Wind power blows into Africa
Giant turbines churning in the wind are a rare sight in Africa—but that will not be the case for long. Until now the meagre amounts of investment in African wind energy have predominantly come from...
View ArticleNew rhythm for El Nino discovered
El Niño wreaks havoc across the globe, shifting weather patterns that spawn droughts in some regions and floods in others. The impacts of this tropical Pacific climate phenomenon are well known and...
View ArticleMoon may harbour alien minerals, study says
Minerals found in craters on the Moon may be remnants of asteroids that slammed into it and not, as long believed, the satellite's innards exposed by such impacts, a study said Sunday.
View ArticleDealing with crap to improve water quality: Student builds replica human colon
(Phys.org) —To better understand how bacteria impact the environment a former University of California, Riverside graduate student spent nearly a year building a system that replicates a human colon,...
View ArticleEinstein's exoplanet
(Phys.org) —Eight hundred and eighty nine exoplanets (planets around stars other than our Sun) have been discovered to date. Most of them were found using the Kepler satellite, which spots small dips...
View ArticleImage: Hubble sees a swirl of star formation
(Phys.org) —This beautiful, glittering swirl is named, rather un-poetically, J125013.50+073441.5. A glowing haze of material seems to engulf the galaxy, stretching out into space in different...
View ArticleScientists narrow global warming range
(Phys.org) —Australian scientists have narrowed the predicted range of global warming through groundbreaking new research.
View ArticleModels from big molecules captured in a flash
(Phys.org) —To learn how biological molecules like proteins function, scientists must first understand their structures. Almost as important is understanding how the structures change, as molecules in...
View ArticleHelicopter-light-beams: A new tool for quantum optics
A light wave oscillates perpendicular to its propagation direction – that is what students learn in school. However, scientists of the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) now perform...
View ArticleTeam finds how a key enzyme of the spliceosome exerts its controlling function
To sustain life, processes in biological cells have to be strictly controlled both in time and in space. Research workers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and Freie...
View ArticleResearchers discover a way to dramatically reduce distortion in long distance...
(Phys.org) —A team of researchers working at Bell Labs in New Jersey has found a way to dramatically reduce the amount of distortion in long distance fiber cables. Their method results, the team...
View ArticleNew report indicates private industry interested in building moon base
(Phys.org) —Two months ago NASA commissioned Bigelow Aerospace to conduct a survey of the corporate sector to learn about private enterprise plans for space exploration. While the report has not yet...
View ArticleBig weather on hot Jupiters
Among the hundreds of new planets discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft are a class of exotic worlds known as "hot Jupiters." Unlike the giant planets of our own solar system, which remain at a safe...
View ArticleInvestigating exoplanet surfaces
In order to better understand the composition of rocky exoplanets, researchers have proposed a method to identify chemical signatures from surface materials. A better understanding of exoplanet surface...
View ArticleReview: Toshiba brings high-res screen to Windows
Last year, Apple added a visually stunning option to its MacBooks: screens with ultra-high resolution. These "Retina" displays reveal four times as much detail as any Windows laptop screen … until now....
View ArticleThe Antarctic polar icecap is 33.6 million years old, research finds
The Antarctic continental ice cap came into existence during the Oligocene epoch, some 33.6 million years ago, according to data from an international expedition led by the Andalusian Institute of...
View ArticleRats move their eyes in opposite directions, keep an eye on airspace above...
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, using miniaturised high-speed cameras and high-speed behavioural tracking, discovered that rats move their eyes in...
View ArticleOf grains and graphite: Simulating interstellar hydrogen formation
(Phys.org) —The process of molecular hydrogen formation is a key factor in astrophysics – specifically in the physics and chemistry of interstellar clouds. An electrically neutral atom containing a...
View ArticleNeurotech industry puts its mind to video games
Fly toy helicopters with your mind. Be a DJ and shift musical tracks based on how you feel. Wiggle robotic cat ears by increasing your state of calm.
View ArticleKISS ME DEADLY proteins may help improve crop yields
Dartmouth College researchers have identified a new regulator for plant hormone signaling—the KISS ME DEADLY family of proteins (KMDs) – that may help to improve production of fruits, vegetables and...
View Article