Science

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Diamond plates create nanostructures through pressure, not chemistry: Method is more ecological than chemical processes

You wouldn't think that mechanical force — the simple kind used to eject unruly patrons from bars, shoe a horse or emboss the raised numerals on credit cards — could process nanoparticles more subtly than the most advanced chemistry.

Yet, in a current paper in Nature Communications, Sandia National Laboratories researcher Hongyou Fan and colleagues appear to have achieved a start toward that end.

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Mysterious X-ray Signal Intrigues Astronomers

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Measuring the mass of 'massless' electrons: Taming graphene, Harvard-led researchers successfully measure collective mass of ‘massless’ electrons in motion

Individual electrons in graphene are massless, but when they move together, it's a different story. Graphene, a one-atom-thick carbon sheet, has taken the world of physics by storm—in part, because its electrons behave as massless particles. Yet these electrons seem to have dual personalities. Phenomena observed in the field of graphene plasmonics suggest that when the electrons move collectively, they must exhibit mass.

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A schematic of the experimental setup. Ham and Yoon measured the change in phase of a microwave signal sent through the graphene.

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Astronomers map space’s icy wastes

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In space, ice forms by building up a ‘frost-like’ layer on dust grains at a temperature of -263 degrees Celsius. The layer that results is a bit like the frost that forms on a car windscreen on a (somewhat less) cold morning on Earth. In this image the dust layer is represented by the blue coloured molecules at the bottom of the image. Water molecules have two hydrogen atoms (shown here in white) and one oxygen atom (shown here in red). Here the ice forms without structure (so-called amorphous ice), quite unlike the more familiar cubes of ice that you might find in a drink. This results in pores forming in the ice - the big 'hole' in the middle of this simulation. The 'hole' here is nano-sized - about a million times smaller in diameter than the diameter of a human hair. Gases get trapped in these pores, which can have a profound effect on temperatures and densities in regions of star formation.

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NASA Launches Earth Science Challenges with OpenNEX Cloud Data

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NASA satellite data incorporated into OpenNEX include global views of drought conditions. Green regions in this map of July 2012 are areas with more vegetation than an average July (2000-2013); red regions have less vegetation than average. Regions in black have no data due to clouds and snow.

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Titan's Building Blocks Might Pre-date Saturn

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New research on the nitrogen in Titan's atmosphere indicates that the moon's raw materials might have been locked up in ices that condensed before Saturn began its formation.

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The Submillimeter Array: Celebrating a Decade of Discovery

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One step to solar-cell efficiency: Rice University researchers’ chemical process may improve manufacturing

Rice University scientists have created a one-step process for producing highly efficient materials that let the maximum amount of sunlight reach a solar cell.

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Rice University scientists have reduced to one step the process to turn silicon wafers into the black silicon used in solar cells. The advance could cut costs associated with the production of solar cells. Here, a cross section shows inverted pyramids etched into silicon by a chemical mixture over eight hours.

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Time to think big: a call for a giant space telescope

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An artist’s concept of the ATLAST telescope under construction in space. This design has a segmented mirror 20 metres across.

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Changing Composition of Nanofibers Results in Treatment of Scars, Deep Wound

Iranian researchers from Isfahan University of Technology in association with researchers from Singapore National University produced nanofibers for the treatment of surface and deep wounds.

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