news 2015

A new method of taking highly detailed x-ray images of bone using powerful laser beams has been developed by researchers at Imperial College London. A new method of taking highly detailed x-ray images of bone using powerful laser beams has been developed by researchers at Imperial College London. The technology is at an early stage but the researchers believe that with further development, it could ultimately enable doctors to make an early diagnosis of bone problems such as osteoporosis, without needing to take a biopsy.

Sussex physicists probe universe's earliest moments with neutrino experiment A major international experiment, involving University of Sussex physicists, has come closer to illuminating the universe's earliest moments after capturing evidence of neutrino oscillations. The NOvA experiment uses two massive detectors in the USA, placed 500 miles apart, to detect and study mysterious particles called neutrinos.

The Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, J is for Jay - a surprisingly clever corvid with the ability to mimic human voices and much more. Jays are corvids - members of the crow family. The jays we see in Britain are Eurasian jays.

A silicon nano-device that funnels laser light to a tightly focused spot can probe biological molecules to explore their potential use as new drugs. The device has the potential to replace gold nano-devices used in current analytical techniques, where the metal elements can become heated to temperatures of 120oC.

Brown dwarfs have dazzling aurora displays similar to Earth's 'Northern Lights', a new study has found, suggesting they behave more like planets than stars. Brown dwarfs, sometimes called 'failed stars', are too massive to be planets but not massive enough to sustain a hydrogen fusion reaction in their cores like other stars.

Astronomers discover brown dwarfs behave more like planets than stars The dim stars remain have powerful aurora displays just like Earth's Northern Lights Brown dwarf stars host powerful aurora displays just like planets, astronomers have discovered. The so-called failed stars, which are difficult to detect and also remain hard to classify, are too massive to be planets but physicists from the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford have revealed that they host powerful auroras just like Earth.

The direction in which a particle spins as it decays via a fundamental force shows the universe has a left-handed bias, according to a new study. Scientists from the LHCb international collaboration at CERN's Large Hadron Collider, studied the behaviour of a certain particle as it decayed via one of four fundamental forces in the universe, known as weak nuclear force.

A University of Manchester spin-out which leads the development of quantum dots and technology allowing energy efficient lighting and televisions has showcased its work in Parliament, as part of a national campaign run by the Royal Society of Chemistry and Institute of Physics. Entitled 'Inspirational science for a modern economy' , the campaign demonstrates UK success stories, both in chemistry and physics, where innovations and companies have been formed from university science departments.

Researchers have developed a new method for growing 'hybrid' crystals at the nanoscale, in which quantum dots - essentially nanoscale semiconductors - of different materials can be sequentially incorporated into a host nanowire with perfect junctions between the components.

Researchers from the University of Bristol have revisited a well-known classroom demonstration where a lighter ball is dropped on top of a larger heavier ball and offer a model to explain the phenomenon. The 'two-ball bounce problem' is often used to demonstrate that the rigorous rules of physics can produce counter-intuitive effects.

Scientists have made the first detailed simulation of the magnetic field surrounding Neptune, the outermost planet in our solar system. Scientists have made the first detailed simulation of the magnetic field surrounding Neptune, the outermost planet in our solar system. They combined 26-year old data from Nasa's Voyager 2 probe, with new supercomputer calculations and found a magnetic field that is perpetually changing and rotating on a different axis to the planet.

Scientists have discovered for the first time direct physical evidence of the existence of opals on Mars. The traces of the precious stone, which were found in a Martian meteorite, could help future exploration missions decide where to look for evidence of life on the red planet. University of Glasgow researchers discovered the opal in a 1.7-gram fraction of the Martian meteorite known as Nakhla, which was supplied by the Natural History Museum in London.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Otherwise, we'll assume you're OK to continue. Universe's hidden supermassive black holes revealed Astronomers have found evidence for a large population of hidden supermassive black holes in the Universe.

Researchers have identified a material that behaves as a conductor and an insulator at the same time, challenging current understanding of how materials behave, and pointing to a new type of insulating state. The discovery of dual metal-insulator behaviour in a single material has the potential to overturn decades of conventional wisdom regarding the fundamental dichotomy between metals and insulators Suchitra Sebastian A new study has discovered mysterious behaviour of a material that acts like an insulator in certain measurements, but simultaneously acts like a conductor in others.

Simple statistical software designed for electron microscope images can be used to improve pictures of everything from cells to the surface of Mars. The quality of images from digital cameras is affected by variations in their digital light sensors. Variations in sensitivity and even broken pixels in the sensors are a natural consequence of the microscopic scale of their fabrication.

Dr Katy Tschann-Grimm is a Lancaster University researcher who works entirely at CERN, the European nuclear research centre near Geneva which houses the LHC. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and most powerful particle collider, restarted on 5 May for the first time since 2013. Dr Tschann-Grimm explains what physicists are doing in the first stages of the second run: "The very first data being collected right now helps us to understand the new pieces of the detector that have been added since the last run and also the new software.

How light of different colours is absorbed by carbon dioxide (CO2) can now be accurately predicted using new calculations developed by a UCL-led team of scientists. This will help climate scientists studying Earth's greenhouse gas emissions to better interpret data collected from satellites and ground stations measuring CO2.

CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has started delivering physics data for the first time in 27 months. After an almost two year shutdown and several months re-commissioning, the LHC is now providing collisions to all of its experiments - including the CMS and LHCb experiments involving scientists from the University of Bristol - at the unprecedented energy of 13 TeV, almost double the collision energy of its first run.

Lancaster University Physicists are standing by to analyse a torrent of new data expected following the restart of the world's largest experiment at CERN on June 3. The giant underground Large Hadron Collider at the European Particle Physics Laboratory near Geneva has been shut down for two years to be upgraded enabling the protons hurtling around it to reach even higher energies.

University of Glasgow scientists are welcoming the restart of physics data collection at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva. For the first time in 27 months, the LHC is now providing collisions to all of its experiments at the unprecedented energy of 13 TeV, almost double the collision energy of its first run.