PITTSBURGH—Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have invented a new type of electronic switch that performs electronic logic functions within a single molecule. The incorporation of such single-molecule elements could enable smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient electronics. The research findings, supported by a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation, were published online in the Nov. 14 issue of Nano Letters.
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The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) today recommended new proposed names for elements 114 and 116, the latest heavy elements to be added to the periodic table.
Scientists of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)-Dubna collaboration proposed the names are Flerovium for element 114 and Livermorium for element 116.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 – Liquid crystals (LCs), a state of matter that has properties between those of a conventional liquid and those of a solid crystal, are fast becoming a household name thanks to their widespread use in television, smartphone and computer displays. As such, research and development in the area of liquid crystal materials (LCMs) has also been rapidly progressing in recent years.
Ever wondered how your martini maintains its crisp and balanced taste, or why a manhattan remains clear if stirred but turns cloudy when shaken?
In this month's edition of Physics World, Naveen Sinha and David Weitz from Harvard University reveal all, describing how some top-end bartenders are ditching trial and error for a more measured, controlled and scientific approach to the art of cocktail making.
PHILADELPHIA — Earthquakes are some of the most daunting natural disasters that scientists try to analyze. Though the earth's major fault lines are well known, there is little scientists can do to predict when an earthquake will occur or how strong it will be. And, though earthquakes involve millions of tons of rock, a team of University of Pennsylvania and Brown University researchers has helped discover an aspect of friction on the nanoscale that may lead to a better understanding of the disasters.
Geophysicists from Potsdam have established a mode of action that can explain the irregular distribution of strong earthquakes at the San Andreas Fault in California. As the science magazine Nature reports in its latest issue, the scientists examined the electrical conductivity of the rocks at great depths, which is closely related to the water content within the rocks. From the pattern of electrical conductivity and seismic activity they were able to deduce that rock water acts as a lubricant.
Cambridge, Mass. – November 30, 2011 – From targeted cancer chemotherapy to the guarantee of successful organ transplants, the 21st century may prove to be the age of big ideas in medicine.
The drugs themselves, though, will be miniscule.
Experts in chemistry, applied physics, materials science, and pharmaceutical science are gathering this week for the BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard University's symposium on pharmaceutical nanoformulations.
Scientists at The University of Nottingham have discovered a way to control how tiny flat molecules fit together in a seemingly random pattern.
The researchers have been studying molecules which resemble tiny rhombus/diamond shaped tiles, with a side length of around 2 nanometres — 2 billionths of a metre.
The fundamental research, published in the prestigious journal Nature Chemistry, has shown that they can prompt the 'tiles' to form a range of random patterns by adjusting the conditions in which the experiment is conducted.
In this week's PLoS Medicine, Christian Lienhardt from the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland and colleagues announce that the Stop TB Partnership and the WHO Stop TB Department have launched the TB Research Movement.
In the article the authors describe the development of the Research Movement strategic plan, highlighting progress in its two key components: (1) the analysis of the global funding landscape for TB research, and (2) the development of a global TB research agenda.
Hawaii's main volcano chains -- the Loa and Kea trends -- have distinct sources of magma and unique plumbing systems connecting them to the Earth's deep mantle, according to UBC research published this week in Nature Geoscience, in conjunction with researchers at the universities of Hawaii and Massachusetts.
This study is the first to conclusively relate geochemical differences in surface lava rocks from both chains to differences in their deep mantle sources, 2,800 kilometres below the Earth's surface, at the core-mantle boundary.
HOUSTON – (Nov. 29, 2011) – The future brightened for organic chemistry when researchers at Rice University found a highly controllable way to attach organic molecules to pristine graphene, making the miracle material suitable for a range of new applications.
Alice and Bob have broken up and have moved as far away from each other as possible. But they still have something to sort out: who gets to keep the car. Flipping a coin while talking on the phone to decide who gets to keep it just won't work. There's no trust. Neither believes each other's result.
Researchers from the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) have discovered electronic stripes, called 'charge density waves', on the surface of the graphene sheets that make up a graphitic superconductor. This is the first time these stripes have been seen on graphene, and the finding is likely to have profound implications for the exploitation of this recently discovered material, which scientists believe will play a key role in the future of nanotechnology. The discovery is reported in Nature Communications, 29th November.
Australian scientists have reconstructed the past six thousand years in estuary sedimentation records to look for changes in plant and algae abundance. Their findings, published in Global Change Biology, show an increase in microalgae relative to seagrass in the past 60 years. This shift could diminish the ability of estuaries, which are natural global carbon sinks, to mitigate climate change.
Negative ions play an important role in everything from how our bodies function to the structure of the universe. Scientists from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have now developed a new method that makes it possible to study how the electrons in negative ions interact in, which is important in, for example, superconductors and in radiocarbon dating.