Science

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NASA Curiosity: First Mars Age Measurement and Human Exploration Help

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This mosaic of images from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a series of sedimentary deposits in the Glenelg area of Gale Crater, from a perspective in Yellowknife Bay looking toward west-northwest.

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Scientists scale terahertz peaks in nanotubes: Rice U. researchers find plasmonic root of terahertz signals in some carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes carry plasmonic signals in the terahertz range of the electromagnetic spectrum, but only if they're metallic by nature or doped.

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The ability to sort carbon nanotubes by type through a process called “density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU)” allowed Rice researchers to test purified batches of nanotubes to find the cause of terahertz peaks in spectroscopic experiments. They determined that free electrons formed plasmons that ripple at terahertz frequencies in metallic and doped nanotubes.

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NASA Snow Mapper Reaps Big Benefits for California

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Spatial distribution of snow water equivalent across the Tuolumne River Basin from April 10 to June 1, 2013 as measured by NASA's Airborne Snow Observatory.

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Recycled Plastic Proves Effective in Killing Drug-Resistant Fungi: IBN and IBM discover new medical application for converted PET bottles

Researchers at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) and California's IBM Research - Almaden (IBM) have discovered a new, potentially life-saving application for polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is widely used to make plastic bottles. They have successfully converted PET into a non-toxic biocompatible material with superior fungal killing properties.

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The novel small molecule compounds readily form nanofibers with strong antifungal capability.

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Study Links Arctic Melting, Extreme Weather

As ice at the North Pole disappears at an alarming rate, some researchers are finding a link between that phenomenon and recent bouts of extreme weather. A new study suggests rapid warming in the Arctic may be altering weather patterns across the Northern Hemisphere, but skeptics say the case is far from proven.

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The Sun's Magnetic Field is about to Flip

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An artist's concept of the heliospheric current sheet, which becomes more wavy when the sun's magnetic field flips.

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Optical Quality Improvement of Electrical Circuits’ Electrode Zinc Oxide Nanowires

Iranian researchers from Islamic Azad University, the Masjed Soleiman Branch, succeeded in the production of zinc oxide nanowire as a nanostructure with electrode and high optical quality.

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Study shows how water dissolves stone, molecule by molecule: International team uses computers, experiments to better predict chemical dissolution

Scientists from Rice University and the University of Bremen's Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) in Germany have combined cutting-edge experimental techniques and computer simulations to find a new way of predicting how water dissolves crystalline structures like those found in natural stone and cement.

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The dissolution process of a crystalline structure in water is shown: two bonded SiO4 -- molecules dissolve (top left), a quartz crystal (top right) and the computer-simulated surface of a dissolving crystalline structure (below).

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Laser light at useful wavelengths from semiconductor nanowires: Nanowire lasers could work with silicon chips, optical fibers, even living cells

Thread-like semiconductor structures called nanowires, so thin that they are effectively one-dimensional, show potential as lasers for applications in computing, communications, and sensing. Scientists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have demonstrated laser action in semiconductor nanowires that emit light at technologically useful wavelengths and operate at room temperature.

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TUM researchers have demonstrated that semiconductor nanowires like the one shown here can act both as lasers, generating coherent pulses of light, and as waveguides, similar to optical fibers. Because these nanowire lasers emit light at technologically useful wavelengths, can be grown on silicon substrates, and operate at room temperature, they have potential for applications in computing,

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Goddard Planetary Instruments Score a Hat Trick

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Three mass spectrometers built at Goddard were operating on the same day at the moon, on Mars and en route to Mars.