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Entropy Can Lead to Order, Paving The Route to Nanostructures

By Guest PostJuly 28, 2012Sciencedesigner materials, nanoparticles, nanostructures, polyhedral shape, shape shifting skins

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Researchers trying to herd tiny particles into useful ordered formations have found an unlikely ally: entropy, a tendency generally described as “disorder.” (more…)

Some Harmful Effects of Light at Night Can Be Reversed, Study Finds

By Guest PostJuly 27, 2012Sciencebrain, chronic exposure, depression, depressive disorder, depressive symptom, drug, hamster, harmful effects, hippocampus, light, light cycle, light dark cycle, night, protein, randy nelson, rodent, siberian hamsters, tnf, tnf inhibitor, tracy bedrosian, tumor necrosis factor, xpro1595, zachary weil

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Chronic exposure to dim light at night can lead to depressive symptoms in rodents – but these negative effects can be reversed simply by returning to a standard light-dark cycle, a new study suggests.

While hamsters exposed to light at night for four weeks showed evidence of depressive symptoms, those symptoms essentially disappeared after about two weeks if they returned to normal lighting conditions.

Even changes in the brain that occurred after hamsters lived with chronic light at night reversed themselves after returning to a more normal light cycle. (more…)

Study Determines Theoretical Energy Benefits and Potential of Algae Fuels

By Guest PostJuly 26, 2012Environment, Sciencealgae, algae fuels, algae pump, algeternal technologies, austin, austin startup, city of austin, colin beal, electricity, electromechanics, energy benefits, energy input, fertilizers, food, green source, michael webber, openalgae, pharmaceuticals, public policy, robert hebner, university of texas, viability of algae

AUSTIN, Texas — It’s theoretically possible to produce about 500 times as much energy from algae fuels as is needed to grow the fuels, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

However, limited by existing technology, the researchers found in a separate study that their algae growing facility is getting out about one-five hundredth as much energy as it currently puts in to grow the fuels.

“The search for cost-effective biofuels is one of the noble endeavors of our time, and these papers shed insight on where the boundaries are in algae research,” said Robert Hebner, a professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering and director of the Center for Electromechanics. “One of the responsibilities of a top research university is to discover and explain what the boundaries are so we can innovate within those boundaries or create ways to expand them.” (more…)

Diamond in The Rough: Half-Century Puzzle Solved

By Guest PostJuly 25, 2012Sciencecold compressed, conduct, Diamond, electricity, experiment, graphite, hard material, high pressure, industrial application, joseph panzik, m carbon, oakland university, optical technique, puzzle, raman spectroscopy, structure, symmetry, synthesize, university, xray diffraction, yale, yuejian wang

A Yale-led team of mineral physicists has for the first time confirmed through high-pressure experiments the structure of cold-compressed graphite, a form of carbon that is comparable in hardness to its cousin, diamond, but only requires pressure to synthesize. The researchers believe their findings could open the way for a super hard material that can withstand great force and can be used — as diamond-based materials are now — for many electronic and industrial applications. The study appears in Scientific Reports, a Nature journal.

Under normal conditions, pure carbon exhibits vastly different physical properties depending on its structure. For example, graphite is soft, but diamond is one of the hardest materials known. Graphite conducts electricity, but diamond is an insulator. (more…)

Mice Have System to Handle Smell of Fear

By Guest PostJuly 24, 2012Sciencegene choice, neural subsystem, olfactory bulb, olfactory receptor, perception of smell, smell of fear

Mice appear to have a specialized system for detecting and at least initially processing instinctually important smells such as those that denote predators. The finding raises a question about whether their response to those smells is hardwired

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study finds that mice have a distinct neural subsystem that links the nose to the brain and is associated with instinctually important smells such as those emitted by predators. That insight, published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, prompts the question whether mice and other mammals have specially hardwired neural circuitry to trigger instinctive behavior in response to certain smells. (more…)

Going Big

By Guest PostJuly 23, 2012Scienceamanda wu, behavior of materials, carbon nanotube, China, chou research group, composite applications, fiber, force, go big, macroscale, nanoscale, sensor, strain, strain rate, tsinghua university, tsu wei chou, university of delaware, van der waals, weibang lu

UD researchers report progress in development of carbon nanotube-based continuous fibers

The Chou research group in the University of Delaware’s College of Engineering recently reported on advances in carbon nanotube-based continuous fibers with invited articles in Advanced Materials and Materials Today, two high impact scientific journals.

According to Tsu-Wei Chou, Pierre S. du Pont Chair of Engineering, who co-authored the articles with colleagues Weibang Lu and Amanda Wu, there has been a concerted scientific effort over the last decade to “go big” – to translate the superb physical and mechanical properties of nanoscale carbon nanotubes to the macroscale. (more…)

Researchers Develop New Amp to Study the Universe

By Guest PostJuly 23, 2012Scienceamplifier, scientific measurements, studying stars

Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology, both in Pasadena, have developed a new type of amplifier for boosting electrical signals. The device can be used for everything from studying stars, galaxies and black holes to exploring the quantum world and developing quantum computers. (more…)

With Drug-Loaded Nanogel, Yale Researchers Attack Cancerous Tumors

By Guest PostJuly 22, 2012Health, Sciencebiodegradable nanoparticle, cancer therapy, cancerous tumor, cytokine, eric stern, immune system, immunotherapeutic method, jason park, metastatic melanomas, michael look, nanogel, natural defense, richard a flavell, skin cancer, soluble protein, stephen h wrzesinski, tarek m fahmy, therapeutic agent, tumor vasculature, yale university

Yale University scientists have developed a new mechanism for attacking cancerous tumors that intensifies the body’s immune response while simultaneously weakening the tumor’s ability to resist it.

“We believe this is a paradigm-changing immunotherapeutic method for cancer therapy,” said Tarek M. Fahmy, a bioengineer at Yale and the project’s principal investigator. “In essence, it’s a one-two punch strategy that seems to work well for melanoma and may work even better with other cancers.” (more…)

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