Applied Physics

Read My Lips: You're Going To Jail

Researchers at the University of East Anglia are about to embark on an innovative new project to develop computer lip-reading systems that could be used for fighting crime. The three-year project, which starts next month, will collect data for lip-reading ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 22 2007 - 11:02am

Protection Against Earthquakes: Bacteria?

Bacteria could be used to help steady buildings against earthquakes, according to researchers at UC Davis. The microbes can literally convert loose, sandy soil into rock. When a major earthquake strikes, deep, sandy soils can turn to liquid, with disastrou ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 24 2011 - 3:28pm

Nevada Professor Demonstrates New Hydrogen Fuel System

Northern Nevada energy consumers can be excused if they have a sense of "sticker shock" when their power bills come due following the holiday season. Or, that they have a feeling of powerlessness as the price of gasoline climbs to $3 per gallon. ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 22 2007 - 7:38pm

Strain Has Major Effect On High-Temp Superconductors

Just a little mechanical strain can cause a large drop in the maximum current carried by high-temperature superconductors, according to novel measurements carried out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The effect, which is rever ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 22 2007 - 9:47pm

Fluid Dynamics Works On Nanoscale In Real World

In 2000, Georgia Tech researchers showed that fluid dynamics theory could be modified to work on the nanoscale, albeit in a vacuum. Now, seven years later they've shown that it can be modified to work in the real world, too – that is, outside of a va ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 24 2007 - 10:04pm

First Direct Electric Link Between Neurons And Light-sensitive Nanoparticle Films Created

The world's first direct electrical link between nerve cells and photovoltaic nanoparticle films has been achieved by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) and the University of Michigan. The development opens the ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 28 2007 - 12:00am

Home-Built 3-D Fabricater Could Launch A Revolution, Say Cornell Engineers

The Altair 8800, introduced in the early 1970s, was the first computer you could build at home from a kit. It was crude, didn't do much, but many historians would say that it launched the desktop computer revolution. Hod Lipson, Cornell assistant pro ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 28 2007 - 1:31am

Down With Physics: Giant CMS Magnet Goes Underground At CERN

Scientists of the US CMS collaboration joined colleagues around the world in announcing today (February 28) that the heaviest piece of the Compact Muon Solenoid particle detector has begun the momentous journey into its experimental cavern 100 meters unde ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 1 2007 - 11:45am

Researchers Create New Class Of Electronic Components By Bending Zinc Oxide Nanowires

Researchers have taken advantage of the unique coupled semiconducting and piezoelectric properties of zinc oxide nanowires to create a new class of electronic components and devices that could provide the foundation for a broad range of new applications. ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 1 2007 - 1:27pm

Lessons In Wood Formation From Arabidopsis

Wood is formed from secondary xylem tissue consisting of cells with a heavily thickened secondary cell wall that is enriched in lignin and cellulose. In contrast, primary cell walls are composed mainly of polysaccharides (including cellulose), but contain ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 1 2007 - 7:24pm