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Results 21 - 40 of 81.


Physics - Life Sciences - 18.10.2017
Petals produce a ’blue halo’ that helps bees find flowers
New study finds "messy" microscopic structures on petals of some flowers manipulate light to produce a blue colour effect that is easily seen by bee pollinators. Researchers say these petal grooves evolved independently multiple times across flowering plants, but produce the same result: a floral halo of blue-to-ultraviolet light.

Physics - Electroengineering - 16.10.2017
Nanoantenna arrays power a new generation of fluorescence-based sensors
Researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Bedfordshire, in collaboration with multinational company ABB, have designed and tested a series of plasmonic nanoantenna arrays that could lead to the development of a new generation of ultrasensitive and low-cost fluorescence sensors that could be used to monitor water quality.

Astronomy / Space - Physics - 16.10.2017
First detection of gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars
Scientists have for the first time directly observed gravitational waves, in addition to light, emitted from the spectacular collision of two neutron stars. The detection marks the first time that a cosmic event has been viewed in both gravitational waves and light. The gravitational wave signal, named GW170817, was detected at 1:41pm UK time on 17 August by two identical detectors in Washington and Louisiana and a third detector in Pisa, Italy.

Astronomy / Space - Physics - 16.10.2017
First detection of gravitational waves and light produced by colliding neutron stars
In a galaxy far away, two dead stars begin a final spiral into a massive collision. The resulting explosion unleashes a huge burst of energy, sending ripples across the very fabric of space. In the nuclear cauldron of the collision, atoms are ripped apart to form entirely new elements and scattered outward across the Universe.

Astronomy / Space - Physics - 16.10.2017
Light captured alongside a gravitational wave for the first time ever
University of Bath astrophysicists have been closely involved in the first ever combined detection of both light and gravitational waves from the merging of two neutron stars, a cataclysmic cosmic event. The findings, involving an international team of thousands using a global collection of gravitational wave detectors and groundand space-based astronomical telescopes, heralds a new era in modern astrophysics and help us understand the most powerful and violent events in the Universe.

Astronomy / Space - Physics - 28.09.2017
University of Glasgow partners in European gravitational wave discovery
The fledgling scientific discipline of gravitational wave astronomy has made an important step forward with the detection of a gravitational wave signal using a network involving the European Virgo detector. In a new paper accepted today by the journal Physical Review Letters, scientists outline details of the first-ever gravitational wave signal received by the Virgo detector in Italy, alongside the LIGO detectors in the USA.

Astronomy / Space - Physics - 28.09.2017
NHS pressures are hindering ethical practice and caring among nurses, report reveals
An international team of astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to estimate whether there might be water on the seven earth-sized planets orbiting the nearby dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, and the results suggest that the outer planets of the system might still harbour substantial amounts of water.

Astronomy / Space - Physics - 21.09.2017
Finds GPs are unwilling to refer patients for bowel cancer checks
Physicists have described how observations of gravitational waves limit the possible explanations for the formation of black holes outside of our galaxy; either they are spinning more slowly than black holes in our own galaxy or they spin rapidly but are 'tumbled around' with spins randomly oriented to their orbit.

Chemistry - Physics - 21.09.2017
Scientist proves theory chemists have waited two decades to understand
Groundbreaking research led by Simon Woodward,a professor of synthetic organic chemistry at the University of Nottingham, has proved how a catalyst (a small atomic-sized 'machine' that knits together new molecules) in organo-copper chemistry works. This is one of the key approaches of modern chemistry to making larger molecules.

Physics - 20.09.2017
Nanoscale printing breakthrough creates two colours per pixel
Scientists have developed a new form of high-resolution 'printing' which could have wide-ranging applications in data storage, anti-counterfeiting measures, and digital imaging. Dr Alasdair Clark discusses plasmonic colour New research from the University of Glasgow, published today (Wednesday 20 September) in the journal Advanced Functional Materials , outlines how engineers have developed nano-scale plasmonic colour filters that display different colours depending on the orientation of the light which hits it.

Physics - Earth Sciences - 12.09.2017
Tectonic plates ’weaker than previously thought’, say scientists
Experiments carried out at Oxford University have revealed that tectonic plates are weaker than previously thought. The finding explains an ambiguity in lab work that led scientists to believe these rocks were much stronger than they appeared to be in the natural world. This new knowledge will help us understand how tectonic plates can break to form new boundaries.

Astronomy / Space - Physics - 01.09.2017
Earth-sized planets forty light years away could be habitable
There could be water on multiple Earth-sized planets orbiting the recently discovered TRAPPIST-1 dwarf star - making them potentially habitable - according to an international collaboration of researchers, including the University of Warwick. Using the NASA/ESA Hubble telescope to estimate whether there might be water on the surface of the seven planets around TRAPPIST-1, the researchers found that although the innermost planets must have lost most - if not all - of their water, the outer planets of the system might still harbour substantial amounts.

Mechanical Engineering - Physics - 31.08.2017
Motorised molecules drill into cancer cells
Motorised molecules driven by light have been used to drill holes in the membranes of individual cells, including cancerous ones. The technique shows promise for either bringing therapeutic agents into the cells or directly inducing the cells to die. Dr Robert Pal at Durham University worked with researchers at Rice and North Carolina State universities in the USA to demonstrate in laboratory tests how rotors in single-molecule nanomachines can be activated by ultraviolet light to spin at two to three million rotations per second and open membranes in cells.

Physics - Earth Sciences - 29.08.2017
Sense of smell is key factor in bird navigation
How do birds navigate over long distances' This complex question has been the subject of debate and controversy among scientists for decades, with Earth's magnetic field and the bird's own sense of smell among the factors said to play a part. Now, researchers from the universities of Oxford, Barcelona and Pisa have shown in a new experiment that olfaction - or sense of smell - is almost certainly a key factor in long-distance oceanic navigation, eliminating previous misgivings about this hypothesis.

Astronomy / Space - Physics - 22.08.2017
The moving Martian bow shock
A Lancaster physicist has led an international study, based on data from the European Space Agency Mars Express orbiter , which throws new light on the interaction between the planet Mars and supersonic particles in the solar wind. As the energetic particles of the solar wind speed across interplanetary space, their motion is modified by objects in their path.

Physics - 14.08.2017
August: chemical make up of glass | News | University of Bristol
Famously described as 'the deepest problem in solid state physics' by Nobel Laureate, Philip Andersen, the glass transition, by which a liquid transforms into a solid without freezing, is shedding its mystique. Until now, researchers' understanding has been splintered at best, with mutually incompatible interpretations of the physical processes underlying the emergence of amorphous solids (glasses).

Physics - Computer Science - 10.08.2017
Surprise discovery in the search for energy efficient information storage
Today almost all information stored on hard disc drives or cloud servers is recorded in magnetic media, because it is non-volatile (i.e. it retains the information when power is switched off) and cheap. For portable devices such as mobile phones and tablets, other forms of non-magnetic memory are used because the technology based on magnetism is impractical and is not energy efficient.

Physics - 04.08.2017
Scientists closer to explaining why matter persists over antimatter
New results show a difference in the way neutrinos and antineutrinos behave, which could help explain why there is so much matter in the universe. The results, announced today by the international team of scientists including large group from Imperial College London, suggest there could be a difference between the behaviour of matter and antimatter.

Astronomy / Space - Physics - 04.08.2017
Neutrinos could be the key to unlocking the mysteries of the universe
Lancaster physicists working on a major international experiment are a step closer to understanding conditions after the 'Big Bang' and mysteries of why there is so much matter in the universe. Researchers at the T2K (Tokai to Kamioka - which involves sending neutrinos 295 km through the earth across Japan) experiment have discovered that the symmetry between matter and antimatter may be violated for neutrino oscillations.

Astronomy / Space - Physics - 03.08.2017
Accurately measuring the dark universe
The theory that dark matter and dark energy make up most of the cosmos has been confirmed by extremely accurate measurements from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration involving UCL scientists. The findings verify that only 4% of the universe is made of ordinary matter, 26% is in the form of mysterious dark matter and space is filled with an unseen dark energy, which is causing the accelerating expansion of the universe and makes up 70%.