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Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for week 02:
Giant squid filmed in Pacific depths, Japan scientists report
Scientists and broadcasters said Monday they have captured footage of an elusive giant squid roaming the depths of the Pacific Ocean, showing it in its natural habitat for the first time ever.
Sensory hair cells regenerated, hearing restored in mammal ear
Hearing loss is a significant public health problem affecting close to 50 million people in the United States alone. Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common form and is caused by the loss of sensory hair cells in the cochlea. Hair cell loss results from a variety of factors including noise exposure, aging, toxins, infections, and certain antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs. Although hearing aids and cochlear implants can ameliorate the symptoms somewhat, there are no known treatments to restore hearing, because auditory hair cells in mammals, unlike those in birds or fish, do not regenerate once lost. Auditory hair cell replacement holds great promise as a treatment that could restore hearing after loss of hair cells.
Dark energy alternatives to Einstein are running out of room
(Phys.org)�Research by University of Arizona astronomy professor Rodger Thompson finds that a popular alternative to Albert Einstein's theory for the acceleration of the expansion of the universe does not fit newly obtained data on a fundamental constant, the proton to electron mass ratio.
Another tiny miracle: Graphene oxide soaks up radioactive waste
(Phys.org)�Graphene oxide has a remarkable ability to quickly remove radioactive material from contaminated water, researchers at Rice University and Lomonosov Moscow State University have found.
Researchers create super-repellant surface material (w/ video)
(Phys.org)�Researchers from the University of Michigan working in collaboration with associates from the US Air Force have created a new type of surface cover that repels oils, water, alkali solutions, acids and even non-Newtonian fluids. In their paper published in Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers describe their new material and the different ways it can repel various liquids.
Astronomers discover the largest structure in the universe
(Phys.org)�An international team of astronomers, led by academics from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), has found the largest known structure in the universe. The large quasar group (LQG) is so large that it would take a vehicle travelling at the speed of light some 4 billion years to cross it. The team publish their results in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
A rock is a clock: Physicists use matter to measure time
What is the simplest, most fundamental clock? Physicist Holger M�ller and his UC Berkeley colleagues have shown that a single atom is sufficient to measure time using its high-frequency matter wave. Conversely, the frequency of matter can be used to define its mass. The feat is a fundamental demonstration of wave-particle duality central to quantum mechanics.
'Yolk-shell' design leads to world-record battery performance
(Phys.org)�SLAC and Stanford scientists have set a world record for energy storage, using a clever "yolk-shell" design to store five times more energy in the sulfur cathode of a rechargeable lithium-ion battery than is possible with today's commercial technology. The cathode also maintained a high level of performance after 1,000 charge/discharge cycles, paving the way for new generations of lighter, longer-lasting batteries for use in portable electronics and electric vehicles.
15 new planets hint at 'traffic jam' of moons in habitable zone
Volunteers from the Planethunters.org website, part of the Oxford University-led Zooniverse project, have discovered 15 new planet candidates orbiting in the habitable zones of other stars.
Space sailing soon: A one-kilometer-long electric sail tether produced
The electric sail (ESAIL), invented by Dr. Pekka Janhunen at the Finnish Kumpula Space Centre in 2006, produces propulsion power for a spacecraft by utilizing the solar wind. The sail features electrically charged long and thin metal tethers that interact with the solar wind. Using ultrasonic welding, the Electronics Research Laboratory at the University of Helsinki successfully produced a 1 km long ESAIL tether. Four years ago, global experts in ultrasonic welding considered it impossible to weld together such thin wires. The produced tether proves that manufacturing full size ESAIL tethers is possible. The theoretically predicted electric sail force will be measured in space during 2013.
15 times stronger than steel: Scientists develops strongest, lightest glass nanofibres in the world
The University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) is pioneering research into developing the strongest silica nanofibres in the world.
Breakthrough iron-based superconductors set new performance records
(Phys.org)�The road to a sustainably powered future may be paved with superconductors. When chilled to frigid temperatures hundreds of degrees Celsius below zero, these remarkable materials are singularly capable of perfectly conducting electric current. To meet growing global energy demands, the entire energy infrastructure would benefit tremendously from incorporating new electricity generation, storage, and delivery technologies that use superconducting wires. But strict limits on temperature, high manufacturing costs, and the dampening effects of high-magnetic fields currently impede widespread adoption.
US seared during hottest year on record by far (Update 2)
The United States of America set an off-the-charts heat record in 2012.
New nanotube fibers have unmatched combination of strength, conductivity, flexibility (w/ video)
(Phys.org)�Rice University's latest nanotechnology breakthrough was more than 10 years in the making, but it still came with a shock. Scientists from Rice, the Dutch firm Teijin Aramid, the U.S. Air Force and Israel's Technion Institute this week unveiled a new carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber that looks and acts like textile thread and conducts electricity and heat like a metal wire. In this week's issue of Science, the researchers describe an industrially scalable process for making the threadlike fibers, which outperform commercially available high-performance materials in a number of ways.
Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?
Throughout our history environmental problems have contributed to collapses of civilizations. A new paper published yesterday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B addresses the likelihood that we are facing a global collapse now. The paper concludes that global society can avoid this and recommends that social and natural scientists collaborate on research to develop ways to stimulate a significant increase in popular support for decisive and immediate action on our predicament.
Major cuts to surging CO2 emissions are needed now, not down the road, study finds
In 2004 a very popular study aimed to address climate change by deploying wedges of different existing energy technologies or approaches. According to the study by Robert Socolow and Stephen Pacala, each wedge would avoid one billion tons of carbon (1 GtC) emissions per year after 50 years. The study showed that, at that time, seven wedges could stabilize carbon dioxide emissions relative to what would happen if things remained "business-as-usual."
Massive outburst in neighbor galaxy surprises astronomers
(Phys.org)�The surprising discovery of a massive outburst in a neighboring galaxy is giving astronomers a tantalizing look at what likely is a powerful belch by a gorging black hole at the galaxy's center. The scientists were conducting a long-term study of molecules in galaxies, when one of the galaxies showed a dramatic change.
PaperTab goes on show as flexible paper-thin tablet (w/ video)
(Phys.org)�Call it the paper tablet. Or flexible e-paper touchscreen. Or an all in one computing experience made up of a cluster of papery, tablet screens, each behaving like an app. However you look at the PaperTab, it is difficult to avoid the word "revolutionary," and the prototype was Tuesday's talk at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. PaperTab is,a 10.7 inch, e-ink, flexible touchscreen display powered by an Intel Core i5 processor. The tablet looks and feels like a sheet of paper. Its "bendiness" delivers durability and also interactions, as by bending the sides, one can flip through pages.
Synergistic effect discovered in layered quantum dot solar cells
(Phys.org)�Scientists have discovered that a solar cell consisting of two or three layers of quantum dots, with each layer tuned to a different part of the solar spectrum, has an efficiency that is 40-60% higher than the sum of the efficiencies of separate solar cells each made of one of the individual layers. The synergistic effect of the layered architecture could lead to new ways of designing quantum dot solar cells with high efficiencies and broad-spectrum absorption.
10-year study reveals incredible level of accuracy to estimate intrinsic magnetic properties of two subatomic particles
The electron is found in every atom and plays a key role in almost every chemical reaction. So, a complete understanding of its physical properties is vital. Researchers from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science, together with their colleagues from Nagoya University, Japan, and Cornell University in the US, have completed the most precise calculations of the magnetic properties of the electron and a similar, heavier particle known as a muon. These results provide a stringent test of physicists' understanding of the subatomic world.
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