Physical Sciences
Two chemists at Brown University have streamlined the conversion of waste vegetable oil into biodiesel, eliminating the need for corrosive chemicals to perform the reactions. Writing in the journal Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, the chemists were
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Richard F. Heck, the Willis F. Harrington Professor Emeritus at the University of Delaware, has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Heck, 79, was honored alongside fellUniversity of Delawareow researchers Akira Suzuki, 80, of Hokkaido Universi
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Using the latest in aberration-corrected electron microscopy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers and their colleagues have obtained the first images that distinguish that distinguish individual light atoms such as boron, carbon, nitrogen and o
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An ultra-secure form of coded communication could be given a boost, thanks to scientists from the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Rochester (USA). In a paper published in the journal Science, quantum physicists have demonstrated the randomne
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NASA and the European Space Agency, or ESA, have embarked on a joint program to explore Mars in the coming decades and have selected five science instruments including one from the University of Arizona for the first mission.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the National Institute of Health Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC) welcome the U.S. Food and Drug Administrati
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At first, nanoshocks may seem like something to describe the millions of aftershocks of a large earthquake. But Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicists are using an ultra-fast laser-based technique they dubbed "nanoshocks" for something entirely different. In fact, the "nanoshocks" have such a small spatial scale that scientists can use them to study shock behavior in tiny samples such as thin films or other systems with microscopic dimensions (a few tens of micrometers).
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For more than three decades, ORNL's Shared Research Equipment (SHaRE) User Facility has provided researchers from universities, industry and other national laboratories with two unique commodities: access to an unmatched array of state-of-the-art electron microscopes and collaboration with a highly skilled staff of scientists.
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Four years after a keystroke produced the first neutrons, the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) has moved into a new phase, both as a neutron research facility and as one of the scientific community's foremost user centers for materials research. "We now have the world's most intense pulsed neutron source, a fact that by itself is very attractive to anybody who wants to use neutrons to investigate materials," says Stephen Nagler, chief scientist of ORNL's Neutron Scattering Science Division.
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Although they could revolutionize a wide range of high-tech products such as computer displays or solar cells, organic materials do not have the same ordered chemical composition as inorganic materials, preventing scientists from using them to their full potential. But an international team of researchers led by McGill's Dr. Dmitrii Perepichka and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique's Dr. Federico Rosei have published research that shows how to solve this decades-old conundrum.
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The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University is planning to build a state-of-the-art magnet system that will transform the study of complex environmental and biological samples. A better understanding of fossil and biological fuels, for example, could lead to applications for reducing carbon emissions and the development of new, sustainable fuels.
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Moore's law marches on: In the quest for faster and cheaper computers, scientists have imaged pore structures in insulation material at sub-nanometer scale for the first time. Understanding these structures could substantially enhance computer performance and power usage of integrated circuits, say Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) and Cornell University scientists.
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