american institute of physics
Graphene and ‘spintronics’ combo looks promising
Washington, D.C. (January 25, 2011) — A team of physicists has taken a big step toward the development of useful graphene spintronic devices. The physicists, from the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Science and Technology of C…
Attempting to predict epileptic seizure
Washington, D.C. (December 14, 2010) — While the causes of epileptic seizures continue to confound brain researchers, scientists have been exploring how changes in the coordinated activity of brain networks, as monitored through electrodes, might he…
Getting bubbles out of fuel pumps
Washington, D.C. (November 16, 2010) — For more than 250 years, researchers have known that under certain conditions vapor bubbles can form in fluids moving swiftly over a surface. These bubbles soon collapse with such great force that they can pok…
Artificial black holes made with metamaterials
Washington, D.C. (November 16, 2010) — While our direct knowledge of black holes in the universe is limited to what we can observe from thousands or millions of light years away, a team of Chinese physicists has proposed a simple way to design an a…
‘Chaogates’ hold promise for the semiconductor industry
Washington, D.C. (November 16, 2010) — In a move that holds great significance for the semiconductor industry, a team of researchers has created an alternative to conventional logic gates, demonstrated them in silicon, and dubbed them “chaogates…
New way of detecting concealed radioactive material
Washington, D.C. (November 9, 2010) — Researchers at the University of Maryland have proposed a scheme for detecting a concealed source of radioactive material without searching containers one by one. Detection of radioactive material concealed in …
Foucault, revisited
Washington, D.C. (November 9, 2010) — Walk into nearly any science museum worth its salt and you’re likely to see a Foucault pendulum, a simple but impressive device for observing the Earth’s rotation. Such pendulums have been around for more than …
Get in synch — or be enslaved by it
Washington, D.C. (October 19, 2010) — We talk about synchronization a lot. We synch up; synch our computers; and get in synch. And synchronous behavior underlies many natural systems, events and phenomena.
Understanding conditions that cause osci…
Computer in wrapping-paper form
Washington, D.C. (September 14, 2010) — Driven by rapid global industrialization, finite fossil fuel reserves, and the high cost of many alternative energy options, meeting the world’s energy challenge may demand novel solutions. One potential solu…
Improving crisis prediction, disaster control and damage reduction
Washington, D.C. (September 14, 2010) — Some disasters and crises are related to each other by more than just the common negative social value we assign to them. For example, earthquakes, homicide surges, magnetic storms, and the U.S. economic rece…
Job Market Remains Strong for Geoscience Graduates
Students who completed doctoral degrees in Earth and space sciences in 2001 entered a relatively strong job market, with most finding employment quickly with higher salaries, while remaining within their respective fields, according to a new report from the American Geophysical Union (AGU), American Geological Institute (AGI), and American Institute of Physics (AIP).