Science

Study Contrasts Effects of Two Types of SoCal Fires

A new University of California/NASA study finds Southern California autumn wildfires driven by Santa Ana winds have been 10 times as costly in the past 20 years as summer wildfires, even though both types of fires have consumed about the same total...

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Team announces breakthrough observation of Mott transition in a superconductor

The discovery experimentally connects the worlds of classical and quantum mechanics and illuminates the mysterious nature of the Mott transition. It also could shed light on non-equilibrium physics, which is poorly understood but governs most of what...

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Rice researchers demo solar water-splitting technology: Process uses light-harvesting nanoparticles, captures energy from 'hot electrons'

Rice University researchers have demonstrated an efficient new way to capture the energy from sunlight and convert it into clean,...

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Nanoporous gold sponge makes DNA detector: Possible new rapid tests for human, animal, plant pathogens

Nanoporous gold contains tiny pores that can filter DNA from other biomolecules. The material can be used to make DNA detection...

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New nanomaterial maintains conductivity in three dimensions: International team seamlessly bonds CNTs and graphene

The research holds potential for increased energy storage in high efficiency batteries and supercapacitors, increasing the efficiency of energy conversion in solar cells, for lightweight thermal coatings and more. The study is published on Sept. 4 in...

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Fortifying Computer Chips for Space Travel

Space is cold, dark, and lonely. Deadly, too, if any one of a million things goes wrong on your spaceship. It’s certainly no place for a computer chip to fail, which can happen due to the abundance of radiation bombarding a craft. Worse, ever-...

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Making nanowires from protein and DNA