Tag: physics
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Resourceful Robot for High-Level Tasks in Development
A research team at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta is building a robot with the ability to use objects in its environment to accomplish high-level tasks. The three-year project, being led by computer scientist Mike Stilman, is funded by a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research. “We want to understand the…
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BASF, Max Planck Institute Open Joint Carbon Materials Lab
The chemical company BASF and Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research opened a joint Carbon Materials Innovation Center at BASF’s Ludwigshafen, Germany site. The three-year collaboration is expected to cost some €10 million ($US 12.9 million). A 12-member task force from both organizations will research the scientific principles and potential applications of innovative carbonized materials,…
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Synthetic Nanomaterial Developed for Semiconductors
Chemists and physicists at University at Buffalo in New York created a synthetic nanoscale material with properties making it a potential replacement for silicon in electronic components. The team led by chemist Sarbajit Banerjee and physicist Sambandamurthy Ganapathy published its findings in a recent issue of the journal Advanced Functional Materials (paid subscription required). The…
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Levitation Technique Devised to Create More Soluble Drugs
Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy in Illinois, developed techniques making it more feasible to create drugs that are more soluble, and thus more effective in lower doses. X-ray physicist Chris Benmore led the study that uses levitation to suspend the solution in air while it evaporates, leaving…
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Computer Chips Recast for High Frequency Detector Circuits
Engineers at Tel Aviv University in Israel reconfigured common computer chips into high frequency circuits, making them useful for building low-cost security imaging devices. Eran Socher, a lecturer in Tel Aviv’s engineering department, is leading the university’s research team that published its findings in a recent issue of the journal IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components…
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Project to Study Light-Enabled Quantum Dot Circuits
Researchers at Tampere University of Technology in Finland are developing a new process for designing and fabricating logic circuits that consume no current and can be read and written with light. The four-year, €1.6 million ($US 2.1 million) study is funded by the Academy of Finland, the country’s main science agency. The project draws on…
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Sliding Metal Parts Found to Exhibit Fluid-Like Properties
Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana found solid pieces of metal that slide over each other to display properties resembling fluids rather than solids. Their research — funded by National Science Foundation, U.S. Army and General Motors — appears in the journal Physical Review Letters (paid subscription required). The team led by materials engineer Srinivasan…
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National Lab Licenses Neutron Detector for Life Sciences
Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee licensed one of its technologies for detecting neutrons to PartTec Ltd. in Bloomington, Indiana that develops neutron detectors and related systems. Financial aspects of the agreement were not disclosed. The licensed technology — called the Neutron-Sensitive Anger Camera — allows researchers to study a range of crystalline structures for…
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LED Bulbs Edge CFLs for Environmental Friendliness
A report from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington says today’s bulbs made with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are a bit more friendly to the environment than compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), but both types of bulbs far outpace traditional incandescent lights. As LED technology advances in the next five years, the environmental advantage for LED bulbs…
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Feasibility Demonstrated of Tiny Wireless Cardiac Implants
Engineers at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California showed that millimeter-sized implanted cardiac devices could be powered by radio waves transmitted from outside the body. The findings from the team led by electrical engineering professor Ada Poon (pictured right) appear online in the journal Applied Physics Letters; paid subscription required. Poon, with doctoral candidates Sanghoek…