Science

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New Instrument Continues Gathering Sun's Effects on the Earth

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Total solar irradiance (shown in color) over the past three solar cycles since 1978 adjusted to a ground-based cryogenic instrument funded by NASA in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

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Supernova Blast Provides Clues to Age of Binary Star System

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NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Obtains Best Views of Saturn Hexagon

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This colorful view from NASA's Cassini mission is the highest-resolution view of the unique six-sided jet stream at Saturn's north pole known as "the hexagon." This movie, made from images obtained by Cassini's imaging cameras, is the first to show the hexagon in color filters, and the first movie to show a complete view from the north pole down to about 70 degrees north latitude.

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Turning waste into power with bacteria — and loofahs

Loofahs, best known for their use in exfoliating skin to soft, radiant perfection, have emerged as a new potential tool to advance sustainability efforts on two fronts at the same time: energy and waste.

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Loofahs, thanks to their large pores, have emerged as a potential new tool to advance sustainability efforts on two fronts at the same time: energy and waste.

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Curing Cancer with Magnetic Nanoparticles

Researchers are curing cancer in mice with magnetic nanoparticles, after a single, three-minute treatment.

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Iron particles inside a tumor spin in an alternating magnetic field, generating enough heat to cook the cancer.

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A Fiery Drama of Star Birth and Death

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Comet ISON: has this lonely traveller reached the end of its journey?

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An image of Comet ISON, captured by the Hubble Telescope

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A new simulatable model displaying exotic quantum phenomena: Scientists at MPQ develop a new model for realizing the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect in lattice systems

It is fascinating how quantum mechanical behaviour of particles at smallest scales can give rise to strange properties that can be observed in the classical world. One example is the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect (FQH) that was discovered about 30 years ago in semiconductor devices. It is one of the most striking phenomena in condensed matter physics and has been thoroughly investigated. Nowadays experimental physicists are able to model effects occurring in condensed matter with ultracold atoms in optical lattices. This has sparked the interest in the question under which conditions the FQH could be observed in such systems. Now Anne Nielsen and co-workers from the Theory Division of Professor Ignacio Cirac at the Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics and at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid have developed a new lattice model which gives rise to FQH-like behaviour

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Illustration of the lattice model where each particle is either in a ‘spin up’ or a ‘spin down’ state.

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Antibacterial Nanocomposites Produced from Offset Lithography Inks

Experts from Iran Institute for Color Science and Technology used zinc oxide nanoparticles to produce an antibacterial nanocomposite from offset lithography inks which can be applied for lithography on various types of packaging of foodstuff, medications and cosmetics.

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Cluster takes a tilt at radio wave sources

A new study using ESA's Cluster mission has shown improved precision in determining the source of a radio emission produced by the Earth. The experiment involved tilting one of the four identical Cluster spacecraft to measure the electric field of this emission in three dimensions for the first time.