Applied Physics

A new technique for growing single-crystal nanorods and controlling their shape using biomolecules could enable the development of smaller, more powerful heat pumps and devices that harvest electricity from heat. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered how to direct the growth of nanorods made up of two single crystals using a biomolecular surfactant. The researchers were also able to create “branched” structures by carefully controlling the temperature, time, and amount of surfactant used during synthesis. Most nanostructures comprised of a core and a shell generally…

A team of researchers from the University of Manchester, the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Lyon and the ESRF has revealed how a growing crack interacts with the 3D crystal structure of stainless steel. By using a new grain mapping technique it was possible to determine the internal 3D structure of the material without destroying the sample. Afterwards, a crack was initiated in the stainless steel, and the scientists were able to study how the crack grew between the grains. This is the first time that such an experiment has used the 3D grain mapping technique, and the first…

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The financial year ended 31 March 2008 was yet another highly challenging year for the PETRONAS Group as it continues to strive to generate value amidst an increasingly volatile and uncertain global oil and gas industry environment beleaguered with escalating cost and an acute shortage of experienced personnel as well as equipment. The year saw sustained growth in demand for oil on the back of strong global economic expansion particularly in China and India. Global demand, which grew at an average of 86.1 million barrels per day, outstripped…

PARIS, July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has been awarded a Euro 32 million euro contract by Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), the main telecommunication services operator in Bulgaria - to provide GSM/EDGE solutions to Vivatel, BTC's GSM mobile subsidiary. Alcatel-Lucent will replace half of Vivatel's current GSM Base Station Subsystem network equipment and will also provide a full range of services in conjunction with this contract including project management, network design, integration, testing, installation, and multi…

University of Florida and Florida Institute of Technology engineering researchers have narrowed the search for the source of X-rays emitted by lightning, a feat that could one day help predict where lightning will strike. "From a practical point of view, if we are going to ever be able to predict when and where lightning will strike, we need to first understand how lightning moves from one place to the other," said Joseph Dwyer, a professor in the department of physics and space sciences at FIT. "At present, we do not have a good handle on this. X-rays are giving us a close-up view of what is…

Archaeopteryx is famous as the world's oldest bird, but reptiles were flying about some 50 million years earlier than that (225 million years ago), even before large dinosaurs roamed the Earth. A new study of extinct reptiles called kuehneosaurs, by scientists from the University of Bristol, England, shows that these early flyers used extraordinary extensions of their ribs to form large gliding surfaces on the side of the body. The results were published today in Palaeontology. Kuehneosaurs, up to 70 centimetres (two feet) long, were first found in the 1950s in an ancient cave system near…

Penn State researchers say they can produce greener, less expensive hydrogen for fuel using water, solar energy and nanotube diodes that use the entire spectrum of the sun's energy. Currently, the steam reforming of natural gas produces most of our hydrogen. As a fuel source, this produces two problems. The process uses natural gas and so does not reduce reliance on fossil fuels; and, because one byproduct is carbon dioxide, the process contributes to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the carbon footprint. Craig A. Grimes, professor of electrical engineering, says their process splits…

Nothing knows how to survive changes on Earth like bacteria. Microorganisms once reigned supreme on the Earth and they thrived by filling every nook and cranny of the environment billions of years before humans first arrived on the scene. Their ability to grow from an almost infinite variety of food sources may help bail out society from its current energy crisis, according to the Arizona State University Biodesign Institute's Bruce Rittmann, Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, and Rolf Halden. Two distinct, but complementary approaches will be needed: The first is to use microbes to convert biomass to…

Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with no resistance. Electricity comes from electrons traveling through wire conductors. Those electrons bumping into each other generate an enormous amount of heat. With superconductors, however, there is no jostling, therefore no heat. But there's a catch: "High-temperature" superconductors (a very relative term) only behave this way when they are cooled to liquid nitrogen temperatures – between -346°F and -320.44°F. Scientists have been unable to decipher just how copper-oxide HTS materials become superconductors. In its natural state,…

It looks almost scary with its one armed, three fingered, 1.45-meter-high, flexible physique. However the extent that it will rid its master’s house of any mess is anything but daunting. Research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, Germany have developed a new top-of-the-line robot they call “Care-O-bot® 3,” which is predicted to revolutionize modern housekeeping styles. Birgit Graf who heads the domestic and personal service robotics group at IPA says this is just the beginning of a new trend of household helpers. “In the…