Applied Physics

Soy-based Product Explored As Nontoxic Substitute For Isocyanates

Virginia Tech chemists are looking for biobased alternatives and environmentally friendly reaction pathways to replace a toxic intermediate that is a critical component of many polymer products. Isocyanates are important to many products we take for grant ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 27 2007 - 4:37pm

Using Bacteria As A Toxin Barometer

Common bacteria with an overt reaction to toxins that cause oxidative stress show promise as a biosensor to predict public health threats. At the 233rd American Chemical Society national meeting in Chicago March 25-29, researchers from Virginia Tech and t ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 27 2007 - 4:39pm

Modern Chainmail- The Future Of Smart Textiles

Scientists at the University of Illinois have fabricated the world’s smallest chain-mail fabric. Combined with existing processing techniques, the flexible, metallic fabric holds promise for fully engineered smart textiles. "The miniature fabric is a ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 28 2007 - 1:22pm

MIT Visualizes The Secret Of Turbulent Fluid Flow

Picture the flow of water over a rock. At very low speeds, the water looks like a smooth sheet skimming the rock's surface. As the water rushes faster, the flow turns into turbulent, roiling whitewater that can overturn your raft. Turbulence is impor ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 29 2007 - 1:15am

MIT's Ocean Model Precisely Mimics Microbes' Life Cycles

Scientists at MIT have created an ocean model so realistic that the virtual forests of diverse microscopic plants they "sowed" have grown in population patterns that precisely mimic their real-world counterparts. This model of the ocean is the f ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 29 2007 - 4:15pm

Not An Infomercial- Memory Metal Makes Dents Disappear!

Crumpled kitchen foil that lays flat for reuse. Bent bumpers that straighten overnight. Dents in car doors that disappear when heated with a hairdryer. These and other physical feats may become possible with a technique to make memory metals discovered by ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 29 2007 - 6:45pm

Nanopolymer House In Greece Will Self-heal Cracks From Earthquakes

On a Greek mountainside, sensors in the walls of a high-tech villa will record stresses and vibrations, temperature and humidity levels. Nothing out of the ordinary there. ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Apr 3 2007 - 1:28pm

Limestone Seats Helped Ancient Greeks Hear From Back Row

As the ancient Greeks were placing the last few stones on the magnificent theater at Epidaurus in the fourth century B.C., they couldn’t have known that they had unwittingly created a sophisticated acoustic filter. But when audiences in the back row were ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 7 2007 - 1:41am

Cells Fine Tune Oxygen Use

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered how cells fine-tune their oxygen use to make do with whatever amount is available at the moment. Too little oxygen threatens life by compromising mitochondria that power it, so when oxygen is scarce, cells appe ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 6 2007 - 10:29am

Deflecting Damage: Flexible Electronics Aid Brain Injury Research

Flexible electronic membranes may overcome a longstanding dilemma faced by brain researchers: How to replicate injuries in the lab without destroying the electrodes that monitor how brain cells respond to physical trauma. Developed by a team of engineers ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 7 2007 - 6:14pm