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Berkeley Lab Researchers Create Nanoscale Waveguide for Future Photonics

By Guest PostJune 3, 2011Sciencebio medical sensing, electromagnetic waves, guy bartal, hybrid plasmon polariton, microprocessors, nanoscale lasers, nanoscale photonic applications, nanoscale waveguides, near field scanning optical microscopy, next generation on chip optical communication systems, nsom, optical computing, photonic circuits, photonic devices, plasmons, quasiparticle, rupert oulton, semiconductor, silicon on insulator platform, soi, spp, surface plasmon polariton, volker sorger, xiang zhang, xiaobo yin, yuan wang, ziliang ye

The creation of a new quasiparticle called the “hybrid plasmon polariton” may throw open the doors to integrated photonic circuits and optical computing for the 21^st century. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have demonstrated the first true nanoscale waveguides for next generation on-chip optical communication systems.

“We have directly demonstrated the nanoscale waveguiding of light at visible and near infrared frequencies in a metal-insulator-semiconductor device featuring low loss and broadband operation,” says Xiang Zhang, the leader of this research. “The novel mode design of our nanoscale waveguide holds great potential for nanoscale photonic applications, such as intra-chip optical communication, signal modulation, nanoscale lasers and bio-medical sensing.” (more…)

‘Dead’ Galaxies Aren’t So Dead After All

By Guest PostJune 1, 2011Sciencedead galaxies, elliptical galaxy, old galaxies, star formation

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— University of Michigan astronomers examined old galaxies and were surprised to discover that they are still making new stars. The results provide insights into how galaxies evolve with time. (more…)

Violent Video Games Reduce Brain Response to Violence and Increase Aggressive Behavior, University of Missouri Study Finds

By Guest PostMay 31, 2011Health, Scienceaggressive, behavior, brain response, brains, bruce bartholow, call of duty, christopher engelhardt, grand theft auto, hitman, indicator of desensitization, killzone, Media, popular violent games, scientists, university of missouri, violence, violent video games

*Parental moderation encouraged for children*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Scientists have known for years that playing violent video games causes players to become more aggressive. The findings of a new University of Missouri (MU) study provide one explanation for why this occurs: the brains of violent video game players become less responsive to violence, and this diminished brain response predicts an increase in aggression.

“Many researchers have believed that becoming desensitized to violence leads to increased human aggression. Until our study, however, this causal association had never been demonstrated experimentally,” said Bruce Bartholow, associate professor of psychology in the MU College of Arts and Science. (more…)

Spitzer Sees Crystal ‘Rain’ in Outer Clouds of Infant Star

By Guest PostMay 30, 2011Scienceastronomers, bill danchi, charles poteet, clouds of gas, comets, constellation orion, crystals, deep impact missions, embryonic star, forsterite crystals, green mineral, herschel space observatory, hops 68, NASA, ohio, olivine, protostar, rain, solar system, spitzer space telescope, star, stardust, tom megeath, university of toledo, young stars

PASADENA, Calif. –– Tiny crystals of a green mineral called olivine are falling down like rain on a burgeoning star, according to observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

This is the first time such crystals have been observed in the dusty clouds of gas that collapse around forming stars. Astronomers are still debating how the crystals got there, but the most likely culprits are jets of gas blasting away from the embryonic star. (more…)

NASA’s WISE Mission Offers a Taste of Galaxies to Come

By Guest PostMay 28, 2011Scienceblue colors, california institute of technology, colorful galaxies, edward wright, flocculent galaxies, grand design spirals, ic 342, messier 51, messier 83, Milky Way, NASA, ngc 2403, ngc 5907, sky, spiral arms, tom jarrett, wide field infrared survey explorer mission, wise

PASADENA, Calif. — An assorted mix of colorful galaxies is being released today by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission, or WISE. The nine galaxies are a taste of what’s to come. The mission plans to release similar images for the 1,000 largest galaxies that appear in our sky, and possibly more.

“Galaxies come in all sorts of delicious flavors,” said Tom Jarrett, a WISE team member at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, who studies our Milky Way’s neighboring galaxies. “Our first sample shows what WISE is capable of. We can produce spectacular high-resolution images of the largest galaxies.” (more…)

Scientists Discover Fossil of Giant Ancient Sea Predator

By Guest PostMay 27, 2011Scienceancient sea creatures, anomalocaridid creature, anomalocaridids, biodiversification, cambrian animals, cambrian explosion, cambrian period, complex ecosystems, deep-water, derek briggs, fossils, marine animals, marine fauna, marine predators, morocco, ordovician period, paleontologists, peter van roy, sea floor, sediment clouds

Paleontologists have discovered that a group of remarkable ancient sea creatures existed for much longer and grew to much larger sizes than previously thought, thanks to extraordinarily well-preserved fossils discovered in Morocco.

The creatures, known as anomalocaridids, were already thought to be the largest animals of the Cambrian period, known for the “Cambrian Explosion” that saw the sudden appearance of all the major animal groups and the establishment of complex ecosystems about 540 to 500 million years ago. Fossils from this period suggested these marine predators grew to be about two feet long. Until now, scientists also thought these strange invertebrates-which had long spiny head limbs presumably used to snag worms and other prey, and a circlet of plates around the mouth-died out at the end of the Cambrian. (more…)

Mars: Red Planet’s Rapid Formation Explains Its Small Size Relative to Earth

By Guest PostMay 27, 2011Scienceali pourmand, atmosphere, chemical behavior, chondrites, composition of chondrites, computer simulation, dauphas and pourmand, earth, embryos, enriqueta barrera, fine scale chronology, geophysicist, hafnium, lithophile elements, mantle of mars, mars, martian meteorites, national science foundation, nicolas dauphas, non volatile elements, nsf, radioactive decay, red planet, refractory, solar system, tungsten in meteorites, tungsten isotopic composition, university of chicago, xenon content

*Mars developed far more quickly than our blue planet*

Mars developed in as little as two to four million years after the birth of the solar system, far more quickly than Earth, according to results of a new study published in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

The red planet’s rapid formation helps explain why it is so small, say the study’s co-authors, Nicolas Dauphas at the University of Chicago and Ali Pourmand at the University of Miami. (more…)

Just Four Percent of Galaxies Have Neighbors Like the Milky Way

By Guest PostMay 26, 2011Scienceanalyses of data, big bang, cdm, cold dark matter theory, computer model, formation of our galaxy, Galaxy, luminosity, magellanic clouds, Milky Way, nigel sharp, optical sky, risa wechsler, sdss, stanford university, universe

*Our home galaxy belongs to a rare subset among the billions that populate the cosmos*

How unique is the Milky Way?

To find out, a group of researchers led by Stanford University astrophysicist Risa Wechsler compared the Milky Way to similar galaxies and found that just four percent are like the galaxy Earth calls home. (more…)

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