Apr

30

Fibonacci Numbers and Nature

April 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Fibonacci spirals in nature could be stress-related. ‘The Fibonacci sequence – in which each successive number is the sum of its two preceding numbers – regularly crops up in nature. It describes the number of petals around daisies, how the density of branches increases up a tree trunk, and how a pine cone’s scales are [...]

Apr

30

Bubbles Puzzles

April 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Solution to Bubble Puzzle Pops Out. ‘With a key mathematical insight, a pair of theorists has solved a 5-decades-old puzzle as easily as you might burst a soap bubble with a pin. The new result lets researchers predict whether a bubble in foam will grow or shrink. More than a mere curiosity, the mathematical relation [...]

Apr

29

Hubble’s 17th Anniversary: The Carina Nebula

April 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme. ‘In celebration of the 17th anniversary of the launch and deployment of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers is releasing one of the largest panoramic images ever taken with Hubble’s cameras. [...]

Apr

28

Royal Society 2007 General Prize for Science Books: Shortlist Announced

April 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Shortlist announced for General Prize. ‘All six authors in the running to win this year’s Royal Society Prize for Science Books, the world’s most prestigious award for science writing, are newcomers to the prize’s shortlist. They include neuroscientist and Nobel Prize winner Eric R. Kandel, Chris Stringer, Professor of the Natural History Museum and Adam [...]

Apr

27

Sunlight CO2 Splitting: Transforming CO2 into Fuel

April 27, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Device Uses Solar Energy to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Fuel. ‘Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have demonstrated the feasibility of exploiting sunlight to transform a greenhouse gas into a useful product.
Clifford Kubiak, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and his graduate student Aaron Sathrum have developed a prototype device that can capture energy [...]

Apr

24

(Very Bright) Light Sources

April 24, 2007 | 2 Comments

Lightsources.org. Lightsources.org is the result of a collaboration among communicators from light-source facilities around the world. The site serves as a clearing house for light-source-related news, educational material, and user-related information and is updated daily. It provides links to current light-source news from the world’s press, high-resolution photos and graphics from light-source facilities around the [...]

Apr

24

Advanced Photon Source (APS)

April 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Advanced Photon Source. ‘The Advanced Photon Source (APS) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory provides this nation’s (in fact, this hemisphere’s) most brilliant x-ray beams for research in almost all scientific disciplines.
These x-rays allow scientists to pursue new knowledge about the structure and function of materials in the center of the Earth [...]

Apr

24

What Happens to a Metal Ion in Solution?

April 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

X-ray scattering techniques determine how dissolved metal ions interact in solution. ‘Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Notre Dame have successfully applied X-ray scattering techniques to determine how dissolved metal ions interact in solution. These findings will help researchers better understand how metal ions, such as those found [...]

Apr

24

Digital Brain Atlas: BrainMaps.org

April 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

BrainMaps.org. ‘BrainMaps is an interactive zoomable high-resolution digital brain atlas and virtual microscope that is based on over 15 million megapixels of scanned images of serial sections of both primate and non-primate brains and that is integrated with a high-speed database for querying and retrieving data about brain structure and function over the internet. Currently [...]

Apr

22

Science Quick Picks of the Past: April 2006 Selected Posts

April 22, 2007 | 1 Comment

From Science Quick Picks Archives: April 2006
Science News:

Global Warming Crisis
Neutrino Missing Mass Mystery Solved
iPod as Educational Tool
Platinum Problems in Silicone Breast Implants
All About Ethanol as Fuel
Recent Advances in Nanotechnology
Google’s Page Rank as a Citation Index
From Paternity Tests to HIV: Kits, Kits and more Kits
Laws of Physics and Tennis
Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis: The End of Oil Dependency?
Benzene in [...]

Apr

20

Carbenes (CAAC): A Hydrogen-Storage Solution?

April 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment

UCR Chemists Identify Organic Molecules That Mimic Metals. ‘Molecules may offer solution to storing hydrogen and producing abundant amino compounds for industrial applications. A limitation in using hydrogen as a fuel in hydrogen-powered vehicles is the difficulty involved in storing it in a cost-effective and convenient manner. While it is possible to store hydrogen using [...]

Apr

20

GM Presents the New Generation of Hydrogen Fuel Cell E-Flex

April 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment

General Motors Unveils Second Propulsion System for Chevrolet Volt. ‘E-Flex Hydrogen Fuel Cell Continues Move Toward Electric Drive. GM’s global commitment to developing transportation that reduces oil use and promotes energy diversity continued today at the Shanghai Auto Show with the unveiling of the next iteration of the E-Flex electric architecture, configured with GM’s newest, [...]