21 December 2011

Nasa discovers first earth-size planets beyond our solar system

Nasa's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system.  

20 December 2011

Research could improve laser-manufacturing technique

Engineers have discovered details about the behaviour of ultrafast laser pulses that may lead to new applications in manufacturing, diagnostics and other research.  

19 December 2011

Fear no supernova

Given the incredible amounts of energy in a supernova explosion, another erroneous doomsday theory is that such an explosion could happen in 2012 and harm life on Earth. However, given the vastness of space and the long times between supernovas, astronomers can say with certainty that there is no threatening star... 

15 December 2011

Inspired by insect cuticle, researchers develop low-cost material with exceptional strength and toughness

"Shrilk" could one day replace plastic in consumer products, be used to suture wounds, and serve as scaffolding for tissue regeneration 

13 December 2011

Trillion-frame-per-second video

By using optical equipment in a totally unexpected way, MIT researchers have created an imaging system that makes light look slow.  

12 December 2011

The world's smallest steam engine

A heat engine measuring only a few micrometres works as well as its larger counterpart, although it splutters  

09 December 2011

Changes in bioelectric signals cause tadpoles to grow eyes in back, tail

Scientists have altered natural bioelectrical communication among cells to directly specify the type of new organ to be created at a particular location within a vertebrate organism. Using genetic manipulation of membrane voltage in Xenopus (frog) embryos, they were able to cause tadpoles to grow eyes outside of the... 

07 December 2011

'Label-free' imaging tool tracks nanotubes in cells, blood for biomedical research

Researchers have demonstrated a new imaging tool for tracking structures called carbon nanotubes in living cells and the bloodstream, which could aid efforts to perfect their use in biomedical research and clinical medicine.  

06 December 2011

Physicists set strongest limit on mass of dark matter

Brown University physicists have set the strongest limit for the mass of dark matter, the mysterious particles believed to make up nearly a quarter of the Universe.  

06 December 2011

Scientists to bring woolly mammoth back to life in five years

In the next 5 years, scientists plan to clone a woolly mammoth after finding well-preserved bone marrow in a mammoth thigh bone recovered from permafrost soil in Siberia.