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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for week 28:
Graphite + water = the future of energy storage
A combination of two ordinary materials – graphite and water – could produce energy storage systems that perform on par with lithium ion batteries, but recharge in a matter of seconds and have an almost indefinite lifespan.
Galaxy sized twist in time pulls violating particles back into line
(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Warwick physicist has produced a galaxy sized solution which explains one of the outstanding puzzles of particle physics, while leaving the door open to the related conundrum of why different amounts of matter and antimatter seem to have survived the birth of our Universe.
RNA reactor could have served as a precursor of life
(PhysOrg.com) -- Nobody knows quite how life originated on Earth, but most scientists agree that living cells did not abruptly appear from nonliving cells in a single step. Instead, there were probably a series of pre-cellular life forms that arose from nonliving chemicals and eventually led to a living cell, one that could undergo metabolism and reproduce. One of the most well-known theories of pre-cellular life is the RNA world theory, which proposes that life based on RNA predates current life, which is based on DNA, RNA, and proteins. But recently, scientists have been wondering what may have preceded RNA. In a new study, a team of scientists from Germany has suggested that the ability to self-replicate may have first emerged in the form of an RNA reactor, which they show can transmit information.
Scientists present evidence for groundbreaking evolution theory
The popular belief among scientists that certain sequences of DNA are relatively unimportant in the evolutionary process has been turned on its head by two Murdoch University researchers.
Gemasolar solar thermal power plant supplies power for 24 hours straight
(PhysOrg.com) -- Last week, the Gemasolar power plant near Seville, Spain, became the first commercial solar thermal power plant to supply uninterrupted power for a full 24 hours, according to builders Torresol Energy. In contrast to photovoltaic solar cells, which use the sun’s light to generate electricity, solar thermal plants use the sun’s heat to run steam turbines and generate electricity. One of the biggest advantages of using heat is that it can be stored more easily than light, allowing for electricity production to continue even after the sun sets.
Stem cells grow fully functional new teeth
(Medical Xpress) -- Researchers from Japan recently published a paper in PLoS One describing their successful growth and transplantation of new teeth created from the stem cells of mice.
New planet discovered in Trinary star system
Until recently, astronomers were highly skeptical of whether or not planets should be possible in multiple star systems. It was expected that the constantly varying gravitational force would eventually tug the planet out of orbit. But despite doubts, astronomers have found several planets in just such star systems. Recently, astronomers announced another, this time in the trinary star HD 132563.
New way to produce antimatter-containing atom discovered
(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists at the University of California, Riverside report that they have discovered a new way to create positronium, an exotic and short-lived atom that could help answer what happened to antimatter in the universe, why nature favored matter over antimatter at the universe's creation.
Rising oceans - too late to turn the tide?
Melting ice sheets contributed much more to rising sea levels than thermal expansion of warming ocean waters during the Last Interglacial Period, a UA-led team of researchers has found. The results further suggest that ocean levels continue to rise long after warming of the atmosphere has leveled off.
Coke cans focus sound waves beyond the diffraction limit
(PhysOrg.com) -- When trying to focus sound waves into as small an area as possible, scientists run into a fundamental limit called the diffraction limit. That is, when sound waves are focused into a region smaller than one wavelength, the waves begin to bend and spread out. Recently, scientists have designed complex acoustic metamaterial lenses in an attempt to overcome the diffraction limit, but now a new study shows that this can be done using much simpler materials - specifically, 49 empty Coke cans.
It takes three to tango: Nuclear analysis needs the three-body force
(PhysOrg.com) -- The nucleus of an atom, like most everything else, is more complicated than we first thought. Just how much more complicated is the subject of a Petascale Early Science project led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's David Dean.
Research update: New way to store sun's heat
A novel application of carbon nanotubes, developed by MIT researchers, shows promise as an innovative approach to storing solar energy for use whenever it’s needed.
While you're up, print me a solar cell (w/ video)
The sheet of paper looks like any other document that might have just come spitting out of an office printer, with an array of colored rectangles printed over much of its surface. But then a researcher picks it up, clips a couple of wires to one end, and shines a light on the paper. Instantly an LCD clock display at the other end of the wires starts to display the time.
Rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries get a boost from graphene
(PhysOrg.com) -- By wrapping tiny sulfur particles in graphene sheets, researchers from Stanford University have synthesized a promising cathode material for rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries that could be used for powering electric vehicles on a large scale. When combined with silicon-based anodes, the new graphene-sulfur cathodes could lead to rechargeable batteries with a significantly higher energy density than is currently possible.
25 Tesla, world-record 'split magnet' makes its debut
A custom-built, $2.5 million "split magnet" system with the potential to revolutionize scientific research in a variety of fields has made its debut at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University.
Energy-harvesting shock absorber that increases fuel efficiency wins R&D 100 award
An energy-harvesting shock absorber that can be installed in a vehicle’s suspension system to absorb the energy from bumps in the road, convert the energy into electricity, and improve fuel efficiency by 1-8% has recently won the R&D 100 award. Nicknamed the “Oscar of Invention,” the annual award is given out by R&D Magazine to recognize the top 100 innovative technologies introduced during the previous year. Previous winners have included the ATM (1973), liquid crystal display (1980), Nicoderm anti-smoking patch (1992), lab on a chip (1996), and HDTV (1998).
Before animals first walked on land, fish carried gene program for limbs
Genetic instructions for developing limbs and digits were present in primitive fish millions of years before their descendants first crawled on to land, researchers have discovered.
'Amplified' nanotubes may power the future
Rice University scientists have achieved a pivotal breakthrough in the development of a cable that will make an efficient electric grid of the future possible.
When minor planets Ceres and Vesta rock the Earth into chaos
Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing a new study of the orbital evolution of minor planets Ceres and Vesta, a few days before the flyby of Vesta by the Dawn spacecraft. A team of astronomers found that close encounters among these bodies lead to strong chaotic behavior of their orbits, as well as of the Earth's eccentricity. This means, in particular, that the Earth's past orbit cannot be reconstructed beyond 60 million years.
Overturning 250 years of scientific theory: Age, repeated injury do not affect newt regeneration
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have been wrong for 250 years about a fundamental aspect of tissue regeneration, according to a University of Dayton biologist who says his recent discovery is good news for humans.
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