Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab
Engineers have created a continuous chemical process that produces useful crude oil minutes after they pour in harvested algae – a verdant green paste with the consistency of pea soup.
View ArticleSpiders partial to a side order of pollen with their flies
Spiders may not be the pure predators we generally believe, after a study found that some make up a quarter of their diet by eating pollen.
View ArticleGoogle Glass eyewear lets winking snap pictures
Google Glass announced updates to the software in its Internet-linked eyewear to allow users to snap pictures by winking.
View ArticleCompanion's comets the key to curious exoplanet system?
(Phys.org) —The nearby star Fomalhaut A hosts the most famous planetary system outside our own Solar System, containing both an exoplanet and a spectacular ring of comets. Today, an international team...
View ArticleScientists find a groovy way to influence specialization of stem cells
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have shown for the first time that the specialised role stem cells go on to perform is controlled by primary cilia –tiny hair-like structures protruding...
View ArticleCharger specification for notebooks to be available early 2014
(Phys.org) —A new specification focused on a charger that can work on notebook computers from different manufacturers was announced on Monday. The IEC Technical Specification 62700: DC Power supply for...
View ArticleNew research could lead to less expensive solar panels
(Phys.org) —A new discovery, by researchers at the University of St Andrews on why plastic solar cells work so well, could lead to better solar panels that are less expensive and more efficient.
View ArticleTelecommunications data show civic dividing lines in major countries
Many residents of Britain, Italy, and Belgium imagine there to be a kind of north-south divide in their countries, marking a barrier between different social groups and regional characteristics. Now a...
View ArticlePolymer coatings based on molecular structures
A novel method developed by researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Jacobs University Bremen enables manufacturing of polymer layers with tailor-made properties and multiple...
View ArticleResearchers peek at the forgotten component of light
(Phys.org) —Physicists from FOM institute AMOLF have for the first time simultaneously measured the electrical and magnetic fields of light. With such a measurement scientists can better understand the...
View ArticleThe evolution of plumage patterns in male and female birds
(Phys.org) —Research published today looks at the evolutionary pathways to differences in bird plumage patterns between males and females – and concludes that birds are able to adapt their appearance...
View ArticleResearchers demonstrate high-energy betatron X-rays
(Phys.org) —A Lawrence Livermore team, along with researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has recently produced some of the highest energy...
View Article'Approximate computing' improves efficiency, saves energy
(Phys.org) —Researchers are developing computers capable of "approximate computing" to perform calculations good enough for certain tasks that don't require perfect accuracy, potentially doubling...
View ArticleTropical forests mitigate extreme weather events
Tropical forests reduce peak runoff during storms and release stored water during droughts, according to researchers working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Their results lend...
View ArticleOil- and metal-munching microbes dominate deep sandstone formations
Halomonas are a hardy breed of bacteria. They can withstand heat, high salinity, low oxygen, utter darkness and pressures that would kill most other organisms. These traits enable these microbes to eke...
View ArticleScientists solve a decades-old mystery in the Earth's upper atmosphere
New research published in the journal Nature resolves decades of scientific controversy over the origin of the extremely energetic particles known as ultra-relativistic electrons in the Earth's...
View ArticleNeanderthal genome shows early human interbreeding, inbreeding
The most complete sequence to date of the Neanderthal genome, using DNA extracted from a woman's toe bone that dates back 50,000 years, reveals a long history of interbreeding among at least four...
View ArticleResearchers design first battery-powered invisibility cloak
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have proposed the first design of a cloaking device that uses an external source of energy to significantly broaden its bandwidth of operation.
View ArticlePowerful ancient explosions explain new class of supernovae
Astronomers affiliated with the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS) have discovered two of the brightest and most distant supernovae ever recorded, 10 billion light-years away and a hundred times more...
View ArticleSmall size enhances charge transfer in quantum dots
(Phys.org) —Quantum dots—tiny semiconductor crystals with diameters measured in billionths of a meter—have enormous potential for applications that make use of their ability to absorb or emit light...
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