A team of researchers at MIT have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity, the scientists say. The phenomenon, described as thermopower waves, "opens up a new area of energy research, which is rare," says Michael Strano, MIT's Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, who was the senior author of a paper describing the new findings that appeared in Nature Materials on March 7. The main author was Wonjoon Choi, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering........

An international team of researchers studying high-energy collisions of gold ions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a 2.4-mile-circumference particle accelerator located at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, has published evidence of the most massive antinucleus discovered to date. The new antinucleus, discovered at RHIC's STAR detector, is a negatively charged state of antimatter containing an antiproton, an antineutron, and an anti-Lambda particle. It is also the first antinucleus containing an anti-strange quark. The results will be published online by Science Express on March 4, 2010........

Research presented in a paper by Morgan McGuire, assistant professor of computer science at Williams College, and co-author Dr. David Luebke of NVIDIA, introduces a new algorithm to improve computer graphics for video games. McGuire and Luebke have developed a new method for computerizing lighting and light sources that will allow video game graphics to approach film quality........

A collaboration led by scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has developed a microbe that can produce an advanced biofuel directly from biomass. Deploying the tools of synthetic biology, the JBEI scientists engineered a strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to produce biodiesel fuel and other important chemicals derived from fatty acids........

Most people know that diamond is one of the hardest solids on Earth, so strong that it can easily cut through glass and steel. Surprisingly, very little is known about the strength of diamond at extreme conditions. But new research by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers shows that diamond becomes even stronger during rapid compression........

When University of Utah researchers discovered a new kind of laser that was generated by an electrically conducting plastic or polymer, no one could explain how it worked and some doubted it was real. Now, a decade later, the Utah scientists have found these "random lasers" occur because of natural, mirror-like cavities in the polymers, and they say such lasers may prove useful for diagnosing cancer........

Move over Bluetooth, Sony is about ready to release a new technology that supposedly does everything Bluetooth promised only without the complication of recognizing like devices security difficulties. .........

Even simple insects can generate quite different movement patterns with their six legs. The animal uses various gaits depending on whether it crawls uphill or downhill, slowly or fast. Researchers from Gottingen have now developed a walking robot, which - depending on the situation - can flexibly and autonomously switch between different gaits. The success of their solution lies in its simplicity: a small and simple network with just a few connections can create very diverse movement patterns. To this end, the robot uses a mechanism for "chaos control". This interdisciplinary work was carried out by a team of researchers at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Gottingen, the Physics Department of the Georg-August-University of Gottingen and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization. (Nature Physics, January 17th, 2010, advanced online publication)........

There are quite a few of these digital camera protective bags with built-in tripods about the place, but Brando gives it to you on the cheap. The bag is actually a hard case and there’s room inside for a small sized point-and-shoot and a little pocket for a spare battery or memory card. The tripod can swivel 360 and tilt upwards to about 45. .........

Contrary to popular belief, China is doing much more than exporting clothing, toys, electronics, and other popular consumer goods. The country is on a scientific roll, to the point where it could conceivably be regarded as the emerging global center for scientific research, a new report indicates. It describes an amazing growth in chemical patenting and publishing that could bring new and innovative products to the world market ranging from pharmaceuticals to microchips, as per an article in the current issue of Chemical and Engineering News, (CandEN) ACS' weekly newsmagazine........

There are also voices recordings and pictures to help reinforce the information. Everything can be accessed via the large touchscreen. There"s also a slot for a memory card and it can be hooked up to a computer via USB. No word on if additional information can be added to the Gravida using these .........

Amid concerns regarding terrorists targeting airliners using weapons less detectable by traditional means, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is ramping up deployment of whole body scanners at security checkpoints in U.S. airports. These systems produce anatomically accurate images of the body and can detect objects and substances concealed by clothing........

The sight of a cockroach scurrying for cover appears to be nauseating, but the insect is also a biological and engineering marvel, and is providing scientists at Oregon State University with what they call "bioinspiration" in a quest to build the world's first legged robot that is capable of running effortlessly over rough terrain........

A timely study in the journal Human Factors suggests why texting while driving is riskier than talking on a cell phone or with another passenger. Human factors/ergonomics scientists at the University of Utah observed that texters in a driving simulator had more crashes, responded more slowly to brake lights on cars in front of them, and showed impairment in forward and lateral control than did drivers who talked on a cell phone while driving or drove without texting........

Duke University engineers have created a new generation of lens that could greatly improve the capabilities of telecommunications or radar systems to provide a wide field of view and greater detail. But the lens they fashioned doesn't look anything like a lens. While traditional lenses are made of clear substances like glass or plastic with highly polished surfaces, the new lens looks more like a miniature set of tan Venetian blinds. Yet its ability to focus the direction of electromagnetic rays passing through it dramatically surpasses that of a conventional lens, the engineers say........

An unusual bowstring truss iron bridge that carried traffic across Roaring Run in Bedford County, Va. for almost 100 years is now a picturesque footbridge at the I-81 Ironto, Va. rest stop. Built in 1878, it is the oldest standing metal bridge in Virginia. In early December, a Virginia Tech undergraduate conducted a load-bearing analysis of the structure........

Nanotechnology has already made it to the shelves of your local pharmacy and grocery: nanoparticles are found in anti-odor socks, makeup, makeup remover, sunscreen, anti-graffiti paint, home pregnancy tests, plastic beer bottles, anti-bacterial doorknobs, plastic bags for storing vegetables, and more than 800 other products........

Air Force Office of Scientific Research and National Science Foundation-funded professor, Dr. Xiang Zhang has demonstrated at the University of California, Berkeley the world's smallest semiconductor laser, which may have applications to the Air Force in communications, computing and bio-hazard detection........

A new generation of ultrasmall transistors and more powerful computer chips using tiny structures called semiconducting nanowires are closer to reality after a key discovery by scientists at IBM, Purdue University and the University of California at Los Angeles. The scientists have learned how to create nanowires with layers of different materials that are sharply defined at the atomic level, which is a critical requirement for making efficient transistors out of the structures........

Hitachi realizes that there"s no such thing as too much storage space when it comes to external hard drives. The firm has just introduced a 2TB (terabyte) edition of its popular external SimpleDrive, and it also announced that all of its 3.5-inch retail drives are now available in 2TB capacities.

Known for their small form factor and high-speed USB 2.0 connectivity, the SimpleDrive has been a top seller for Hitachi since its introduction. This, the third-generation external storage solution is loaded with 2TBs of simple, reliable storage and backup options for both consumer and .........