National Science Foundation
It is widely known that the brain perceives information before it reaches a person's awareness. But until now, there was little way to determine what specific mental tasks were taking place prior to the point of conscious awareness.
Washington, DC -- The oil and gas that fuels our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the Earth's crust. Scientists have debated for years whether some of these hydrocarbons could also have been created deeper in the Earth and formed without organic matter.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Graphene is nature's thinnest elastic material and displays exceptional mechanical and electronic properties. Its one-atom thickness, planar geometry, high current-carrying capacity and thermal conductivity make it ideally suited for further miniaturizing electronics through ultra-small devices and components for semiconductor circuits and computers.
PITTSBURGH -- Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology, which captures carbon dioxide from power plants and safely disposes of it deep underground, will not meet its full potential in the United States without new federal regulations that create a uniform regulatory environment.
This is the conclusion of a set of four policy briefs just released by the CSSReg project led by M.
"Jewel beetles" are widely known for their glossy external skeletons that appear to change colors as the angle of view changes. Now they may be known for something else--providing a blueprint for materials that reflect light rather than absorbing it to produce colors.
VIRGINIA KEY, Fla. -- The role of clouds in climate change has been a major question for decades. As the earth warms under increasing greenhouse gases, it is not known whether clouds will dissipate, letting in more of the sun's heat energy and making the earth warm even faster, or whether cloud cover will increase, blocking the Sun's rays and actually slowing down global warming.
Dr. Dentcho Genov, an assistant professor of physics and electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech University and a Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI) Institute fellow, is featured in the most recent issue of Nature Physics, one of the most respected and prestigious physics journals in the world.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Music, rather than electromechanical valves, can drive experimental samples through a lab-on-a-chip in a new system developed at the University of Michigan. This development could significantly simplify the process of conducting experiments in microfluidic devices.
Berkeley -- How do you recognize a new species?
A thorough study of the million-year evolution of California's horned lizards, sometimes referred to as "horny toads," shows that when it comes to distinguishing such recently diverged species, the most powerful method integrates genetic, anatomical and ecological information.
Irvine, Calif. -- Burning of fossil fuels pumps chemicals into the air that react on surfaces such as buildings and roads to create photochemical smog-forming chlorine atoms, UC Irvine scientists report in a new study.
The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast.
SUMMARY: (See also Letters, July 17.) Evans & Reimer (E & R) (Open Access and Global Participation in Science Science 20 February 2009) show that there is an 8-20% increase in citations for articles that provide delayed (embargoed) open access (OA) (free online access). This OA citation advantage would undoubtedly be even greater if the OA were provided immediately upon publication, rather than a year or more thereafter. E & R also examine only publisher-provided OA journals ("Gold OA"), and not at author-provided OA to their own self-archived journal articles ("Green OA"). That too would raise the OA advantage. E & R also found that a large component of the extra citation impact for their sample came from the "have-nots" in the Developing World -- the researchers whose institutions could not afford subscription access. But the Developed World has plenty of have-not institutions too; and even Harvard cannot afford to subscribe to all journals in which there are articles Harvard researchers need. So it is virtually certain that a careful analysis in terms of institutional subscription budget size would reveal that the citation advantage comes also from the have-nots in the Developed World too.
LA JOLLA, CA -- Of all the qualities that distinguish humans from other species, how we learn is one of the most significant.
A study published in the July 17 issue of the journal Science details how sandfish -- small lizards with smooth scales -- move rapidly underground through desert sand.
CORVALLIS, Ore. - The findings of a major new study are consistent with gradual changes of current systems in the North Atlantic Ocean, rather than a more sudden shutdown that could lead to rapid climate changes in Europe and elsewhere.
