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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for week 47:
Tuning out: How brains benefit from meditation
Experienced meditators seem to be able switch off areas of the brain associated with daydreaming as well as psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, according to a new brain imaging study by Yale researchers.
Research finds HIV-killing compound
(Medical Xpress) -- A powerful topical preventative for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, could soon be in the works thanks to a newly discovered molecular compound that research at Texas A&M University and the Scripps Research Institute shows dissolves the virus on contact.
Japan collab transmits record data speeds on terahertz waves
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from Japan-based semiconductor manufacturer Rohm, together with a team from Osaka University, have come up with a chip that, in experiments, has achieved a wireless data transmission speed of 1.5 gigabits per second. This is a record breaker as the world's first terahertz wireless communication achieved with a small semiconductor device. The chip’s ability to transmit at such a quick speed is not the end of the story. Even higher transmission speeds of up to 30 Gbps may be possible in the future, according to reports.
Supercooled: Water doesn't have to freeze until -55 F
(PhysOrg.com) -- We drink water, bathe in it and we are made mostly of water, yet the common substance poses major mysteries. Now, University of Utah chemists may have solved one enigma by showing how cold water can get before it absolutely must freeze: 55 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-48 C).
Kilobots - tiny, collaborative robots - are leaving the nest (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Kilobots are coming. Computer scientists and engineers at Harvard University have developed and licensed technology that will make it easy to test collective algorithms on hundreds, or even thousands, of tiny robots.
Research team finds disk encryption foils law enforcement efforts
(PhysOrg.com) -- A joint U.S./UK research team has found that common encryption techniques are so good that law enforcement, from local to highly resourceful federal agencies, are unable to get at data on a computer hard disk that could be used to prove the guilt of people using the computer to perpetuate crimes. In looking at the current technology, the team, as they describe in their paper published in Digital Investigation, find that if criminals use commonly available hard drive encryption software, law enforcement very often is unable find anything that can be used against them.
Blocked holes can enhance rather than stop light going through
Conventional wisdom would say that blocking a hole would prevent light from going through it, but Princeton University engineers have discovered the opposite to be true. A research team has found that placing a metal cap over a small hole in a metal film does not stop the light at all, but rather enhances its transmission.
Physicists find charge separation in a molecule consisting of two identical atoms
Physicists from the University of Stuttgart show the first experimental proof of a molecule consisting of two identical atoms that exhibits a permanent electric dipole moment. This observation contradicts the classical opinion described in many physics and chemistry textbooks. The work was published in the journal Science yesterday.
Engineers fight for stranded Mars probe after 'sign of life' (Update)
Engineers fought desperately on Wednesday to save Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft after the Martian probe sent "a first sign of life" more than two weeks after being stranded in orbit.
NASA launches super-size Mars rover to red planet (Update)
The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer, NASA's Curiosity rover, rocketed toward Mars on Saturday on a search for evidence that the red planet might once have been home to itsy-bitsy life.
Computing with light: Research produces long-sought component to allow complete optical circuits on silicon chips
There has been enormous progress in recent years toward the development of photonic chips — devices that use light beams instead of electrons to carry out their computational tasks. Now, researchers at MIT have filled in a crucial piece of the puzzle that could enable the creation of photonic chips on the standard silicon material that forms the basis for most of today’s electronics.
Researchers rebuild the brain's circuitry
Neuron transplants have repaired brain circuitry and substantially normalized function in mice with a brain disorder, an advance indicating that key areas of the mammalian brain are more reparable than was widely believed.
Mexico acknowledges 2nd Mayan reference to 2012
Mexico's archaeology institute downplays theories that the ancient Mayas predicted some sort of apocalypse would occur in 2012, but on Thursday it acknowledged that a second reference to the date exists on a carved fragment found at a southern Mexico ruin site.
Oil sands digger uncovers dinosaur
A heavy equipment operator unearthed what appears to be a nearly complete plesiosaur while digging in Canada's oil sands, Syncrude announced Thursday.
Physicists: Did neutrinos break the speed of light?
(PhysOrg.com) -- The revolutionary news that an experiment measured particles traveling faster than the speed of light drew varied ages and backgrounds to a standing-room only physics department forum, "Faster Than the Speed of Light?," in Clark Hall at the Cornell University Nov. 17.
Mass is energy
Some say that the reason you can't travel faster than light is that your mass will increase as your speed approaches light speed – so, regardless of how much energy your star drive can generate, you reach a point where no amount of energy can further accelerate your spacecraft because its mass is approaching infinite.
The impending revolution of low-power quantum computers
By 2017, quantum physics will help reduce the energy consumption of our computers and cellular phones by up to a factor of 100. For research and industry, the power consumption of transistors is a key issue. The next revolution will likely come from tunnel-FET, a technology that takes advantage of a phenomenon referred to as "quantum tunneling."
Psychopaths' brains show differences in structure and function
Images of prisoners' brains show important differences between those who are diagnosed as psychopaths and those who aren't, according to a new study led by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.
Mathematics: Mapping a fixed point
(PhysOrg.com) -- For fifty years, mathematicians have grappled with a so-called “fixed point” theorem. An EPFL-based team has now found an elegant, one-page solution that opens up new perspectives in physics and economics.
Pluto's hidden ocean
When NASA's New Horizons cruises by Pluto in 2015, the images it captures could help astronomers determine if an ocean is hiding under the frigid surface, opening the door to new possibilities for liquid water to exist on other bodies in the solar system. New research has not only concluded such an ocean is likely, but also has highlighted features the spacecraft could identify that could help confirm an ocean’s existence.
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