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Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for week 40:
Surprisingly simple scheme for self-assembling robots
In 2011, when an MIT senior named John Romanishin proposed a new design for modular robots to his robotics professor, Daniela Rus, she said, "That can't be done."
Researchers create image of weak hydrogen bond using AFM
(Phys.org) �Researchers at China's National Center for Nanoscience and Technology and Renmin University have used Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to create an image of the weak hydrogen bonds present in a molecule. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they used the non-contact form of AFM to capture an image of weak hydrogen bonds in a 8-hydroxyquinoline molecule (8hq).
Engineers invent programming language to build synthetic DNA
Similar to using Python or Java to write code for a computer, chemists soon could be able to use a structured set of instructions to "program" how DNA molecules interact in a test tube or cell.
Right, left, wrong: People reject science because ...
You'd be forgiven for thinking science is under attack. Climate science has been challenged by deniers and sceptics, vaccination rates are falling thanks to anti-vaccination movements, and GM crops are pillaged by anti-GM activists. But what determines why people take these positions?
New kind of microscope uses neutrons
Researchers at MIT, working with partners at NASA, have developed a new concept for a microscope that would use neutrons�subatomic particles with no electrical charge�instead of beams of light or electrons to create high-resolution images.
Recent study reduces Casimir force to lowest recorded level
(Phys.org) �A research team that includes a physics professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) has recorded a drastically reduced measurement of the Casimir effect, a fundamental quantum phenomenon experienced between two neutral bodies that exist in a vacuum.
Niacin, the fountain of youth
The vitamin niacin has a life-prolonging effect, as Michael Ristow has demonstrated in roundworms. From his study, the ETH-Zurich professor also concludes that so-called reactive oxygen species are healthy, not only disagreeing with the general consensus, but also many of his peers.
Breakthrough in photonics could allow for faster and faster electronics
(Phys.org) �A pair of breakthroughs in the field of silicon photonics by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Micron Technology Inc. could allow for the trajectory of exponential improvement in microprocessors that began nearly half a century ago�known as Moore's Law�to continue well into the future, allowing for increasingly faster electronics, from supercomputers to laptops to smartphones.
Scientists observe competing quantum effects on the kinetic energy of protons in water
(Phys.org) �Quantum mechanics plays an important role in determining the structure and dynamics of water, down to the level of the atomic nuclei. Sometimes, nuclear quantum effects (NQEs) along different molecular axes compete with each other and partially cancel each other out. This phenomenon is thought to play a role in determining the melting and boiling temperatures of water. Now for the first time, scientists have experimentally observed that two large components of NQEs partially cancel each other out to result in a small net effect on the melting and boiling points of water.
Physics duo suggest using early universe inflation as graviton detector
(Phys.org) �Physicists Lawrence Krauss and Frank Wilczek of Arizona State University and Australian National University, respectively, have uploaded a paper to the preprint server arXiv, in which they propose that it might be possible to establish the quantization of gravity by measuring the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Doing so they suggest, would provide a link between it and gravitational waves caused by inflation in the early universe.
International 'war' on illegal drugs is failing to curb supply
The international war on illegal drugs is failing to curb supply, despite the increasing amounts of resource being ploughed into law enforcement activities, finds research published in the online journal BMJ Open.
Shutdown makes US 'less desirable' for science
The US government shutdown puts international science collaboration in peril and could have far-reaching impacts on innovation and research, a top science group said Wednesday.
Scientists crank up the voltage, create better dark-matter search
Scientists on the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search have set the strongest limits in the world for the detection of a light dark-matter particle with a mass below 6 billion electronvolts, or about six times the mass of a proton.
Strange behavior of bouncing drops demonstrates pilot-wave dynamics in action (w/ Video)
A research team led by Yves Couder at the Universit� Paris Diderot recently discovered that it's possible to make a tiny fluid droplet levitate on the surface of a vibrating bath, walking or bouncing across, propelled by its own wave field. Surprisingly, these walking droplets exhibit certain features previously thought to be exclusive to the microscopic quantum realm.
Tesla S electric car tops registrations in Norway
An electric car model has topped the list of new car registrations in Norway for the first time, a car industry group said Thursday.
Herschel throws new light on oldest cosmic light
(Phys.org) �Cosmologists have achieved a first detection of a long-sought component in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). This component, known as B-mode polarisation, is caused by gravitational lensing, the bending of light by massive structures as it travels across the Universe. The result is based on the combination of data from the South Pole Telescope and ESA's Herschel Space Observatory. This detection is a milestone along the way to the possible discovery of another kind of B-mode signal in the polarised CMB - a signal produced by gravitational waves less than a second after the Universe began.
Giant channels discovered beneath Antarctic ice shelf
Scientists have discovered huge ice channels beneath a floating ice shelf in Antarctica. At 250 metres high, the channels are almost as tall as the Eiffel tower and stretch hundreds of kilometres along the ice shelf. The channels are likely to influence the stability of the ice shelf and their discovery will help researchers understand how the ice will respond to changing environmental conditions.
Researchers propose new theory to explain seeds of life in asteroids
(Phys.org) �A new look at the early solar system introduces an alternative to a long-taught, but largely discredited, theory that seeks to explain how biomolecules were once able to form inside of asteroids. In place of the outdated theory, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute propose a new theory � based on a richer, more accurate image of magnetic fields and solar winds in the early solar system, and a mechanism known as multi-fluid magneto-hydrodynamics � to explain the ancient heating of the asteroid belt.
Researchers devise a way to mimic gravitational lensing in a way that can be seen
(Phys.org) �A team of researchers working at China's National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics has developed a means for mimicking gravitational lensing in a way that allows for viewing laser light actually being bent around a sphere. In their paper published in the journal Nature Photonics, the team describes how they constructed their microstructure, how it works and ways it might be used for a practical purpose.
Cassini spacecraft finds plastic ingredient on Saturn's moon Titan
(Phys.org) �NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected propylene, a chemical used to make food-storage containers, car bumpers and other consumer products, on Saturn's moon Titan.
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