Science

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Global Recovery Offers Opportunity for Growth and Policy Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa

The World Bank Group’s latest regional economic update projects growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to accelerate from an average of 2.6% in 2013 to 4.6% in 2015. With the global economy set for a rebound, 2014 seems hopeful and 2015 could be a turning point for countries in the MENA region as they will start to benefit from stronger external demand in the high-income economies.

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Rebar technique strengthens case for graphene: Rice University lab makes hybrid nanotube-graphene material that promises to simplify manufacturing

Carbon nanotubes are reinforcing bars that make two-dimensional graphene much easier to handle in a new hybrid material grown by researchers at Rice University.

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Carbon nanotubes that serve as reinforcing bars in graphene partially unzip in the process created at Rice University. The unzipped part of the tube bonds covalently with the graphene sheet, providing an uninterrupted electrical connection.

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Trees go high-tech: process turns cellulose into energy storage devices

Based on a fundamental chemical discovery by scientists at Oregon State University, it appears that trees may soon play a major role in making high-tech energy storage devices.

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To bridge LEDs' green gap, scientists think small... really small: Nanostructures half a DNA strand-wide show promise for efficient LEDs

Nanostructures half the breadth of a DNA strand could improve the efficiency of light emitting diodes (LEDs), especially in the "green gap," a portion of the spectrum where LED efficiency plunges, simulations at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) have shown.

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This simulation of a one-nanometer wide Indium Nitride wire shows the distribution of an electron around a positively charged 'hole.' Strong quantum confinement in these small nanostructures enables efficient light emission at visible wavelengths.

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Quantum Photon Properties Revealed in Another Particle—the Plasmon

For years, researchers have been interested in developing quantum computers—the theoretical next generation of technology that will outperform conventional computers. Instead of holding data in bits, the digital units used by computers today, quantum computers store information in units called "qubits." One approach for computing with qubits relies on the creation of two single photons that interfere with one another in a device called a waveguide. Results from a recent applied science study at Caltech support the idea that waveguides coupled with another quantum particle—the surface plasmon—could also become an important piece of the quantum computing puzzle.

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An artist's representation of a plasmonic waveguide.

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Europe lofts first Copernicus environmental satellite

The ability of European citizens, policymakers and service providers to access key environmental data on a routine basis will take a major step forward following the launch of ESA’s Sentinel-1A satellite.

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The sky is the limit? Europe’s aviation market takes off

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Flight movements across Europe.

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NASA's OCO-2 Brings Sharp Focus on Global Carbon

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This animation shows the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, the first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere.

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NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Scoping Out Next Study Area

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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover recorded this view of various rock types at waypoint called "the Kimberley" shortly after arriving at the location on April 2, 2014.

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Structural Insights into the Inner Workings of a Viral Nanomachine

Researchers at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute (VTCRI) are using new nanoscale imaging approaches to shed light on the dynamic activities of rotaviruses, important pathogens that cause life-threatening diarrhea in young children. Once a rotavirus enters a host cell, it sheds its outermost protein layer, leaving behind a double-layered particle (DLP). These DLPs are the form of the virus that produces messenger RNA molecules, which are critical for launching the infection.

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Captured rotavirus double-layered particles (DLPs) in the midst of producing RNA. The schematic represents an EM Affinity Grid (gray square) coated with adaptor molecules (red and dark blue) that anchor active rotavirus DLPs (yellow) to the Affi nity Grid. Cryo-Electron Microscopy (EM) image of actively transcribing DLPs re-veals RNA strands (gray strands) emerging from the virus capsid. Three-dimensional image reconstructions of DLPs (light blue) that actively produce RNA reveal strong density within the viral core. Diameter of each reconstruction is ~80 nm.