Dear Reader ,
Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for week 22:
Japanese firm wants to transform the Moon into a giant solar power plant
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Shimizu Corporation, a Japanese construction firm, has recently proposed a plan to harness solar energy on a larger scale than almost any previously proposed concept. Their ambitious plan involves building a belt of solar cells around the Moon's 6,800-mile (11,000-kilometer) equator, converting the electricity to powerful microwaves and lasers to be beamed at Earth, and finally converting the beams back to electricity at terrestrial power stations. The Luna Ring concept, the company says, could meet the entire world's energy needs.
What is Consuming Hydrogen and Acetylene on Titan?
(PhysOrg.com) -- Two new papers based on data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft scrutinize the complex chemical activity on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. While non-biological chemistry offers one possible explanation, some scientists believe these chemical signatures bolster the argument for a primitive, exotic form of life or precursor to life on Titan's surface. According to one theory put forth by astrobiologists, the signatures fulfill two important conditions necessary for a hypothesized "methane-based life."
Scientists breed goats that produce spider silk
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the University of Wyoming have developed a way to incorporate spiders' silk-spinning genes into goats, allowing the researchers to harvest the silk protein from the goats' milk for a variety of applications. For instance, due to its strength and elasticity, spider silk fiber could have several medical uses, such as for making artificial ligaments and tendons, for eye sutures, and for jaw repair. The silk could also have applications in bulletproof vests and improved car airbags.
Private rocket launch successful on maiden flight (Update 3)
A privately owned rocket successfully blasted off on its first flight, marking a significant milestone for the space industry in the race to develop commercial carriers.
'Neutrino oscillation': Particle chameleon caught in the act of changing
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers on the OPERA experiment at the INFN's Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy today announced the first direct observation of a tau particle in a muon neutrino beam sent through the Earth from CERN, 730km away. This is a significant result, providing the final missing piece of a puzzle that has been challenging science since the 1960s, and giving tantalizing hints of new physics to come.
Not all quantum properties are lost through interaction with the environment
(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most well-known "rules" of quantum physics is that all quantum properties are lost due to environmental interaction. This rule, though, may not hold true in all situations. "We have discovered the first counter to this common rule," Sabrina Maniscalco tells PhysOrg.com. Maniscalco is a researcher at the Turku Centre for Quantum Physics, University of Turku in Finland. Along with fellow researcher (and husband) Jyrki Piilo, and Ph.D. student Laura Mazzola, Maniscalco has identified evidence that some quantum correlations can remain intact.
New OLETs emit light more efficiently than equivalent OLEDs
(PhysOrg.com) -- Already, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are becoming commercialized for light display applications due to their advantages such as low fabrication costs and large-area emission. But OLEDs also have intrinsic efficiency limitations due to their structure, which might limit their future development in terms of brightness. Now, a team of researchers has found that another organic semiconductor-based device, the organic light-emitting transistor (OLET), can dramatically increase the efficiency of OLEDs since OLETs have the structure of a transistor rather than a diode. In their recent study, the researchers have created OLETs that are 10 times more efficient than any previously reported OLET, as well as more than twice as efficient as an optimized OLED made with the same materials.
Study: 10 minutes of exercise, hour-long effects
(AP) -- Ten minutes of brisk exercise triggers metabolic changes that last at least an hour. The unfair news for panting newbies: The more fit you are, the more benefits you just might be getting.
Wind-powered car goes down wind faster than the wind
(PhysOrg.com) -- A wind-powered car has been clocked in the US traveling down wind faster than the wind. In a recent run at New Jerusalem in Tracy, California, the car reached a top speed of more than 2.85 times faster than the wind blowing at the time (13.5 mph) powered by the wind itself. The run should now settle the DWFTTW (down wind faster than the wind) debate that has been raging for some time on the Internet about whether or not such a feat was possible.
A new theory to explain superrotation on Venus
(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the mysteries in our Solar System is superrotation, a phenomenon known since the late 1960s, in which the winds on Venus blow faster than the planet rotates. Scientists have proposed a number of theories, but none have been completely satisfactory. Now scientists in Mexico have for the first time suggested a viable mechanism by which a faster wind higher above the planet is driving the superrotation.
Scientists warn of unseen deepwater oil disaster
(AP) -- Independent scientists and government officials say there's a disaster we can't see in the Gulf of Mexico's mysterious depths, the ruin of a world inhabited by enormous sperm whales and tiny, invisible plankton.
Airborne wind turbines to generate power from high winds (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Airborne wind turbines may soon be generating power from high-altitude winds to provide consistent, clean, cheap, and abundant energy for a power-hungry world.
Advanced Robotic Arm Controlled by Monkey's Thoughts (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have demonstrated a monkey controlling an advanced robotic arm by using its thoughts. The experiments were led by Dr. Andrew Schwartz, a professor of neurobiology and involved a high degree of complexity in the robotic arm, the level of control, and the intricacy of the manipulations.
Amateur astronomer spots another Jupiter strike (w/ Video)
Jupiter has gotten whacked again.
Physicsts reveal how to cope with 'frustration'
For most people, frustration is a condition to be avoided. But for scientists studying certain "frustrated" ensembles of interacting components - that is, those which cannot settle into a state that minimizes each interaction - it may be the key to understanding a host of puzzling phenomena that affect systems from neural networks and social structures to protein folding and magnetism.
Powerful genome barcoding system reveals large-scale variation in human DNA
(PhysOrg.com) -- Genetic abnormalities are most often discussed in terms of differences so miniscule they are actually called "snips" — changes in a single unit along the 3 billion that make up the entire string of human DNA.
Particle collision thought to replicate Big Bang forces, may help explain how things exist
By the logic of science, things simply shouldn't exist. The best scientific minds of several generations have reasoned that shortly after the Big Bang created the universe, matter and antimatter should have wiped each other out.
Arctic ice at low point compared to recent geologic history
Less ice covers the Arctic today than at any time in recent geologic history. That's the conclusion of an international group of researchers, who have compiled the first comprehensive history of Arctic ice.
Teenagers cannot concentrate because their brains are undeveloped
(PhysOrg.com) -- New research from the UK has found that teenagers and young adults find it hard to concentrate because their brains are more similar to those of much younger children than those of mature adults, with more grey matter but lower efficiency. The findings suggest the brain is not fully developed until people reach their late twenties or even early thirties, which is much later than previously thought.
On the deceleration behaviour of black holes
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers use the concept of "anti-kick" to explain why the speed suddenly decreases after the collision of such exotic objects.
This email is a free service of PhysOrg.com
You received this email because you subscribed to our list.
If you no longer want to receive this email use the link below to unsubscribe.
http://www.physorg.com/profile/nwletter/
You are subscribed as mail@joashmabs.com
No comments:
Post a Comment