Dear Reader ,
Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for week 15:
Engineered stem cells seek out, kill HIV in living organisms
(Medical Xpress) -- Expanding on previous research providing proof-of-principal that human stem cells can be genetically engineered into HIV-fighting cells, a team of UCLA researchers have now demonstrated that these cells can actually attack HIV-infected cells in a living organism.
Satellite proposed to send solar power to Earth
(Phys.org) -- Artemis Innovation Management Solutions has been given some seed money by NASA to look deeper into a project the company first proposed last summer; namely, building a satellite that could collect energy from the sun and beam it back down to Earth to add to the electrical grid. Building such a satellite has been bantered about for several decades by various groups and scientists, but until now, no one had come up with a design that would work given all the constraints of the time. But now, an idea proposed by longtime NASA engineer John Mankins, now with Artemis, has clearly created enough interest within NASA that some money to investigate the idea is being offered.
Physicists continue work to abolish time as fourth dimension of space
(Phys.org) -- Philosophers have debated the nature of time long before Einstein and modern physics. But in the 106 years since Einstein, the prevailing view in physics has been that time serves as the fourth dimension of space, an arena represented mathematically as 4D Minkowski spacetime. However, some scientists, including Amrit Sorli and Davide Fiscaletti, founders of the Space Life Institute in Slovenia, argue that time exists completely independent from space. In a new study, Sorli and Fiscaletti have shown that two phenomena of special relativity - time dilation and length contraction - can be better described within the framework of a 3D space with time as the quantity used to measure change (i.e., photon motion) in this space.
Carbon nanotubes: The weird world of 'remote Joule heating'
(Phys.org) -- A team of University of Maryland scientists have discovered that when electric current is run through carbon nanotubes, objects nearby heat up while the nanotubes themselves stay cool, like a toaster that burns bread without getting hot. Understanding this completely unexpected new phenomenon could lead to new ways of building computer processors that can run at higher speeds without overheating.
Will 3-D printing launch a new industrial revolution?
Peter Schmitt, an MIT doctoral student, printed a clock in 2009. He didn't print an image of a clock on a piece of paper. He printed a three-dimensional clock -- an eight-inch diameter plastic timekeeping device with moving gears, hands and counterweights.
Futuristic cars are coming faster than you think
Cars that drive themselves are not just the stuff of sci-fi movies. The technology is real, the cars can now drive legally and the debate is starting on whether society is better off when software is behind the wheel.
Researchers find possible evidence of Majorana fermions
(Phys.org) -- Researchers working out of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have constructed a device that appears to offer some evidence of the existence of Majorana fermions; the elusive particles that are thought to be their own antiparticles. The team, as they describe in their paper published in Science, created a device with a topological superconductor that was also able to measure the relationship between current and voltage at significant points on a nanowire which when in the presence of a magnetic field or electrical current, indicated the existence of Majorana fermions.
Two neutrons at the same time: Discovery of dineutron decay
(Phys.org) -- Nuclear physicists recently witnessed an atomic nucleus do something that nobody had ever seen one do before – two neutrons at the same time.
Is this proof of life on Mars?
The Curiosity rover is currently on its way to Mars, scheduled to make a dramatic landing within Gale Crater in mid-August and begin its hunt for the geologic signatures of a watery, life-friendly past. Solid evidence that large volumes of water existed on Mars at some point would be a major step forward in the search for life on the Red Planet.
1981 climate change predictions were eerily accurate
A paper published in the journal Science in August 1981 made several projections regarding future climate change and anthropogenic global warming based on manmade CO2 emissions. As it turns out, the authors’ projections have proven to be rather accurate — and their future is now our present.
Quantum internet: Physicists build first elementary quantum network
(Phys.org) -- A team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics realizes a first elementary quantum network based on interfaces between single atoms and photons.
Hitachi unveils motor without 'rare earths'
Japanese high-tech firm Hitachi Wednesday unveiled an electric motor that does not use "rare earths", aiming to cut costs and reduce dependence on imports of the scarce minerals from China.
Solar thermal process produces cement with no carbon dioxide emissions
(Phys.org) -- While the largest contributor to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is the power industry, the second largest is the more often overlooked cement industry, which accounts for 5-6% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions. For every 10 kg of cement produced, the cement industry releases a full 9 kg of CO2. Since the world consumes about 3 trillion kg of cement annually, this sector has one of the highest potentials for CO2 emission reductions. But while processes are being explored to sequester the CO2 from cement production, so far no process can completely eliminate it.
143 is largest number yet to be factored by a quantum algorithm
(Phys.org) -- While factoring an integer is a simple problem when the integer is small, the complexity of factorization greatly increases as the integer increases. When the integer grows to more than 100,000 or so digits, the problem reaches a point at which it becomes too complex to solve using classical computing methods. But quantum computers, with their use of entanglement and superposition, can theoretically factor a number of any size. However, the largest number that has been factored on a quantum processor so far is 21. Now in a new study, physicists have set a new record for quantum factorization by developing the first quantum algorithm that can factor a three-digit integer, 143, into its prime factors, 11 and 13.
Astronomers identify 12-billion-year-old white dwarf stars
A University of Oklahoma assistant professor and colleagues have identified two white dwarf stars considered the oldest and closest known to man. Astronomers identified these 11- to 12-billion-year-old white dwarf stars only 100 light years away from Earth. These stars are the closest known examples of the oldest stars in the Universe forming soon after the Big Bang, according to the OU researcher.
Start of 2012, March shatter US heat records
(AP) -- It has been so warm in the United States this year, especially in March, that national records were not just broken, they were deep-fried.
H3+: The molecule that made the Universe
(Phys.org) -- In a study that pushed quantum mechanical theory and research capabilities to the limit, University of Arizona researchers have found a way to see the molecule that likely made the universe - or at least the hot and fiery bits of it.
Newfangled space-propulsion technology could help clean up Earth orbit
(Phys.org) -- Some of the most valuable “real estate” for humans isn’t on Earth at all but rather above the planet’s atmosphere, where all manner of human-made objects orbit. The problem is that those orbits are too crowded with dead satellites and debris, making new launches riskier.
Naked Energy touts hybrid solar panel in tube design
(Phys.org) -- A British company, Guildford-based Naked Energy, has come up with a “hybrid” solar panel that has generated much interest in the past weeks because of its design, function, and test results, comparing favorably to traditional solar panels. The solar panel is of the “hybrid” variety because it does two jobs at the same time. The product, called Virtu, can generate both electricity and hot water simultaneously. The company believes that with Virtu they have invented the right design and process to achieve an effective thermal transfer system.
70MW: Kyocera and partners to build largest photovoltaic power plant in Japan
(Phys.org) -- Electronics giant Kyocera, along with partners IHI Corp. and Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd have jointly announced plans to build a photovoltaic power plant in the southern Japanese city of Kagoshima, in Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, which is just across the Kanmon Strait from the big island of Honshu. The move is in response to the devastating Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant disaster the country experienced last year that has left the country in near crises mode in developing new infrastructure to support the electrical needs of the nation; since the earthquake, all but one of Japan’s nuclear plants have been shut down. In response, the government has set up a feed-in tariff program designed to spur renewable energy growth. The new plant in Kagoshima will benefit from that program.
This email is a free service of Phys.org
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 jmabs1@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment