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Researchers modeling how changes in air flow patterns affect wind turbines’ output power have found that the wind can supply energy from an unexpected direction: below.

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A newly published paper by three UC San Diego astrophysics researchers for the first time provides an explanation for the origin of three observed correlations between various properties of molecular clouds in the Milky Way galaxy known as Larson’s Laws.

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In this week’s issue of Nature Photonics scientists at the Joint Quantum Institute (*) report the first observation of topological effects for light in two dimensions, analogous to the quantum Hall effect for electrons. To accomplish this, they built a structure to guide infrared light over the surface of a room temperature, silicon-on-insulator chip.

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Scientists introduce a general theoretical approach that describes all known forms of high-temperature superconductivity and their "intertwined" phases.

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In a 3-meter diameter hollow aluminum sphere, Cary Forest, a University of Wisconsin-Madison physics professor, is stirring and heating plasmas to 500,000 degrees Fahrenheit to experimentally mimic the magnetic field-inducing cosmic dynamos at the heart of planets, stars and other celestial bodies.

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Scientists studying the behavior of platinum particles immersed in hydrogen peroxide may have discovered a new way to propel microscopic machines. The new mechanism is described in The Journal of Chemical Physics, which is produced by AIP Publishing.

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In a new paper in the journal Physics of Fluids, researchers Junho Park and Paul Billant of the CNRS Laboratoire d’Hydrodynamique in France describe their study of one such geophysical vortex behavior, radiative instability, and how it is affected by two factors, density stratification and background rotation.

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Wayne State University researchers are celebrating the Nobel Prize for the Higgs boson discovery. A team of four WSU researchers played a part in the experimental aspects of the discovery.

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The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to François Englert and Peter Higgs "for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider." To help journalists and the public understand the context of this remarkable theory, AIP has compiled a Physics Nobel Prize Resources page featuring relevant scientific papers and articles, quotes from experts, multimedia, and other resources.

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Binghamton University scientist Aleksey Kolmogorov and his international colleagues report this week on the successful synthesis of the first superconductor designed entirely on the computer.

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When you heat a tiny droplet of liquid tin with a laser, plasma forms on the surface of the droplet and produces extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light, which has a higher frequency and greater energy than normal ultraviolet. Now, for the first time, researchers have mapped this EUV emission and developed a theoretical model that explains how the emission depends on the three-dimensional shape of the plasma. In doing so, they found a previously untapped source of EUV light, which could be useful for various applications including semiconductor lithography, the process used to make integrated circuits.

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Researchers in Japan have developed a new photodiode that can detect in just milliseconds a certain type of high-energy ultraviolet light, called UVC, which is powerful enough to break the bonds of DNA and harm living creatures. The researchers describe their new device in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

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A group of theoretical physicists has solved half of a 50-year homework assignment—a calculation of one type of subatomic particle decay aimed at helping to answer the question of why the early universe ended up with an excess of matter.

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Calculations plus experimental data help map nuclear phase diagram, offering insight into transition that mimics formation of visible matter in the universe today.

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A research team at the Université Paris Diderot recently discovered that it’s possible to make a tiny fluid droplet levitate on the surface of a vibrating bath, walking or bouncing across, propelled by its own wave field. Surprisingly, these walking droplets exhibit certain features previously thought to be exclusive to the microscopic quantum realm. This finding of quantum-like behavior inspired a team of researchers at MIT to examine the dynamics of these walking droplets.

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Researchers have developed a new kind of “x-ray vision”—a way to peer inside real-world devices such as batteries and catalysts to map the internal nanostructures and properties of the various components, and even monitor how properties evolve as the devices operate.

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A space-based laser system proposed to NASA by University of Alabama in Huntsville researchers could be a cost-effective way to nudge small asteroids away from a collision course with Earth.

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The dream of igniting a self-sustained fusion reaction with high yields of energy, a feat likened to creating a miniature star on Earth, is getting closer to becoming reality, according the authors of a new review article in the journal Physics of Plasmas.

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A computational model developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is the first to accurately simulate the complex twists of a short sequence of RNA as it folds into a critical hairpin structure known as a “tetraloop.”

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Climate scientists who are members of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and working through the University of California, San Diego, Center for Aerosol Impacts on Climate and the Environment (CAICE) have discovered disturbing climate trends close to Earth’s surface. A press conference will take place at 3:30 p.m. ET, Monday, Sept. 9, during ACS’ 246th National Meeting to discuss the critical importance that CAICE is having on climate science and the role of federal funding.

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Moonless nights outside the Cerro Tololo astronomical observatory in Chile are so dark that when you look down, you can't see your feet.

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Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory used an indirect method to detect fluctuating "stripes" of charge density in a material closely related to a superconductor. The research identifies a key signature to look for in superconductors as scientists seek ways to better understand and engineer these materials for future energy-saving applications.

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One year after their launch, NASA’s twin Van Allen Probes have already fundamentally changed how we understand the Van Allen radiation belts above our planet.

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A major science celebration is on tap at the Indiana Motor Speedway Sept. 8 in a collaboration between Celebrate Science Indiana and the Indiana Local Section of American Chemical Society (ACS) the world’s largest scientific society. The fair coincides with the ACS 246th National Meeting & Exposition, Sept. 8-12, in Indianapolis.

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The origin of cosmic rays in the universe has confounded scientists for decades. But a study by researchers using data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole reveals new information that may help unravel the longstanding mystery of exactly how and where they are produced.

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Physicists have reproduced a pattern resembling the cosmic microwave background radiation in a laboratory simulation of the Big Bang, using ultracold cesium atoms in a vacuum chamber at the University of Chicago.

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Researchers have demonstrated a way to maintain an unstable quantum system by applying bursts of microwave radiation. The technique is comparable to methods used for controlling an inverted pendulum in classical physics.

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Physicist Art Hobson writes that the answer to the long-running debate of quantum measurement lies in the phenomenon of nonlocality.

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Already noted for saving gasoline and having zero emissions, electric cars have quietly taken on an unlikely new dimension –– the ability to reach blazing speeds that rival the 0-to-60 performance of a typical Porsche or BMW, and compete on some race courses with the world’s best gasoline-powered cars, an authority said here today at a major scientific conference.

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With almost 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) released each year from burning coal, gasoline, diesel and other fossil fuels in the United States alone, scientists are seeking ways to turn the tables on the No. 1 greenhouse gas and convert it back into fuel. Those efforts are the topic of a symposium in Indianapolis today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

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The technology that peeks underneath clothing at airport security screening check points has great potential for looking underneath human skin to diagnose cancer at its earliest and most treatable stages, a scientist said here today. The report on efforts to use terahertz radiation – “T-rays” – in early diagnosis of skin cancer was part of the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

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An historic shift is occurring in traditional innovation in chemistry — which touches more than 96 percent of all the world’s manufactured goods — away from large companies and toward smaller entrepreneurs and startups. Amid that new landscape for transforming ideas and inventions into goods and services, the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, today hosts a special symposium on innovation and entrepreneurship at its 246th National Meeting & Exposition.

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Researchers at The Ohio State University report the first-ever theoretical explanation for some strange semiconductor behavior that was discovered in 2004.

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Rensselaer researchers and students, led by Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy James Napolitano, have led the design, installation, and commissioning of the large-scale water purification system needed to shield the antineutrino detectors from cosmic ray and radioactive backgrounds.

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The international Daya Bay Collaboration has announced new results about the transformations of neutrinos - elusive, ghostlike particles that carry invaluable clues about the makeup of the early universe. The latest findings include the collaboration's first data on how neutrino oscillation varies with neutrino energy, allowing the measurement of a key difference in neutrino masses known as "mass splitting."

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Scientists have made the first-ever accurate determination of a solid-state triple point -- the temperature and pressure at which three different solid phases can coexist stably -- in a substance called vanadium dioxide.

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The article, Dynamics of squeezing fluids: Clapping wet hands," reports on what happens to a thin film of water when it is compressed vertically. Ultimately, oil companies are interested in this research, says Virginia Tech engineering science and mechanics faculty member Sunny Jung, because of the oil separation process.

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Researchers have now created the first simplified computer model of the process that forms the Fåhræus-Lindqvist layer in our blood -- a model that could help to improve the design of artificial platelets and medical treatments for trauma injuries and for blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia and malaria.

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Some time around 37,000 BCE a massive volcano erupted in the Campanian region of Italy, blanketing much of Europe with ash, stunting plant growth and possibly dooming the Neanderthals. While our prehistoric relatives had no way to know the ash cloud was coming, a recent study provides a new tool that may have predicted what path volcanic debris would take.

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With its ever-escalating pursuit of high efficiency and low cost, the electronics industry prizes understanding specific behaviors of polymers. Now there's help in appreciating the polymer mystique related to the emerging field of molecular conduction in which films of charge-transporting large molecules and polymers are used within electronic devices.

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Critical to the recovery efforts following the devastating effects of the 2011 tsunami on Japan’s Fukushima reactor is the ability to assess damage within the reactor’s core. A study in the journal AIP Advances by a team of scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) shows that muon imaging may offer the best hope of assessing damage to the reactor cores and locating the melted fuel.

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The Large Area Picosecond Photodetector (LAPPD) collaboration has developed big detectors that push the timing envelope, measuring the speed of particles with a precision down to trillionths of a second.

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Advanced x-ray technique reveals surprising quantum excitations that persist through materials with or without superconductivity.

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Scientists have now built a machine that sets a new standard of accuracy for testing a material's hardness, which is a measure of its resistance to bumps and scratches. The new machine is called the Precision Nanoindentation Platform, or PNP.

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Could a substance that resembles baby powder curb global carbon emissions? Wake Forest University researchers believe so, and a new Department of Energy (DOE) grant worth more than $1 million will enable them and collaborators at the University of Texas at Dallas to design a novel material that could help revolutionize green engineering.

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Researchers at McGill University have discovered a new way to join materials together using ultrasound. Ultrasound – sound so high it cannot be heard – is normally used to smash particles apart in water. In a recent study, the team of researchers, led by McGill professor Jake Barralet, from the faculties of Dentistry and Medicine, found that if particles were coated with phosphate, they could instead bond together into strong agglomerates, about the size of grains of sand. Their results are published in the journal Advanced Materials.

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Two University of Iowa researchers and their colleagues have advanced scientists’ knowledge of the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts by answering a long-standing question about the belts by finding that electron acceleration takes place in the heart of the radiation belts.

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Highly controlled process can identify active catalyst sites -- may be a new paradigm for fine-tuning catalysts used in everything from making new materials to environmental remediation.

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Today at the European Physical Society meeting in Stockholm, the international T2K collaboration announced definitive observation of muon neutrino to electron neutrino transformation. In 2011, the collaboration announced the first indication of this process, a new type of neutrino oscillation, then; now with 3.5 times more data this transformation is firmly established. The probability that random statistical fluctuations alone would produce the observed excess of electron neutrinos is less than one in a trillion. Equivalently the new results exclude such possibility at 7.5 sigma level of significance. This T2K observation is the first of its kind in that an explicit appearance of a unique flavor of neutrino at a detection point is unequivocally observed from a different flavor of neutrino at its production point.