While cold fusion remains a pipe dream, fusion as an energy source for the future continues to be funded and improved.  In nuclear fission, current nuclear energy, the nucleus of an atom is…

Researchers have discovered a previously unknown particle composed of three quarks in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator. The baryon known as Xi_b^* confirms fundamental assumptions…

If you wear glasses, and they have been created recently, you are reading this article by looking through a tiny, transparent layer of nanomaterial. Anti-reflective coatings based on nanomaterials…

In a recent PRL article Artemis Spyrou and collaborators have reported on the first observation of an exotic form of nucleons, the long-sought dineutron. Dineutron was predicted theoretically as a…

Aging is unavoidable - except perhaps for the brain, say researchers. They also present counterintuitive evidence that it is what you do in old age that matters when it comes to maintaining a…

I have been invited to give a 30 minute presentation to high-school kids next week about Free Fall. The physics teacher who is organizing this event also has some nice plans to include a theatrical…

Gobies are the little fish you may have seen under the pier or swimming around your feet in salty water if you’ve visited the coasts of Western Europe. These seemingly boring brownish fish live a…

Researchers have presented clinical evidence that the drug gabapentin, currently on the market to treat neuropathic pain and epilepsy, also helps people to quit smoking marijuana (cannabis). Unlike…

This blog is more an ear than a tongue. It needs you, and we need a way to revere life while respecting the gift of our critical intellect. We may need to have fun, may need to let our ideas dance…

Fertilizers producing wastelands in semi arid and arid regions. Some months ago I attended a conference in Germany where excessive use of nitrogen fertilizers was a cause of concern for the European…

A new stem cell has been found that can proliferate and form several different cell types, including new brain cells.  This discovery may be used to develop methods that can repair diseases and…

Gregory Miller, a former JRC employee, has set up a petition on Change.org, and given permission to repost his petition letter: Hi, my name is Gregory Miller. I used to work at a school in…

Many people struggle with, and even rail against, Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity.  The way it is usually taught or presented often seems to make it appear to be ever so complex, far too…

France is not exactly known for being pro-science (nor is Europe generally) but when it comes to autism, they are decidedly anti-science. For decades, France has turned its back on the latest…

France is not exactly known for being pro-science (nor is Europe generally) but when it comes to autism, they are decidedly anti-science. For decades, France has turned its back on the latest…

You likely knew that professional boxing causes brain damage but a new study shows it is more than just an assumption, even about amateurs. Researchers analyzing 30 top-level Swedish boxers found…

Pollution in holy rivers is going to higher levels and it is threat to mankind. Arsenic once reported from West Bengal waters is deadly poison to human health. Recently a report said arsenic level in…

Eli Yablonovitch and graduate student Owen Miller of U.C. Berkeley have designed and built a new type of solar cell that gets closer to the theoretical efficiency limit 33.5%, the Shockley–Queisser…

Eli Yablonovitch and graduate student Owen Miller of U.C. Berkeley have designed and built a new type of solar cell that gets closer to the theoretical efficiency limit 33.5%, the Shockley–Queisser…

Research suggests that the explosion of massive stars near the Solar System has strongly influenced the development of life. When the most massive stars exhaust their available fuel and reach…