting since the US Department of Energy's October approval of "full construction start." ...> Full Article |
New experiments on a recently discovered class of iron-based superconductors suggest that the ability of their electrons to conduct electricity without resistance is directly connected with the magnetic properties of those electrons. Appearing in the Jan. 8 issue of Physical Review Letters, the results by U.S. and Chinese physicists bolster theories that high-temperature superconductivity in materials called "iron pnictides" arises from quantum magnetic fluctuations.
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Astrophysicists using supercomputers to simulate the Big Bang have a new mathematical tool to model the early universe, says mathematician Daniel Reynolds at Southern Methodist University, Dallas. Reynolds and a team of astrophysicists built a computer model of the "Dark Ages." The model -- successfully tested on two supercomputers -- tightly couples physical processes present during cosmic reionization. Resulting simulations when scientists model various scenarios are highly accurate, numerically stable and computationally scalable to the largest supercomputers.
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 | Iowa State University physicists are starting to see real data from the Large Hadron Collider, the planet's biggest science experiment. But, said Chunhui Chen, an Iowa State assistant professor of physics and astronomy, it will still take years of study before the collider produces new, Nobel-winning physics. ...> Full Article |
Researchers from the German Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin f�r Materialien und Energie, in cooperation with colleagues from Oxford and Bristol Universities, as well as the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, have for the first time observed a nanoscale symmetry hidden in solid state matter. They have measured the signatures of a symmetry showing the same attributes as the golden ratio famous from art and architecture. The research team is publishing these findings in Science Jan. 8.
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 | Researchers of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Informationin Innsbruck, Austria, used a calcium ion to simulate a relativistic quantum particle, demonstrating a phenomenon that has not been directly observable so far: the Zitterbewegung. They have published their findings in the current issue of the journal Nature. ...> Full Article |
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New species of ancient crocodile discovered
Kitchen gadget inspires scientist to make more effective plastic electronics
Making memories last
Ferroelectric switching discovered for first time in soft biological tissue
Forensic research extends detection of cyanide poisoning
The wild early lives of today's most massive galaxies
What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?
Shakespeare's skill 'more in grammar than in words'
Detailed picture of how myoV 'walks' along actin tracks
Need muscle for a tough spot? Turn to fat stem cells
Earth's energy budget remained out of balance despite unusually low solar activity
Pictures of food create feelings of hunger
Mighty mesh
Sweeten up your profits with the right hybrid
Patterns of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in Galapagos reptiles
Bilayer graphene works as an insulator
Patterns of chromosome abnormality: The key to cancer?
Advantages of living in the dark: The multiple evolution events of 'blind' cavefish
Snakes improve search-and-rescue robots
Enhancing cognition in older adults also changes personality
Magnetic actuation enables nanoscale thermal analysis
A new artificial intelligence technique to speed the planning of tasks when resources are limited
'Tiger mothers' should tame parenting approach
Film coatings made from whey
Growing US violent extremism by the numbers
If a fat tax is coming, here's how to make it efficient, effective
Bobsled runs -- fast and yet safe
Fruit fly intestine may hold secret to the fountain of youth
Bright lights of purity
How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel
Does antimatter weigh more, less or the same as matter?
Scientists create first atomic X-ray laser
Jupiter's 'Trojans' on an atomic scale
World's longest superconductor cable