Applied Physics

Researchers Achieve Major Breakthrough In Laser Diode Development

A team of researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara led by Shuji Nakamura, winner of the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize, has reported a major breakthrough in laser diode development. The photograph shows the far-field pattern of the wor ...

Article - Administrator - Jan 31 2007 - 11:21am

Bernoulli Helps Explain Things

Daniel Bernoulli was never a mom. He might have been a father, a fantastic one at that, I don't actually know. But that's no t why I know of him. Bernoulli was a mathematician and scientist from the 1700's, and I was introduced to him durin ...

Article - Kimberly Crandell - Feb 5 2007 - 4:16pm

BP Invests $500 Million In Biofuels

British Petroleum announced today that it has selected the University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to lead an unprecedented $500 million resea ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 1 2007 - 8:35pm

'Electric' Fish Shed Light On Ways The Brain Directs Movement

Scientists have long struggled to figure out how the brain guides the complex movement of our limbs, from the graceful leaps of ballerinas to the simple, everyday act of picking up a cup of coffee. Using tools from robotics and neuroscience, two Johns Hop ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 2 2007 - 1:59am

Nanoengineered Concrete Could Cut Carbon Dioxide Emissions

While government leaders argue about the practicality of reducing world emissions of carbon dioxide, scientists and engineers are seeking ways to make it happen. One group of engineers at MIT decided to focus its work on the nanostructure of concrete, the ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 2 2007 - 5:46pm

Finding May Unshackle The Potential Of Composite Materials

In an advance that could lead to composite materials with virtually limitless performance capabilities, a University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist has dispelled a 50-year-old theoretical notion that composite materials must be made only of "stable&q ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 2 2007 - 6:01pm

Man-made Proteins Could Be More Useful Than Real Ones

Researchers have constructed a protein out of amino acids not found in natural proteins, discovering that they can form a complex, stable structure that closely resembles a natural protein. Their findings could help scientists design drugs that look and ac ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 8 2007 - 12:32pm

Microprinting Technique For Patterning Single Molecules

A new process for creating patterns of individual molecules on a surface combines control of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and a soft lithography technique known as microcontact printing. Scientists use the process, known as "microcontact insertion ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 8 2007 - 2:34pm

Storing Carbon Dioxide Below Ground May Prevent Polluting Above

A new analysis led by an MIT scientist describes a mechanism for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from a power plant and injecting the gas into the ground, where it would be trapped naturally as tiny bubbles and safely stored in briny porous rock. This m ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 8 2007 - 2:56pm

In Tiny Supercooled Clouds, Physicists Exchange Light And Matter

Physicists have for the first time stopped and extinguished a light pulse in one part of space and then revived it in a completely separate location. They accomplished this feat by completely converting the light pulse into matter that travels between the ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 8 2007 - 7:40pm