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17-Nov-2010 1:00 PM EST
Heating Nanoparticles to Kill Tumor Cells
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH) is a promising new cancer treatment that essentially "fries" cells inside tumors. As described today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting in Long Beach, CA, when the nanoparticles are heated, cancer cells die with no adverse effects to the surrounding healthy tissue.

17-Nov-2010 1:00 PM EST
Optimizing Large Wind Farms
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers in Baltimore, MD and Belgium have developed a model to calculate the optimal spacing of wind turbines for the very large wind farms of the future. They will present their work today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, CA.

17-Nov-2010 1:00 PM EST
Flying Snakes, Caught on Tape
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

New video analysis and mathematical modeling by engineers at Virginia Tech reveals how certain types of snakes can "fly" by flinging themselves off their perches, flattening their bodies, and sailing from tree to tree -- work presented today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting in Long Beach, CA.

17-Nov-2010 1:00 PM EST
Whale-Inspired Ocean Turbine Blades
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Lessons learned from the ocean's largest mammals have inspired United States Naval Academy researchers to tackle one of the serious design challenges facing a technology that uses underwater turbines to convert ocean tides into electricity -- work present today at the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting in Long Beach, CA.

17-Nov-2010 1:00 PM EST
Enhancing the Efficiency of Wind Turbines
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

New ideas for enhancing the efficiency of wind turbines are being presented today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, CA. These include a new type intelligent system for turbines operating under many different wind conditions and a way to reduce drag on turbine blades by covering them with tiny grooves.

17-Nov-2010 1:00 PM EST
Jump Rope Aerodynamics
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Engineers at Princeton University have built a robotic jump rope device and used it to study the underlying physics of jumping rope, which they describe today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, CA.

17-Nov-2010 1:00 PM EST
Jet Engine Too Hot? Schedule an MRI!
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers at Stanford University are using MRI to improve jet engine efficiency -- work described today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting in Long Beach, CA. The technique could also provide insights into other fluid mixing problems, ranging from combustion to the flow of oil through porous rock in a well.

17-Nov-2010 1:00 PM EST
Should Airplanes Look Like Birds?
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Airplanes do not look much like birds, but should they? This question is exactly what a pair of engineers in California and South Africa inadvertently answered recently in experiments they describe today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, CA.

17-Nov-2010 1:00 PM EST
Simple Rubber Device Mimics Complex Bird Songs
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

A team of scientists at Harvard University has reproduced many of the characteristics of real bird song with a simple physical model made of a rubber tube -- work presented today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, CA.

17-Nov-2010 1:00 PM EST
How Hummingbirds Fight the Wind
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Hummingbirds rank among the world’s most accomplished hovering animals, but how do they manage it in gusty winds? A team of researchers has built a robotic hummingbird wing to discover the answer, which they describe today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, CA.

17-Nov-2010 1:00 PM EST
Air Flows in Mechanical Device Reveal Secrets of Speech Pathology
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

A mechanical model of human vocal folds and new observations by researchers at George Washington University may lead to new devices to help people afflicted with vocal fold paralysis -- as described today at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) meeting in Long Beach, CA.

Released: 16-Nov-2010 12:45 PM EST
Listening for Ocean Spills and their Ecological Effects
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Scientists who study acoustics (the "science of sound") have over the years developed a variety of techniques to probe the hidden depths of oceans. This week, many of these acoustic researchers will come together to discuss how these technologies were used to monitor April's Deepwater Horizon oil spill, to present new data on the gusher's ecological impacts, and to highlight new techniques under development that could improve our ability to detect oil in ocean water.

15-Nov-2010 10:40 AM EST
New APS Report: Developing Energy Storage Technologies Among Crucial Steps Toward Increasing Renewable Electricity on Nation’s Grid
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

U.S. policymakers must focus more closely on developing new energy storage technologies as they consider a national renewable electricity standard, according to one of the principal recommendations in a newly released report, Integrating Renewable Electricity on the Grid, by the American Physical Society’s Panel on Public Affairs (POPA). Establishing a national renewable electricity standard will help to unify the fragmented U.S. grid system—an important step in the wider adoption of using more wind and solar for energy generation.

15-Nov-2010 2:15 PM EST
'Chaogates' Hold Promise for the Semiconductor Industry
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

In a move that holds great significance for the semiconductor industry, a team of researchers in Arizona has created an alternative to conventional logic gates, demonstrated them in silicon, and dubbed them "chaogates," which are described in the journal CHAOS.

15-Nov-2010 2:25 PM EST
Artificial Black Holes Made with Metamaterials
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

While our direct knowledge of black holes in the universe is limited to what we can observe from thousands or millions of light years away, a team of Chinese physicists has proposed a simple way to design an artificial electromagnetic black hole in the laboratory -- described in the Journal of Applied Physics.

15-Nov-2010 2:35 PM EST
Getting Bubbles Out Of Fuel Pumps
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

When vapor bubbles form and collapse in fluids moving swiftly over steel objects such as those inside fuel pumps, they can damage them. Now an article in the journal Physics of Fluids by researchers in Indiana details the results of the first detailed experiments aimed at preventing cavitation damage in jet fuel pumps, which are essential components in modern aircraft.

Released: 15-Nov-2010 9:00 AM EST
Rivers, Fires, Storms on Jupiter, Oil, Mucus, and Other Fluid Flows: Highlights of DFD Meeting
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

The 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society's (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) takes place this month from November 21-23, 2010 at the Long Beach Convention Center, located in downtown Long Beach, California. The largest scientific conference of its type, the meeting brings together thousands of researchers from around the globe to present work in engineering, energy, astronomy, medicine, and more -- all related to different forms of fluid flow.

Released: 10-Nov-2010 11:30 AM EST
Army-Funded Technology Detects Bacteria in Water
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

To keep soldiers in the battlefield healthy, the U.S. Army is exploring new ways to detect harmful bacteria in water.

Released: 9-Nov-2010 5:00 PM EST
Cleaner Stoves for Developing Countries, Thanks to Heat-Powered Fan Design
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Paul Montgomery, a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University, is helping design a better cook stove for people in developing countries.

Released: 9-Nov-2010 10:35 AM EST
World Wide Press Room Opens for Major Acoustical Science and Technology Conference, Nov. 15-19
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

The 2nd Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics -- a major international acoustics conference -- convenes next week at the Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach Hotel in Cancun, Mexico. Reporters are invited to visit the ASA World Wide Press Room: http://www.acoustics.org/press

Released: 9-Nov-2010 9:00 AM EST
Portable Microwave Sensors for Measuring Vital Signs
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers in Japan have developed a new technique for monitoring the heart rate and other vital signs by using microwaves. The work, which could lead to the development of non-invasive, real-time stress sensing in a variety of environments, is described in a recent issue of the journal Review of Scientific Instruments.

Released: 9-Nov-2010 9:00 AM EST
Foucault, Revisited: Argentinean Scientists Show How to Build a Pendulum for Any Classroom
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

A Foucault pendulum is a simple device for observing the Earth’s rotation. While such pendulums have been around for more than 150 years and are a staple of the modern science museum, they are generally large and unwieldy. Now a group of researchers from Argentina has developed a new type of compact pendulum, which they describe in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments.

Released: 9-Nov-2010 9:00 AM EST
New Way of Detecting Concealed Radioactive Material
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers in Maryland have proposed a scheme for detecting a concealed source of radioactive material without searching containers one by one. The concept, described in the Journal of Applied Physics, is based on the gamma-ray emission from the radioactive material that would pass through the shipping container walls and ionize the surrounding air.

Released: 8-Nov-2010 9:05 AM EST
Global Warming Reduces Available Wind Energy
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

A switch to wind energy will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- and reduce the global warming they cause. But there's a catch, according to a paper in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy: rising temperatures decrease wind speeds, making for less power bang for the wind turbine buck.

Released: 8-Nov-2010 9:05 AM EST
New Method for Simple Fabrication of Microperforated Membranes
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Microscopically porous polymer membranes have numerous applications in microfluidics, where they can act as filters, masks for surface patterning, and even as components in 3D devices. In the AIP journal Biomicrofluidics, chemist in Hong Kong describe a simple new method to fabricate free-standing polymer membranes with neatly patterned holes as small as 10 microns.

Released: 3-Nov-2010 4:00 PM EDT
Highlights From Major Acoustical Science and Technology Conference, Nov. 15-19
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

November 3, 2010 -- The latest discoveries and innovations in the field of acoustics (the "science of sound") will be presented this month at a major scientific conference in Cancun -- including better ways to power hearing aids, new technologies for monitoring fetal heartbeats, intriguing explorations of the origins of laughter and new insights into the social lives of dolphins.

Released: 3-Nov-2010 9:00 AM EDT
Water, Blood, Wind, Movies, Robots, and Coffee Rings:Highlights of APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Many of nature's most fascinating phenomena involve various forms of fluid flow, and scientists who study fluid dynamics investigate everything from the way that dogs shake off water to the formation of proto-planets and coffee rings, the mathematics of flowing blood, the spray from rolling tires, the blowing wind, and a wide range of other questions that impact applications from ship design to medical devices.

Released: 22-Oct-2010 10:35 AM EDT
Major Acoustical Science and Technology Conference: Nov. 15-19
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

October 21, 2010 -- Experts in acoustics (the "science of sound") from around the world will gather in Cancun next month to present their latest discoveries and innovations: cheap, clean stoves for poor countries, ultrasound technologies that count the heartbeats of a fetus, quieter wind turbines, measurements of whale activity in the wake of the recent oil spill and investigations into the origins of laughter.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
Towards Better Explosives Detectors
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Over the past decade, a team of scientists in Maryland have been working to stop the threat of terrorist-based attacks in the form of explosives or explosive-based devices, by providing a sound measurement and standard infrastructure.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
"Lubricin" Molecule Discovered to Reduce Cartilage Wear
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

A team of researchers in North Carolina has discovered that lubricin, a synovial fluid glycoprotein, reduces wear to bone cartilage, a result that has implications for the treatment of osteoarthritis.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
A Forest of Nanorods -- Amazing Nanostructures Created by Glancing-Angle Deposition
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Just as landscape photographs shot in low-angle light dramatically accentuate subtle swales and mounds, depositing metal vapors at glancing angles turns a rough surface into amazing nanostructures with a vast range of potential properties.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
Effect of Captured and Stored Carbon Dioxide on Minerals
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers in Washington State have developed a way to study the effects of supercritical carbon dioxide on minerals commonly found in potential underground storage sites, helping to evaluate one strategy for minimizing the impacts of greenhouse gases on global warming.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
Photovoltaic Medicine
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Micro-scaled photovoltaic devices may one day be used to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs directly to tumors, rendering chemotherapy less toxic to surrounding tissue.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
New Surface May Kill Antibiotic-Resistant Staph Bacteria with Fluorescent Light
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Scientists in New Mexico are working on a new type of antimicrobial surface that won’t harm people or animals but is inhospitable to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) -- the bacterial cause of an estimated 19,000 deaths and $3-4 billion in healthcare costs per year in the U.S.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
How Batteries Grow Old
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

In a laboratory in Ohio, an ongoing experiment is looking at why batteries lose their ability to hold a charge as they age -- specifically lithium-ion batteries, which have generated a lot of buzz for their potential to power the electric cars of the future.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
Nanotube Thermopower -- Storing Energy in Carbon Nanotubes
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers from Massachusetts have found a way to store energy in thin carbon nanotubes by adding fuel along the length of the tube, chemical energy, which can later be turned into electricity by heating one end of the nanotubes.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
Disease in Rural China Linked to Polluted Coal
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

In remote, rural areas of southwestern China, villagers cook and dry their clothes by burning pieces of coal they pick up off the ground. This fuel releases a toxin that may be poisoning millions of people, according to an ongoing investigation by researchers in New York and China.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
Batteries Smaller Than a Grain of Salt
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers in California are aiming to create some of the tiniest batteries on Earth, the largest of which would be no bigger than a grain of sand. These tiny energy storage devices could one day be used to power the electronics and mechanical components of tiny micro- to nano-scale devices.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
Improved Antibiotic Coatings
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

A research group in Australia is working on techniques to permanently bind antibacterial coatings to medical devices by binding them to a polymer layer.

Released: 19-Oct-2010 3:00 PM EDT
Study of Tiny Magnets May Advance Their Use in Microelectronics
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers at Shanxi University in China have announced progress in understanding the single-molecule magnet, which combines the classical macroscale properties of a magnet with the quantum properties of a nanoscale entity -- as described in the Journal of Applied Physics.

Released: 19-Oct-2010 2:55 PM EDT
Short-Range Scattering in Quantum Dots Discovery Advances Novel Devices
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Chinese researchers, reporting in the Journal of Applied Physics, have described a new breakthrough in understanding the way electrons travel around quantum dots. This might lead to promising new fabrication methods of novel quantum devices.

Released: 19-Oct-2010 2:45 PM EDT
Ten-Minute Plasma Treatment Improves Organic Memory Performance
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

A group of researchers at Korea's Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology has demonstrated an optimal combination of materials and processing for a resistive memory circuit design -- described in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

Released: 19-Oct-2010 2:45 PM EDT
Get in Synch -- Or Be Enslaved By It
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Understanding conditions that cause oscillators to fall in or out of synchronization is necessary to achieve the optimal functioning of oscillator networks that underlie many technologies. The transition from synchronization to desynchronization is the subject of a new investigation by a team of Japanese scientists that appears in the journal CHAOS.

13-Oct-2010 11:00 AM EDT
Atomic-Level Manufacturing with Every Atom in its Proper Place
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

The long-held dream of creating atomically precise three-dimensional structures in a manufacturing environment is approaching reality, according to the top scientist at a Texas company making tools aimed at that ambitious goal.

Released: 5-Oct-2010 10:00 AM EDT
2010 Nobel Prize in Physics: Background Information and a Statement by AIP Executive Director and CEO
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

THE 2010 NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS will be awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester, U.K. for their pioneering work with graphene, a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon. Discovered in 2004 by Geim and his colleagues, graphene is an extraordinary and versatile material.

4-Oct-2010 4:35 PM EDT
Anti-Tumor Drugs Tested by Microfluidic Device
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

A prototype device developed in Hong Kong will allow laboratory researchers to non-invasively test drugs for their ability to kill tumors by subjecting cancerous cells with different concentration gradients. The new device is described in the journal Biomicrofluidics.

Released: 1-Oct-2010 4:50 PM EDT
Plutonium, Plasmonics, Nanomaterials, and Future Devices: Highlights of AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

This month in Albuquerque, New Mexico, scientists and engineers from around the world will convene to discuss some of the latest breakthroughs in nanotechnology, alternative energy, materials research, and medicine at the AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition, from October 17-22, 2010 in the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Released: 28-Sep-2010 4:25 PM EDT
New Device for Identifying Aggressive Breast Cancers
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

A disposable device designed to efficiently capture cancer cells overexpressing the protein HER2 in circulating blood is described in the journal Biomicrofluidics. It may help identify advanced breast cancer patients who are candidates for therapy with the drug trastuzumab (Herceptin).

Released: 28-Sep-2010 4:20 PM EDT
Finding a Buckyball in Photovoltaic Cell
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Research reported in the Journal of Chemical Physics describes a technique that analyzes the reflection of neutrons to locate buckyballs within composite materials. The work, conducted by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, may lead to more effective research on photovoltaic devices.

Released: 28-Sep-2010 4:15 PM EDT
Tiny Generators Turn Waste Heat into Power
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers in Ukraine and the United States have uncovered a novel way to power tiny devices using waste heat. In an article in the Journal of Applied Physics, the arrays of tiny ferroelectric nanowires are shown to rapidly generate a current in response to any change in the ambient temperature.



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