Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News

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• NASA's Space Launch System celebrates a year of powering forward
• New RBSP instrument telemetry provides 'textbook' excitement
• Mars Rover Curiosity Arm Tests Nearly Complete
• From ancient times to today, Greece's great scientific heritage
• European particle physics refreshes long-term strategy
• Hard coating extends the life of new ultrahigh-density storage device
• Cells surf through a microfluidic chip on fluid streamlines created by an oscillating plate
• Optomechanics: Swift light switching at the microscale
• Nanoparticles: Two-faced materials boost hydrogen production
• Nanowires: The long and short of breaking
• Dark energy is real, say astronomers
• Molecular switches in the cellular power plants: Researchers discover a new basic principle of the architecture of mitochondria
• Are our bones well designed? Insects and crabs have a leg up on us
• Predicting a die throw
• Invisible QR codes tackle counterfeit bank notes

NASA's Space Launch System celebrates a year of powering forward Posted: 12 Sep 2012 04:17 PM PDT NASA is powering ahead toward new destinations in the solar system. This week marks one year of progress since the formation of the Space Launch System (SLS), the United States' next step in human exploration efforts.

New RBSP instrument telemetry provides 'textbook' excitement Posted: 12 Sep 2012 04:14 PM PDT In the very early hours of Sept. 1 -- just under two days since the 4:05 a.m. EDT launch of NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes -- the team at the RBSP Mission Operations Center (MOC) controlling spacecraft A at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. was about to power up that spacecraft's Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope (REPT-A), one of the instruments that comprise the Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite (ECT).

Mars Rover Curiosity Arm Tests Nearly Complete Posted: 12 Sep 2012 04:12 PM PDT NASA's Mars Curiosity team has almost finished robotic arm tests in preparation for the rover to touch and examine its first Martian rock.

From ancient times to today, Greece's great scientific heritage Posted: 12 Sep 2012 06:34 AM PDT The contributions of these ancient Greek thinkers and visionaries, and many others from Pythagoras to Pliny, have touched virtually every area of science. Greece's contribution to politics and systems of government has been no less impressive. Perhaps therefore it is not surprising that today, amid economic and political crises across Europe, Greek researchers are looking to combine those two traditions. Teams at the University of the Aegean are currently working on ways to use the Internet, and so-called web 2.0 technologies in particular, to help political decision-makers better understand what citizens want and how they feel about the political agenda.

European particle physics refreshes long-term strategy Posted: 12 Sep 2012 06:32 AM PDT Some 500 particle physicists meeting in Krakow this week have been debating the long-term future of their field at the CERN Council Open Symposium on the European Strategy for Particle Physics. This symposium comes at a turning point for the field, following hot on the heels of the announcement in July by CERN experiments ATLAS and CMS of the discovery of a new particle consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson: a discovery that sets the direction for future particle physics research. Although the LHC results have dominated the headlines, other areas, such as neutrino physics, have also seen important advances over recent years.

Hard coating extends the life of new ultrahigh-density storage device Posted: 12 Sep 2012 06:32 AM PDT Probe storage devices read and write data by making nanoscale marks on a surface through physical contact. The technology may one day extend the data density limits of conventional magnetic and optical storage, but current probes have limited lifespans due to mechanical wear. A research team has now developed a long-lasting ultrahigh-density probe storage device by coating the tips of the probes with a thin metal film.

Cells surf through a microfluidic chip on fluid streamlines created by an oscillating plate Posted: 12 Sep 2012 06:32 AM PDT Scientists who study tissue engineering and test new drugs often need to sort, rotate, move, and otherwise manipulate individual cells. They can do this by prodding the cells into place with a mechanical probe or coaxing them in the desired direction with acoustic waves, electric fields, or flowing fluids. Techniques that rely on direct physical contact can position individual cells with a high level of precision while non-contact techniques are often faster for sorting large numbers of cells. An international team of researchers has now developed a way to manipulate cells that combines some of the benefits of both contact and non-contact methods.

Optomechanics: Swift light switching at the microscale Posted: 12 Sep 2012 06:30 AM PDT Faster signal storage and optical processing in nanomachined devices edge closer to realization, thanks to new research.

Nanoparticles: Two-faced materials boost hydrogen production Posted: 12 Sep 2012 06:30 AM PDT Inexpensive hybrid metal and oxide nanostructures prove to be a catalyst that enhance sunlight-powered hydrogen production, researchers have found.

Nanowires: The long and short of breaking Posted: 12 Sep 2012 06:30 AM PDT Mechanical failure of short nanowires is characterized by smooth, ductile deformations, while long nanowires fail catastrophically, according to new research.

Dark energy is real, say astronomers Posted: 12 Sep 2012 05:47 AM PDT Dark energy, a mysterious substance thought to be speeding up the expansion of the Universe is really there, according to a team of astronomers. After a two-year study, scientists conclude that the likelihood of its existence stands at 99.996 per cent.

Molecular switches in the cellular power plants: Researchers discover a new basic principle of the architecture of mitochondria Posted: 12 Sep 2012 05:47 AM PDT A team of scientists has achieved groundbreaking new insights into the structure of mitochondria. Mitochondria are the microscopic power plants of the cell that harness the energy stored in food, thus enabling central life functions.

Are our bones well designed? Insects and crabs have a leg up on us Posted: 12 Sep 2012 05:44 AM PDT Researchers in Ireland have recently shown that the legs of grasshoppers and crabs have the ideal shape to resist bending and compression. If human leg bones were built the same way, they could be twice as strong.

Predicting a die throw Posted: 12 Sep 2012 05:35 AM PDT By combining chaos theory and high school level mechanics, scientists reveal that the random probability of a die throw can be determined and predicted, if you precisely understand the initial conditions.

Invisible QR codes tackle counterfeit bank notes Posted: 11 Sep 2012 05:01 PM PDT An invisible quick response (QR) code has been created by researchers in an attempt to increase security on printed documents and reduce the possibility of counterfeiting, a problem which costs governments and private industries billions of pounds each year.