New software battle coming to smart TVs
More choice—and confusion—is coming to the next generation of TVs. At least three new software systems were announced Monday for Internet-connected television sets, which let viewers watch Internet...
View ArticleEating nuts caused tooth decay in hunter-gatherers
Eating nuts and acorns may have helped hunter-gatherers survive 15,000 years ago in northern Africa but the practice wreaked havoc on their teeth, researchers said Monday.
View ArticleFermi observatory makes first gamma-ray study of a gravitational lens
An international team of astronomers, using NASA's Fermi observatory, has made the first-ever gamma-ray measurements of a gravitational lens, a kind of natural telescope formed when a rare cosmic...
View ArticleToyota bumps up hydrogen-powered car in US to 2015 (Update)
Toyota said Monday that a hydrogen-powered vehicle that emits only water vapor as exhaust will go on sale in the U.S. in 2015, a year earlier than it promised just two months ago.
View ArticleJumping snails left grounded in future oceans
Sea snails that leap to escape their predators may soon lose their extraordinary jumping ability because of rising human carbon dioxide emissions, a team of international scientists has discovered.
View ArticleThe play-by-play of energy conversion: Catching catalysts in action
The whistle blows and the big game begins on TV. You watch the punted football sail over the field and into the arms of the opposing team—then the feed abruptly cuts out. The information blackout is...
View ArticleNew algorithm can dramatically streamline solutions to the 'max flow' problem
Finding the most efficient way to transport items across a network like the U.S. highway system or the Internet is a problem that has taxed mathematicians and computer scientists for decades.
View ArticleStopping molecules with a centrifuge
Does the electron possess an electric dipole moment? Will it be possible to achieve perfect control over chemical reactions between polyatomic molecules, or can one envisage quantum simulations and...
View ArticleFirst dinosaurs identified from Saudi Arabia
Dinosaur fossils are exceptionally rare in the Arabian Peninsula. An international team of scientists from Uppsala University, Museum Victoria, Monash University, and the Saudi Geological Survey have...
View ArticleUndergraduates discover rare eclipsing double asteroid
Students in a University of Maryland undergraduate astronomy class have made a rare discovery that wowed professional astronomers: a previously unstudied asteroid is actually a pair of asteroids that...
View ArticlePerovskite solar cells become even more promising with cheaper materials
(Phys.org) —Due to their rapid improvements in a short amount of time, perovskite solar cells have become one of today's most promising up-and-coming photovoltaic technologies. Currently, the record...
View ArticleThe power of packaging in consumer choices
When it comes to deciding what food to eat, one might expect that people's choices will be driven by past experience and personal preference, but how does the general appearance of the package impact...
View ArticleAre gifted children getting lost in the shuffle? 30-year study reveals clues...
(Phys.org) —Gifted children are likely to be the next generation's innovators and leaders—yet the exceptionally smart are often invisible in the classroom, lacking the curricula, teacher input and...
View ArticleNew holographic process uses image-stabilized X-ray camera
A team headed by Stefan Eisebitt has developed a new X-ray holography method that will enable snap-shots of dynamic processes at highest spatial resolution. The efficiency of the new method is based on...
View ArticleWhen germs attack: A lens into the molecular dance
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have zoomed in on what is going on at the molecular level when the body recognizes and defends against an attack of pathogens, and the findings, they say, could influence...
View ArticleNew, simple technique may drive down biofuel production costs
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a simple, effective and relatively inexpensive technique for removing lignin from the plant material used to make biofuels, which may drive...
View ArticleSynthetic genetic clock checks the thermometer
(Phys.org) —Genetic systems run like clockwork, attuned to temperature, time of day and many other factors as they regulate living organisms. Scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston...
View ArticleGemini Planet Imager first light: World's most powerful exoplanet camera...
After nearly a decade of development, construction, and testing, the world's most advanced instrument for directly imaging and analyzing planets around other stars is pointing skyward and collecting...
View ArticleTeam finds a new cellulose digestion mechanism by a fast-eating enzyme
Researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have discovered that an enzyme from a microorganism first found in the Valley of Geysers on the Kamchatka Peninsula in...
View ArticleOn-demand vaccines possible with engineered nanoparticles
Vaccines combat diseases and protect populations from outbreaks, but the life-saving technology leaves room for improvement. Vaccines usually are made en masse in centralized locations far removed from...
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