Tag: physics

  • University, Industry Team Demonstrates Robotic Biologist

    Researchers from two universities and a research company have demonstrated an automated system that can analyze raw experimental biological data and derive the mathematical equations that describe the way the system operates. The team from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and CFD Research Corp. in Huntsville, Alabama published their results…

  • Contract Awarded for Magnets Made Without Rare Earth Metals

    Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond has received a $2.9 million contract from Department of Energy to develop a new class of permanent magnets for energy-efficient electric car motors and generators. The project is funded through the department’s Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies program (REACT) under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. The REACT program aims…

  • Likely Cause of Vertigo from MRI Identified

    Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have found what they believe is a likely cause of the dizzy feeling patients experience when subjected to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The findings from the team led by systems engineer Dale Roberts appear online in the journal Current Biology. Many patients undergoing MRI scans complain of…

  • Semiconductor Foundation, NSF Fund Nanoelectronics Research

    Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and National Science Foundation (NSF) are funding $20 million in grants on nanoelectronics research. Some 12 research teams at 24 participating U.S. universities will conduct research over a four-year period on a new switching mechanism using nanoscale electronics as a replacement for current transistors, the…

  • Laser Technology Developed to Detect Improvised Explosives

    Scientists at Michigan State University in East Lansing have developed a laser that in lab tests has shown the potential to detect roadside bombs, a destructive weapon encountered by American and allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The team led by MSU chemistry professor Marcos Dantus published its findings in the current issue of the…

  • University, Company Partner on Contraband Nuclear Detector

    Researchers at University of New Hampshire in Durham and Michigan Aerospace Corporation in Ann Arbor have received a contract from the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency to build an instrument to accurately detect illicit radioactive materials from a safe distance. The one-year contract of $303,000 calls for a realistic field test of the device in…

  • Magnetic Fields Help Purify Hybrid Nanoparticles

    Chemistry, physics, and materials scientists at Pennsylvania State University have invented a new system using magnetism to purify hybrid nanoparticles, a development with implications for drug delivery, medical imaging, and related fields. The findings of Mary Elizabeth Williams,  Raymond E. Schaak, and their colleagues at Penn State appear online in the journal Agewandte Chemie (paid…

  • Microbes Found to Clean Nuclear Waste, Generate Electricity

    Researchers at Michigan State University in East Lansing have shown the ability of certain microbes to generate an electric current while cleaning up uranium in wastewater. The team’s findings, for which patents have been filed, appear online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (paid subscription required). Microbiologist Gemma Reguera (pictured right)…

  • Integrated Exploration Methods Urged for Oil and Gas

    Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel have combined several surveying methods to develop an integrated prospecting technology for oil and gas. The methods proposed by geophysicist Lev Eppelbaum and zoologist Youri Katz appeared earlier this year in the journal Positioning. Eppelbaum and Katz created detailed structural-tectonic maps of Israel and surrounding areas from an…

  • NSF, Industry Consortium Fund Advanced Chip Research

    Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond has received two grants totaling $1.75 million from National Science Foundation and the Semiconductor Research Corporation to create more energy-efficient computing devices. Semiconductor Research Corporation is an international technology research consortium of member companies and university research programs. The grants fund research to translate theoretical work on replacing traditional transistor-based…