When polarized, virtual gravitational dipoles in the quantum vacuum can produce a stronger-than-predicted gravitational field. (An electric dipole is shown. Currently, mainstream physics assumes there is only a positive gravitational charge.) Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
One of the biggest unsolved problems in astrophysics is that galaxies and galaxy clusters rotate faster than expected, given the amount of existing baryonic (normal) matter. The fast orbits require a larger central mass than the nearby stars, dust, and other baryonic objects can provide, leading scientists to propose that every galaxy resides in a halo of (as yet undetectable) dark matter made of non-baryonic particles. As one of many scientists who have become somewhat skeptical of dark matter, CERN physicist Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic has proposed that the illusion of dark matter may be caused by the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum.
One of the biggest unsolved problems in astrophysics is that galaxies and galaxy clusters rotate faster than expected, given the amount of existing baryonic (normal) matter. The fast orbits require a larger central mass than the nearby stars, dust, and other baryonic objects can provide, leading scientists to propose that every galaxy resides in a halo of (as yet undetectable) dark matter made of non-baryonic particles. As one of many scientists who have become somewhat skeptical of dark matter, CERN physicist Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic has proposed that the illusion of dark matter may be caused by the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum.
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A paper to be published on August 12, 2011 in Science reveals that Dr. F. Robin O'Keefe of Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. and Dr. Luis Chiappe, Director of the Natural History Museum's Dinosaur Institute, have determined that a unique specimen now displayed in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is the fossil of an embryonic marine reptile contained within the fossil of its mother.
Researchers observe nanoscale charge transport in bulk heterojunction solar cells
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in the CNST have used photoconductive atomic force microscopy (PCAFM) to characterize the nanoscale structure of organic photovoltaic (OPV) materials, and have performed a careful assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of this technique.
Structural consequences of nanolithography
(PhysOrg.com) -- Users from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Center for Nanophase Materials Science, working with the X-Ray Microscopy Group, have discovered structural effects accompanying the nanoscale lithography of ferroelectric polarization domains. The results shed new light on the physics of structural changes induced during this model nanoscale lithographic process.
Bilayer graphene is another step toward graphene electronics
The Nobel Prize winning scientists Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov have taken a huge step forward in studying the wonder material graphene and revealing its exciting electronic properties for future electronic applications.
New magnetic imaging technique heralds advance in spintronics
Impressive results from experiments at Diamond Light Source on magnetic lensless imaging by Fourier transform holography using extended references have been published today in Optics Express, the journal of the Optical Society of America.
Will the real Higgs Boson please stand up?
Although physicists from two experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider and from Fermilab’s Tevatron collider recently reported at the Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics that they didn't find the Higgs boson, they're continuing to home in on the elusive particle, prompting Rolf-Dieter Heuer, the Director General of CERN, to go on record that he believes a neutral Higgs boson will be found by the LHC by the end of 2012.
Escaping gravity's clutches: The black hole breakout
New research by scientists at the University of York gives a fresh perspective on the physics of black holes.
New tool may yield smaller, faster optoelectronics
The steady improvement in speed and power of modern electronics may soon hit the brakes unless new ways are found to pack more structures into microscopic spaces. Unfortunately, engineers are already approaching the limit of what light—the choice tool for "tweezing" tiny features—can achieve. But there may be a way of reaching beyond this so-called "diffraction limit" by precisely steering, in real time, a curve-shaped beam of weird "virtual particles" known as surface plasmons.
Researchers create first 3D invisibility cloak
(PhysOrg.com) -- Science has taken one more step towards creating a true real-life cloaking device. Assistant Professor Andrea Alůin and his colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin have successfully created a cloaking device capable of "hiding" a 3D object in free space from microwaves. The team describes how they used a "plasmonic" shell to hide a cigar shaped object from one microwave polarization in their pre-printed paper on arXiv.
Coherent diffractive imaging in living color
(PhysOrg.com) -- Exactly 150 years after the first color photograph was produced, scientists have devised a way of employing the full spectrum of colors from synchrotron and free-electron laser x radiation to image nanometer-sized subjects with unprecedented clarity and speed, and in three dimensions. This new research technique is expected to improve imaging on the nanoscale in the quest for advances in pharmaceutical development and new materials for next-generation technologies.
Effortless sailing with fluid flow cloak
Duke engineers have already shown that they can "cloak" light and sound, making objects invisible -- now, they have demonstrated the theoretical ability to significantly increase the efficiency of ships by tricking the surrounding water into staying still.
Dark matter may be an illusion caused by the quantum vacuum
(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the biggest unsolved problems in astrophysics is that galaxies and galaxy clusters rotate faster than expected, given the amount of existing baryonic (normal) matter. The fast orbits require a larger central mass than the nearby stars, dust, and other baryonic objects can provide, leading scientists to propose that every galaxy resides in a halo of (as yet undetectable) dark matter made of non-baryonic particles. As one of many scientists who have become somewhat skeptical of dark matter, CERN physicist Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic has proposed that the illusion of dark matter may be caused by the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum.
Controversial energy-generating system lacking credibility (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- It's been seven months since Italian physicists Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi publicly demonstrated a device that they claimed could generate large amounts of excess heat through some kind of low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR). (Previous descriptions of the process as “cold fusion” are incorrect; although the process is not completely understood, it is likely a weak interaction involving neutrons, without fusion.) The physicists call this device the Energy Catalyzer, or E-Cat. Due to the major potential impact such a device could have for energy production, the scientists have received visits and inquiries from all over the world, but so far the claims seem to be lacking credibility.
Asia's giants exposed to natural disasters - survey
The United States and Japan have the highest bills to pay from natural disasters, but Asia's emerging giants -- China, India and Indonesia -- are proportionately at greater risk from them, a survey said on Thursday.
Astronomy proves no joke for well-known comic
Innocent Twitter banter between a Cardiff University astronomer and well-known Irish TV presenter and comic Dara O Briain has sparked a major on-line search for stars.
Smoke from Va.'s Lateral West Fire
Today, the GOES-13 satellite captured a visible image of the thick brown smoke streaming from the Lateral West Fire burning in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (GDSBWR) in southeastern Virginia.
Urban impacts on phosphorus in streams
Although phosphorus is an essential nutrient for all life forms, essential amounts of the chemical element can cause water quality problems in rivers, lakes, and coastal zones. High concentrations of phosphorus in aquatic ecosystems are often associated with human activities in the surrounding area, such as agriculture and urban development. However, relationships between specific human sources of phosphorus and phosphorus concentrations in aquatic ecosystems are yet to be understood. Establishing these relationships could allow for the development, implementation, and evaluation of management strategies to reduce nutrient pollution.
Russia space chief regrets focus on manned missions
The new chief of Russia's space agency on Thursday said it had put too much emphasis on manned space flight and needed to increase financing on projects that brought a tangible return.
China urges US oil giant to hasten clean-up
China has called on the US energy giant behind a massive oil spill to speed up its clear-up efforts and issue a public apology after it missed a deadline to clean the sea bed, state media said Thursday.
New technology could capture ammonia from liquid manure
Though it may not sound very glamorous, a new method of extracting ammonium from liquid animal manure could be exciting news for both confined animal operations and environmental groups, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service engineer.
Native trees will ease the carbon credit crunch
If Australia stopped logging native forests it would meet almost half of its five per cent carbon emission reduction target for 2020, according to an expert from the Australian National University.
A cosmic inkblot test
(PhysOrg.com) -- If this were an inkblot test, you might see a bow tie or a butterfly depending on your personality. An astronomer would likely see the remains of a dying star scattered about space -- precisely what this is. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured this infrared view of what's called a planetary nebula, which is a cloud of material expelled by a burnt out star, called a white dwarf. This object is named the Dumbbell nebula after its resemblance to the exercise equipment in visible-light views.
Recent global climate report fails to capture the reality of the changing Arctic seascape, researchers say
The Arctic — a mosaic of oceans, glaciers and the northernmost projections of several countries — is a place most of us will never see. We can imagine it, though, and our mental picture is dominated by one feature: ice.
Fold mountains slip on soft areas
The Zagros Mountains are well researched from a geological perspective. However, scientists at the ETH Zurich have now used computer simulations to demonstrate for the first time how it came about that mainly folds with almost constant wavelengths of 14 kilometers were formed.
DC-8 flying lab validates laser instruments
(PhysOrg.com) -- Twenty scientists went aloft aboard NASA’s DC-8 flying laboratory in late July to conduct an airborne test of four very different laser techniques for remotely measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide and two laser instruments that remotely measured oxygen. The DC-8 also carried two “truth” instruments – devices that are known to produce accurate data – that took air samples to be compared with the laser measurements.
The hidden galaxy in the zone of avoidance
There are some places astronomers dare not tread. One of the prime places is beyond the disk of our own galaxy where the numerous stars and clouds of dust along the line of slight make observations messy to say the least. This obscured portion of the sky is known as the Zone of Avoidance. But despite the challenges, one team of astronomers has searched through it and found a previously undiscovered galaxy lurking not too far from our own.
Hubble offers a dazzling 'necklace'
(PhysOrg.com) -- A giant cosmic necklace glows brightly in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image.
Two of NASA's space shuttles meet nose-to-nose
(AP) -- NASA's retired space shuttles are trading places.
Worldwide map identifies important coral reefs exposed to stress
Marine researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups have created a map of the world's corals and their exposure to stress factors, including high temperatures, ultra-violet radiation, weather systems, sedimentation, as well as stress-reducing factors such as temperature variability and tidal dynamics.
Polar climate change may lead to ecological change
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ice and frozen ground at the North and South Poles are affected by climate change induced warming, but the consequences of thawing at each pole differ due to the geography and geology, according to a Penn State hydrologist.
Has graphene been detected in space?
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of astronomers, using the Spitzer Space Telescope, have reported the first extragalactic detection of the C70 fullerene molecule, and the possible detection of planar C24 ("a piece of graphene") in space. Letizia Stanghellini and Richard Shaw, members of the team at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona describe how collisional shocks powered by the winds from old stars in planetary nebulae could be responsible for the formation of fullerenes (C60 and C70) and graphene (planar C24). The team is led by Domingo Anibal Garcia-Hernandez of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in Spain and includes international astronomers and biochemists.
New data shows El MayorCucapah earthquake was simple on surface, complicated at depth
(PhysOrg.com) -- Like scars that remain on the skin long after a wound has healed, earthquake fault lines can be traced on Earth's surface long after their initial rupture. Typically, this line of intersection between the area where the fault slips and the ground is more complicated at the surface than at depth. But a new study of the April 4, 2010, El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake in Mexico reveals a reversal of this trend. While the fault involved in the event appeared to be superficially straight, the fault zone is warped and complicated at depth.
Brightening clouds: Atmospheric scientists evaluate a technique for reflecting more sunlight back to space
(PhysOrg.com) -- What happens when tiny seawater particles are intentionally injected into low clouds over the ocean? To answer this question, scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration developed a high-resolution model to better understand the effects of particle injection and evaluate whether this technique could be used to offset some effects of global climate change. The study was published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
Comet collision to come?
New research shows that the Earth was impacted for a few hours by a stream of dust from a potentially dangerous comet on February 4, 2011.
Contact lost with hypersonic glider after launch (Update)
An unmanned hypersonic glider developed for U.S. defense research into super-fast global strike capability was launched atop a rocket early Thursday but contact was lost after the experimental craft began flying on its own, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said.
Arctic ice melt could pause for several years, then resume again
Although Arctic sea ice appears fated to melt as the climate continues to warm, the ice may temporarily stabilize or somewhat expand at times over the next few decades, new research indicates.
Researcher finds largest martian channels most likely formed by volcanic activity (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Since the Mars Viking missions of the ’70s, humans have compared the topography of the Red Planet’s surface to their home and imagined a world that once contained flowing rivers that carved channels and canyons.
Team finds Type Ia supernovae parents
Type Ia supernovae are violent stellar explosions whose brightness is used to determine distances in the universe. Observing these objects to billions of light years away has led to the discovery that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, the foundation for the notion of dark energy. Although all Type Ia supernovae appear to be very similar, astronomers do not know for certain how the explosions take place and whether they all share the same origin. Now, a team of researchers has examined new and detailed observations of 41 of these objects and concluded that there are clear signatures of gas outflows from the supernova ancestors, which do not appear to be white dwarfs. The research is published in the August 12 issue of Science.
Alien world is blacker than coal
(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have discovered the darkest known exoplanet - a distant, Jupiter-sized gas giant known as TrES-2b. Their measurements show that TrES-2b reflects less than one percent of the sunlight falling on it, making it blacker than coal or any planet or moon in our solar system.
Video: New forensic fingerprinting approach retrieves elusive prints
Forensics experts can't always retrieve fingerprints from objects, but a new coating process developed by Penn State professors may change that.
Dark beer has more iron than pale beer
A team of researchers from the University of Valladolid (Spain) has analysed 40 brands of beer, discovering that dark beer has more free iron than pale and non-alcoholic beers. Iron is essential to the human diet, but also helps oxidise the organic compounds that give these beverages stability and flavour.
Scientists copy the ways viruses deliver genes
Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have mimicked the ways viruses infect human cells and deliver their genetic material. The research hopes to apply the approach to gene therapy – a therapeutic strategy to correct defective genes such as those that cause cancer.
Inexpensive catalyst that makes hydrogen gas 10 times faster than natural enzyme
Looking to nature for their muse, researchers have used a common protein to guide the design of a material that can make energy-storing hydrogen gas. The synthetic material works 10 times faster than the original protein found in water-dwelling microbes, the researchers report in the August 12 issue of the journal Science, clocking in at 100,000 molecules of hydrogen gas every second.
Peru researchers make rare ancient insect find
Researchers in Peru said Tuesday they have discovered the remains of ancient insects and sunflower seeds trapped inside amber dating from the Miocene epoch, some 23 million years ago.
Asian 'phoenix' lived with the dinosaurs
Palaeontologists said on Wednesday they had found the fossilised remains of a giant bird that lived in Central Asia more than 65 million years ago, a finding which challenges theories about the diversity of early birds.
Ames Laboratory partners with Iowa start-up under DOE innovation challenge
(PhysOrg.com) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and Iowa Powder Atomization Technologies have joined forces in DOE's America's Next Top Energy Innovator challenge to create jobs in Iowa. The program gives start-up companies the opportunity to sign an option to license technologies created by national laboratories at reduced costs. IPAT signed an option agreement to license several materials processing technologies developed at the Ames Laboratory.
Consumers' close encounters with nanoparticles
The most personal encounter that many consumers have had so far with the much-heralded field of nanotechnology is the topic of an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the American Chemical Society's weekly newsmagazine. Those encounters with fruits of the science of ultra-small particles — so tiny that 50,000 could fit across the width of a human hair — may come when sunbathers, golfers, bikers and others slather on sunscreen during these late summer days.
New technique scales up nanofiber production
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new spin on an old technology will give scientists and manufacturers the ability to significantly increase their production of nanofibers, according to researchers at North Carolina State University.
The diamond’s quantum memory
For years, quantum computers have been the holy grail of quantum technology. When a normal computer has to solve a number of problems, it can only execute them one after the other. In contrast, a quantum computer could occupy several different states at the same time – and that way it could try out different possible solutions of a problem at once, finding the correct answer much faster than a normal computer ever could. Diamonds could now bring physicists one important step closer to the quantum computer. At Vienna University of Technology, microwaves have now been coupled to the quantum states of a diamond. The results of this research project were now published in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters.
Exotic quantum crystal discovered
Nature knows two opposite types of solids: one that emerges upon compression from a liquid and a second that appears if the pressure on a liquid is reduced. While the former is typical for substances in our everyday life the latter occurs for example in a dense quantum liquid of electrons (such as in metals) or ions (in exotic white dwarf or neutron stars). Now it has been shown that there exists yet a third form of matter that inherits both of these properties. This unusual behaviour has been predicted to exist in crystals of excitons – hydrogen atom-like bound states of electrons and holes – in a semiconductor quantum well placed in a strong electric field.
Two atoms entangled using microwaves for the first time
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have for the first time linked the quantum properties of two separated ions (electrically charged atoms) by manipulating them with microwaves instead of the usual laser beams, suggesting it may be possible to replace an exotic room-sized quantum computing "laser park" with miniaturized, commercial microwave technology similar to that used in smart phones.
NASA, Sweden partner on small spacecraft technology development
NASA and the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB) are collaborating to develop powerful low-cost satellites for advanced space missions.
Up-and-coming forests will remain important carbon sinks
(PhysOrg.com) -- The aging forests of the Upper Great Lakes could be considered the baby boomers of the region's ecosystem.
Paper money worldwide contains bisphenol A
The cash register receipts that people place near paper money in billfolds, purses, and pockets has led to a worldwide contamination of paper money with bisphenol A (BPA) — a potentially toxic substance found in some plastics, thermal paper and other products. The amounts of BPA on dollars, Euros, rubles, yuans, and other currencies, are higher than in house dust, but human intake from currency is at least 10 times less than those from house dust. That's the conclusion of a new study in the ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.
HARPS tunes in on 'noisy' planets
Able to achieve an astounding precision of 0.97 m/s (3.5 km/h), with an effective precision of the order of 30 cms-1, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) echelle spectrograph has already discovered 16 planetary objects in the southern hemisphere and has now logged four more. And that’s only the beginning...
Solar flares: What does it take to be X-class?
Solar flares are giant explosions on the sun that send energy, light and high speed particles into space. These flares are often associated with solar magnetic storms known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The number of solar flares increases approximately every 11 years, and the sun is currently moving towards another solar maximum, likely in 2013. That means more flares will be coming, some small and some big enough to send their radiation all the way to Earth.
Satellite images show eruption on Alaska volcano
(AP) -- A volcano on a remote Alaska island has begun erupting, but poses little danger to people or aircraft, officials said Tuesday.
A spiral in Leo
(PhysOrg.com) -- This new picture from ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows NGC 3521, a spiral galaxy located about 35 million light years away in the constellation of Leo (The Lion). Spanning about 50 000 light-years, this spectacular object has a bright and compact nucleus, surrounded by richly detailed spiral structure.
SETI's telescopes to go back online, resuming hunt for alien life
This week the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute announced that it had raised more than $200,000 from a crowd-sourced fundraising effort that launched earlier this spring. The money, which came from just over 2,000 people who want to keep the search for alien life alive, will help the institute put its Allen Telescope Array back online.
Studies find different reasons for global methane riddle
Two new UC Irvine papers reach markedly different conclusions about why methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, unexpectedly leveled off near the end of the 20th century. They appear today in the journal Nature.
Deep recycling in the Earth faster than thought
The recycling of the Earth's crust in volcanoes happens much faster than scientists have previously assumed. Rock of the oceanic crust, which sinks deep into the earth due to the movement of tectonic plates, reemerges through volcanic eruptions after around 500 million years. German researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz obtained this result using volcanic rock samples. Previously, geologists thought this process would take about two billion years.
Researchers discover hydrogen-powered symbiotic bacteria in deep-sea hydrothermal vent mussels
The search for new energy sources to power mankind's increasing needs is currently a topic of immense interest. Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are considered one of the most promising clean energy alternatives. While intensive research efforts have gone into developing ways to harness hydrogen energy to fuel our everyday lives, a natural example of a living hydrogen-powered 'fuel cell' has gone unnoticed.
Rover arrives at new site on martian surface
(PhysOrg.com) -- After a journey of almost three years, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached the Red Planet's Endeavour crater to study rocks never seen before.
Student brings home new expertise to answer question in antibiotic resistance
Working out the structure of a complex formed when a protein binds to DNA has proved to be key in understanding how an antibiotic-producing organism controls resistance to its own antibiotic, and may be an example of how other antibiotic producers regulate export to prevent self-toxicity.
Genetically engineered spider silk for gene therapy
Genetically engineered spider silk could help overcome a major barrier to the use of gene therapy in everyday medicine, according to a new study that reported development and successful initial laboratory tests of such a material. It appears in ACS' journal Bioconjugate Chemistry.
Researchers improve performance of iron-based catalysts
Having pioneered the development of the first high-performance iron-based catalyst for fuel cells, researchers at INRS recently achieved a second major advance. They developed a new and improved iron-based catalyst capable of generating even more electric power in fuel cells for transportation applications. Previously, only platinum-based catalysts could produce similar performance.
How receptors talk to G proteins
(PhysOrg.com) -- The mechanism by which cells respond to stimuli and trigger hormonal responses, as well as the senses of sight, smell, and taste, has for the first time been brought into focus with the help of high-brightness x-rays provided by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory. This breakthrough will pave the way to new research avenues in drug discovery, cell signaling, and cellular regulation.
Phone losing charge? Novel technology allows LCDs to recycle energy
(PhysOrg.com) -- We've all worried about the charge on our smartphone or laptop running down when we have no access to an electrical outlet. But new technology developed by researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science could finally help solve the problem.
E. coli metabolism reversed for speedy production of fuels, chemicals
In a biotechnological tour de force, Rice University engineering researchers this week unveiled a new method for rapidly converting simple glucose into biofuels and petrochemical substitutes. In a paper published online in Nature, Rice's team described how it reversed one of the most efficient of all metabolic pathways -- the beta oxidation cycle -- to engineer bacteria that produce biofuel at a breakneck pace.
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