Applied Physics

Extremophiles,Sulfurous Cauldrons, And The Ethanol Puzzle

Buried beneath a sulfurous cauldron in European seas lies a class of microorganisms known as “extremophiles,” so named because of the extreme environmental conditions in which they live and thrive. Almost as radical, perhaps, is the idea that these organis ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 12 2007 - 6:41pm

Scientific Animation Of The 9/11 Terrorist Attack

Although most Americans believe they know what brought down the World Trade Center twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, civil engineers are still seeking answers to questions that could save lives in the future. Structural engineers need to know from a scientifi ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 24 2011 - 6:34pm

Making Smarter Robots Using "object Based Prediction"

Engineers at Purdue University are developing robots able to make "educated guesses" about what lies ahead as they traverse unfamiliar surroundings, reducing the amount of time it takes to successfully navigate those environments. The method work ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 16 2007 - 10:32am

New Theory Aims To Explain Recent Temperature, Climate Extremes

Using an ocean of data, sophisticated mathematical models and supercomputing resources, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are putting climate models to the test with particular focus on weather extremes. Ultimately, th ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 18 2007 - 4:08pm

Ancient Climate Shifted Wildly

The transition from an ice age to an ice-free planet 300 million years ago was highly unstable, marked by dips and rises in carbon dioxide, extreme swings in climate and drastic effects on tropical vegetation. "This is the best documented record we ha ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 12 2008 - 9:57pm

Nanotube Adhesive Sticks Better Than A Gecko's Foot

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Akron have created synthetic “gecko tape” with four times the sticking power of the real thing. The researchers describe a process for making polymer surfaces covered with carbon nanotub ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 19 2007 - 8:36am

Throw Out Your Old Refrigerator! Get Magnetocaloric Materials

Materials that change temperature in magnetic fields could lead to new refrigeration technologies that reduce the use of greenhouse gases, thanks to new research at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Ames National Laborato ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 19 2007 - 4:15pm

Energy Goal: Practical On-Board Hydrogen Storage

Solving one of the biggest problems in commercialization of fuel-cell-powered automobiles is the goal of a new $1.88 million research project on on-board hydrogen storage at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. To be practical, ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 19 2007 - 4:18pm

Better Than Ethanol: DMF From Biomass Sugar

Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and combine it with water molecules and sunshine to make carbohydrate or sugar. Variations on this process provide fuel for all of life on Earth. University of Wisconsin-Madison chemical and biological engineering ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 20 2007 - 2:11pm

The Brain Scope- Seeing The Brain In 3-D

Biomedical engineers at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering have adapted a three-dimensional ultrasound scanner that might guide minimally invasive brain surgeries and provide better detection of a brain tumor’s location. The “brain scope,” which is in ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 21 2007 - 2:44pm