Science Letter articles from April 2003

Science Letter archives from April 2003

Global warming could trigger cascade of climatic changes.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Global warming and the partial melting of polar ice sheets can dramatically affect not only sea levels but also Earth's climate, in ways that may be complex, rapid, and difficult to adjust to,...

Scrap tires could provide inexpensive source of raw materials for chemicals.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scrap tires could provide an inexpensive source of raw materials for the chemical industry, according to Prof. Paul Williams of the University of Leeds, speaking at the Waste Management conference on...

First evaporating planet observed.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have observed for the first time the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet evaporating into space. Much of this planet may eventually disappear, leaving...

Magnetically coupled entraining rotor mixes gas into liquids.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- One can broadly consider mixing as a process by which individual components in a container are made homogeneous, such as blending whipped cream and chocolate to make cake filling. Mixing in industry,...

Miniature, ultra-bright LEDs could lead to biosensor detection system.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A research team from the Institute of Photonics at the University of Strathclyde has developed an array of miniature ultra-bright light emitting diodes (LEDs), which they believe could form the basis of...

Researchers learn how single layer of particles can pack on spherical surface.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a discovery that is likely to impact fields as diverse as medicine and nanomanufacturing, researchers have determined how nature arranges charged particles in a thin layer around a sphere. The...

New crystalline structures may open door to molecular filters.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Imagine a mask that could allow a person to breathe the oxygen in the air without the risk of inhaling a toxic gas, bacterium, or even a virus. Effectively filtering different kinds of molecules has...

Clouds mitigate effects of warming on Arctic.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cloudy weather may dampen the human spirit, but it also may dampen the effects of global warming on the Arctic, according to new study published in the March 14, 2003, issue of the journal Science. ...

Pinatubo eruption tests Arctic circulation's impact on climate.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A recent NASA-funded study has linked the 1991 eruption of the Mount Pinatubo to a strengthening of a climate pattern called the Arctic Oscillation. For two years following the volcanic eruption,...

First intrinsic quantum standard for alternating current (AC) voltage developed.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have developed the first intrinsic quantum standard for alternating current (AC) voltage, making possible far more precise...

Programmable bioprocessors developed to manage biomolecular information.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the future, could molecules in complex biotechnological processes be programmed like today's semiconductor microelectronic circuits? To find out, researchers are currently studying the...

"Phantom material" may help improve metal detectors.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- To ensure that security at airports is as strong as it can be, metal detectors for detecting concealed weapons must be as sensitive as they can be. However, no one wants these devices to cause problems...

Direct fabrication of large micropatterned single crystals reported.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Lucent Technology, Bell Laboratories' scientists reported "a bio-inspired approach to growing large micropatterned single crystals." J. Aizenberg and colleagues wrote: "Micropatterning of single...

Heat-indicating paints help determine temperature loads of mechanical parts.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Chemists in Russia have developed heat-indicating paints that can help determine temperature loads of mechanical parts of aircraft, power utilities, and other applications that use metals exposed to...

Software enables close look into foamy materials.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Nature provides the example: The quill of a bird's feather is hollow, yet sturdy. A hard bone or piece of wood is not solid, but contains a pored inner structure. The lightness of being has meanwhile...

New method makes ultra high density nanowire lattices and circuits.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers participating in the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) and at Los Angeles (UCLA) have invented a new technique for producing...

Electrostatic sparks spell danger.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An effective new approach to preventing sparks when an electrically charged object is earthed could prevent explosions and save lives following a motorway smash involving fuel tankers or other hazardous...

Electrostatic spray apparatus quickly decontaminates toxins from skin.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new electrostatic spray apparatus that could save lives after a terrorist attack involving chemical or biological weapons has been developed. Dr. Ed Law, a University of Georgia, U.S.A.,...

New microwave dielectric resonator materials could improve signals.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new group of ceramic materials could lead to more reliable and clearer microwave communication signals, according to engineers at South Bank University, London, speaking at the Institute of Physics...

Pulsed electric arc could be alternative way to disinfect water.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A pulsed electric arc could provide an alternative to chlorination and other chemical methods of disinfecting water, according to researchers from the University of Poitiers, France, speaking to the...

Three-dimensional photonic crystals key to optical data transport.
April 7, 2003... 2003 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Telecoms systems contain an awkward mixture of optics and electronics. A purely optical system would permit the very high data rates needed by the Internet, but the moment the switching and routing, as...

Metamaterial lenses could engineer nanometer-scale electronic devices.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- By constructing artificial materials that break long-standing rules of nature, a University of Toronto researcher has developed a flat lens that could significantly enhance the resolution of imaged...

Virtual mass spectrometry laboratory transforms learning experience.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- At $1 million, many schools cannot afford the latest spectrometry equipment to help students conduct such experiments as determining the composition of a polymer, detecting the presence of cocaine in a...

Chemist finds way to make biodegradable plastic that imitates bacteria.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Finding an economical way to make a polyester commonly found in many types of bacteria into a plastic with uses ranging from packaging to biomedical devices is a long-held scientific goal. Such a...

Geocryology is an important area of global change science.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Geocryology, or the study of permafrost, is an increasingly important area of study in the larger field of global change science. This is according to Frederick E. Nelson, professor of geography at...

Silicon nanospheres rank among hardest known materials.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- University of Minnesota researchers have made the first-ever hardness measurements on individual silicon nanospheres and shown that the nanospheres' hardness falls between the conventional hardness of...

Researchers use electric field to manipulate tiny particles.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Intricate patterns formed by granular materials under the influence of electrostatic fields have scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory dreaming of new ways to create...

Extraordinary dark cloud photographed on Jupiter.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For more than a century astronomers thought that the Great Red Spot was the biggest thing on Jupiter. Not anymore. Images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have revealed something at least as large:...

NASA to launch major space telescope.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new space telescope to be launched in mid-April 2003 should open another window on the universe, pulling into focus objects too cold, distant, or clouded by dust for other observatories to see. ...

Experiment may help size up neutrinos.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Our planet is bombarded every second with a large number of chargeless, seemingly massless particles that originate in nuclear fusion reactions that power the sun. They're called neutrinos. ...

New analysis sheds light on Northern Hemisphere's springtime ozone peak.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and colleagues at universities and NASA have clarified the process by which ozone - an essential shield in the stratosphere, but a...

Study shows lightning adds to ozone level.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Lightning may be Mother Nature's greatest show on Earth, but scientists now know it can produce significant amounts of ozone and other gases that affect air chemistry. Researcher Renyi Zhang of...

Versatile, nanoscale, polymer brushes have many potential applications.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Carnegie Mellon University scientists are creating molecularly engineered polymer brushes using a revolutionary catalytic polymerization procedure developed in their laboratory. These nanoscale...

Atomic force microscope powerful new tool for measuring particle attraction.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Tracy L. Cail, a PhD student in geological sciences at Virginia Tech, is developing a new method for calculating sticking efficiency at the nanoscale with the aim of someday developing improved filters...

More environmentally-friendly car tire is under development.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Technologists in the Netherlands have carried out research into a more environmentally friendly car tire. The scarcely mixable substances silica and rubber were mixed in a ratio that produced a...

Motor oil of the future may come from vegetables.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Vegetable oil similar to the stuff you use to cook your food may one day fill your car's engine. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have developed a chemically modified...

New high-purity plutonium sources produced at Los Alamos.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For the first time since 1987, new high-purity plutonium sources for use as primary analytical chemistry standards have been produced at Los Alamos National Laboratory using a new extrusion method...

2002-03 El Nino has resisted stereotypes with its unpredictable behavior.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Sometimes Earth scientist Bill Patzert wishes he had a degree in psychology. It might help him understand El Nino. "Every El Nino has a personality all its own, and the latest one has been very...

Climate 'memory' may aid long range forecasts.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at Harper Adams University College, Shropshire, U.K., believe a "memory" in the climate system could be tapped to improve long-range weather forecasts. In the April 2003 edition of...

Increasing solar trend could change climate.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Since the late 1970s, the amount of solar radiation the Sun emits during times of quiet sunspot activity has increased by nearly .05% per decade, according to a NASA-funded study. "This trend is...

Scanner provides high level of protection from computer viruses, cyberterrorism.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Computer experts at the University of Southampton, U.K., have just released a new version of their hugely popular, free-to-use, e-mail security system MailScanner, offering a high level of protection...

Solid oxide fuel cells could run much cooler.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Astronauts have been using them for power aboard spacecraft since the 1960s. Soon, perhaps, they'll be just as common on Earth, powering cars, trucks, laptop computers, and cell phones. They're...

Synergistic supergrid could meet U.S. energy needs in 21st century.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A high-capacity, superconducting energy pipeline, or SuperGrid, could deliver electricity and hydrogen fuel across the U.S. and help meet future energy needs while reducing the consumption of fossil...

Computer calculates when reinforced concrete will rust.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A computer model has been developed that calculates the rate at which salt and moisture penetrate reinforced concrete. The model can be used for both the design of new concrete structures as well...

Concrete less sensitive for cracks than previously thought.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Reinforced high-strength concrete can crack due to stresses that develop during the hardening process. But this has been found to be surprisingly less quick than previously thought. Due to Dutch...

For markets of the future, success depends on advanced materials.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Advanced materials look set to revolutionize numerous applications in the 21st century. Scientists and engineers are undertaking extensive research activities in their quest to develop...

Porous structure of zeolite catalyst depends on production method.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Utrecht University chemists have visualized how the porous structure of a zeolite catalyst depends on the production method. Zeolite made with carbon fibers as a template has particles with...

New old news: Small asteroids don't create hazardous tsunamis.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The idea that even small asteroids can create hazardous tsunamis may at last be pretty well washed up. Small asteroids do not make great ocean waves that will devastate coastal areas for miles...

Spider silk-based fibers carry light beams.
April 14, 2003... 2003 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- What do you get if you give a delicate thread of spider's silk a glassy coating and then extract the silk by baking? Yushan Yan reckons you will solve a major problem in photonics: how to make...

Prions offer nanotech building tool.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The same characteristics that make misfolded proteins known as prions such a pernicious medical threat in neurodegenerative diseases may offer a construction toolkit for manufacturing nanoscale...

Discovery of electrostatic spin challenges century-old theory.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a discovery that is likely to impact fields as diverse as atomic physics, chemistry, and nanotechnology, researchers have identified a new physical phenomenon, electrostatic rotation, that, in the...

Interstellar cloud chemistry points to galactic wind of low-energy cosmic rays.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A bit of Earth-bound chemistry has led scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, to conclude that there is an unsuspected wind of low-energy cosmic ray particles blowing through the galaxy....

Natural approach to cleaning up toxic freeway runoff urged.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Taking a clever, low-cost, and natural approach to the problem, University of California, Los Angeles, researchers hope to prevent storm-water runoff from washing thousands of pounds of pollutants into...

Scientists detect rare nuclear fusion violating charge symmetry.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility in Bloomington have made the first unambiguous detection of a rare process: the fusion of two nuclei of heavy hydrogen to form a nucleus of...

Prototype may someday enable other robots to find life on other planets.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A team of Carnegie Mellon University and NASA scientists traveled to the Atacama Desert in northern Chile in April 2003 to conduct research that will help them develop and deploy a robot and...

Researcher focuses new space telescope.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Suppose you had to focus a pair of binoculars blindfolded, and if you failed, a $700 million investment would be lost in space. That was essentially the task facing University of Minnesota...

New era of precision cosmology lauded.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For most of us, "inflation" is a term that comes up only in conversations about the economy or flat tires. But for many cosmologists, inflation is the ultimate word in understanding how the universe...

Two billion-year-old explosion of giant star observed.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Two billion years ago, in a far-away galaxy, a giant star exploded, releasing almost unbelievable amounts of energy as it collapsed to a black hole. The light from that explosion finally reached Earth...

Climate change 6000 years ago in Sahara desert explained.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Just as vegetables are essential to balancing the human diet, the inclusion of vegetation may be equally essential to balancing Earth's climate models. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of...

Software tries to reduce information overload.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- If your computer screen is covered with Web browser windows to let you monitor the news headlines, weather, traffic, and stock market while you work, you might be suffering from information overload....

Micro fuel processing system can power today's electronic soldier.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- On the battlefield, having a reliable source of power to operate the many advanced electronic devices a soldier carries is essential. But today's heavy and cumbersome batteries fall short in...

Ultrasimple desktop device slows light to a crawl.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Though Einstein put his foot down and demanded that nothing can move faster than light, a new device developed at the University of Rochester may let you outpace a beam by putting your foot down on the...

Structure of tiger eye stone reevaluated after 125 years.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to what gives tiger's eye its beauty, geologists may have been wrong for years, according to Penn State geoscientists. The popular stone...

Students' work addresses natural hazards planning in developing countries.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Living near the seismically active intersection of two tectonic plates, and nestled against the steep slopes of young mountain ranges, the population of Caracas, Venezuela, and surrounding regions is...

Under-65s prefer Internet for traffic reports.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- If you still prefer getting your traffic reports from radio or TV, you may be showing your age. A Penn State study has found that those over age 65 turn to radio and TV for the latest on tie-ups,...

Wireless PDA software helps grocery shoppers find items.
April 28, 2003... 2003 APR 28 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Someday soon grocery shoppers using a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) may be able to interact with a store's computer system to locate items and learn about special promotions. In a...