This is an image of Neptune as seen by Hubble. Credit: Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Today, Neptune has arrived at the same location in space where it was discovered nearly 165 years ago. To commemorate the event, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken these "anniversary pictures" of the blue-green giant planet.
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A novel approach to restoring sight using a ‘bionic eye' is being investigated at Swinburne University of Technology.
(PhysOrg.com) -- In yet another novel use for graphene, researchers from Seoul University have devised a method of creating transparent loudspeakers by printing them onto a special kind of plastic, using an ordinary inkjet printer. Jyongsik Jang and coworkers describe the process in Chemical Communications.
(PhysOrg.com) -- What looks like a spongy ball wrapped in strands of yarn -- but a lot smaller -- could be key to unlocking better methods for catalysis, artificial photosynthesis or splitting water into hydrogen, according to Rice University chemists who have created a platform to analyze interactions between carbon nanotubes and a wide range of photoluminescent materials.
Cat litter to become an edible product?
Sepiolite is a lightweight porous mineral used in cat litter and other applications. The extraordinary properties of this clay make it a highly sought after mineral, despite its scarcity in the Earth's crust: only a few mines worldwide extract it, several of them clustered near Madrid in Spain, the world's biggest exporter of this material.
Ohio State University researchers are leveraging powerful supercomputers to investigate one of the key observational probes of "dark energy," the mysterious energy form that is causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate over time.
(PhysOrg.com) -- When trying to focus sound waves into as small an area as possible, scientists run into a fundamental limit called the diffraction limit. That is, when sound waves are focused into a region smaller than one wavelength, the waves begin to bend and spread out. Recently, scientists have designed complex acoustic metamaterial lenses in an attempt to overcome the diffraction limit, but now a new study shows that this can be done using much simpler materials - specifically, 49 empty Coke cans.
New studies suggest lack of meaningful land rights threaten Indonesian forests
New research released today at a high-level forestry conference in Indonesia—opened by Vice President Boediono—suggests that Asia’s largest forest nation is paying a high price for failing to give local communities enforceable rights to contested forests, causing significant economic losses owing to its highly undervalued forestland, and leading it to lose out to regional competitors.
Today, July 11, 2011 marks the first full orbit of the planet Neptune since its discovery on the night of September 23-24, 1846. But there’s a lot more to learn about this anniversary than just the date. Step inside and let’s find out...
Japan's earthquake in March is set to make 2011 the costliest year to date for natural disasters, reinsurer Munich Re said on Tuesday, although the number of deaths globally is relatively low so far.
Grand Teton National Park is a spectacular site along the Wyoming-Idaho border. The park brings in nearly 4 million visitors a year and creates a scenic background for those who live there.
(AP) -- Montana environmental regulators have asked Exxon Mobil to justify its estimate for how much oil spilled into the Yellowstone River, citing the company's changing timeline on how long it took to stop a leaking pipeline.
All three DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory X-ray CT scanners were recently used to characterize flow patterns during CO2 flooding of a sandstone sample from China. This work was part of a U.S.-China Energy Partnership that involves the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), NETL, and PNNL. A delegation of scientists from the CAS brought a core sample from a sandstone formation in the Ordos Basin, China, that is of interest for potential CO2 storage.
Vegetation in towns and cities can make a significant contribution to carbon storage and, ecologists say, could lock away even more carbon if local authorities and gardeners planted and maintained more trees. The study, published this week in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology, is the first to quantify how much carbon is stored in vegetation within an urban area of Europe.
(AP) -- The International Space Station got a year's worth of groceries in a giant shopping cart Monday, courtesy of the astronauts on NASA's final shuttle flight.
Japanese waste incineration plants near Tokyo have found high levels of radiation in ash, and officials said Tuesday it may be from garden waste contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
(PhysOrg.com) -- The impacts on Australia of a 4 C increase in average annual temperatures – including major reductions in annual rainfall in southern Australia, marked increases in evaporation nationwide and reduced snow cover in alpine regions – were presented today by CSIRO's Dr Penny Whetton at the Four Degrees climate change conference in Melbourne.
Fresh research into glaciers could help scientists better predict the impact of changing climates on global sea levels.
Scientists, photographers and amateur cloud watchers have been looking up with wonderment and puzzlement at "hole punch" clouds for decades. Giant, open spaces appear in otherwise continuous cloud cover, presenting beautiful shapes but also an opportunity for scientific investigation. A new paper published last week in Science inquires into how the holes get punched – airplanes are the culprit – and into the potential for the phenomenon's link to increased precipitation around major airports.
It was one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history. Now scientists are organizing a research program to better understand the tornadoes that blew through Alabama and other southeastern states on April 27, 2011.
A new survey of Lake Tana in Ethiopia – the source of the Blue Nile – suggests that drought may have contributed to the demise of the Egyptian Old Kingdom, around 4200 years ago.
When soil moisture levels increase, pesticide losses to the atmosphere through volatilization also rise. In one long-term field study, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists found that herbicide volatilization consistently resulted in herbicide losses that exceed losses from field runoff.
Two US astronauts stepped out on the last spacewalk of the shuttle era Tuesday at the International Space Station, where Atlantis is docked on the final mission of the 30-year US program.
(PhysOrg.com) -- Earthquakes and volcanoes are known for their ability to transform Earth's surface, but new research in the Caribbean has found they can also move ancient Earth rock foundations more than 1,000 miles.
Growing perennial grasses on the least productive farmland now used for corn ethanol production in the U.S. would result in higher overall corn yields, more ethanol output per acre and better groundwater quality, researchers report in a new study. The switch would also slash emissions of two potent greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.
On June 7, 2011, Earth-orbiting satellites detected a flash of X-rays coming from the western edge of the solar disk. Registering only "M" (for medium) on the Richter scale of solar flares, the blast at first appeared to be a run-of-the-mill eruption--that is, until researchers looked at the movies.
After digging holes in the Earth's crust for nearly two decades, Princeton University geoscientist Tullis Onstott is now making headlines for unearthing "worms from hell."
(PhysOrg.com) -- Today, Neptune has arrived at the same location in space where it was discovered nearly 165 years ago. To commemorate the event, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken these "anniversary pictures" of the blue-green giant planet.
(PhysOrg.com) -- Using data obtained from oil searching contractors, researchers have discovered that parts of what is now the ocean floor off the northern coast of Scotland, were at one time raised up enough by thermal expansion beneath to have jutted at least 1 kilometer above the sea. Nicky White, senior researcher from the University of Cambridge and his team explain what they’ve found in their paper published in Nature Geoscience.
Polymer scientist is laying groundwork for next-generation flexible photovoltaics
University of Massachusetts Amherst polymer scientist Ryan Hayward recently received a five-year, $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to improve understanding of the fundamentals for the next generation of lightweight and flexible electricity-conducting polymers. They are in limited use now in thin solar panels on messenger bags that can recharge a cell phone battery, for example.
To come up with a way to do something 1,000 times faster than it had been done in the past, you have to count on some serendipity -- not to mention hard work, collaboration and good timing.
A University of Connecticut scientist has perfected a method for creating quick-changing, variable colors in films and displays, such as sunglasses, that could lead to the next hot fashion accessory.
(PhysOrg.com) -- Algae growing in Bath’s Roman Baths could one day be used to make fuel for our cars.
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