03 February 2012

A spider web's strength lies in more than its silk

A study that combines experimental observations of spider webs with complex computer simulations shows that web durability depends not only on silk strength, but on how the overall web design compensates for damage and the response of individual strands to continuously varying stresses. 

31 January 2012

Ferroelectric switching discovered for first time in soft biological tissue

The heart’s inner workings are mysterious, perhaps even more so with a new finding. Engineers at the University of Washington have discovered an electrical property in arteries not seen before in mammalian tissues. 

30 January 2012

Catching a comet death on camera

On 6 July 2011, a comet was caught doing something never seen before: die a scorching death as it flew too close to the Sun. That the comet met its fate this way was no surprise – but the chance to watch it first-hand amazed even the most seasoned comet watchers. 

27 January 2012

Scientists create first atomic X-ray laser

Scientists have created the shortest, purest X-ray laser pulses ever achieved, fulfilling a 45-year-old prediction and opening the door to a new range of scientific discovery. 

27 January 2012

Viruses con bacteria into working for them

MIT researchers have discovered that certain photosynthetic ocean bacteria need to beware of viruses bearing gifts: these viruses are really con artists carrying genetic material taken from their previous bacterial hosts that tricks the new host into using its own machinery to activate the genes, a process never... 

26 January 2012

Chemists find new material to remove radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel

Researchers have used metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to capture and remove volatile radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel. 

25 January 2012

Rice lab mimics Jupiter's Trojan asteroids inside a single atom

Physicists have gone to extremes to prove that Isaac Newton's classical laws of motion can apply in the atomic world: they've built an accurate model of part of the solar system inside a single atom of potassium. 

24 January 2012

M8.7 solar flare and Earth directed CME

The Sun erupted late on 22 January 2012 with an M8.7 class flare, an earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), and a burst of fast moving, highly energetic protons known as a "solar energetic particle" event.  

19 January 2012

GM explores Windows of Opportunity

GM challenged students to turn car windows into interactive displays capable of stimulating awareness, nurturing curiosity and encouraging a stronger connection with the world outside the vehicle. 

19 January 2012

Planck's HFI completes its survey of early Universe

The High Frequency Instrument on ESA's Planck mission has completed its survey of the remnant light from the Big Bang. The sensor ran out of coolant on 14 January, as expected, ending its ability to detect this faint energy.