Energy & Particles : Science World Report

May 17, 2012 03:08 PM EDT

In Chemical Reactions, Water Adds Speed without Heat

An international team of researchers has discovered how adding trace amounts of water can tremendously speed up chemical reactions-such as hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis-in which hydrogen is one of the reactants, or starting materials.

May 17, 2012 11:20 AM EDT

300,000 Times the Strength of the Earthâ€™s Magnetic Field: BLADEâ€™s New 14 Tesla Magnet Pulls Together an Expert Team for First Experiments

The first researchers to use the new high-field superconducting magnet at Diamond Light Source, the UK's national synchrotron facility, are searching for "hidden magnetic states". If found, they will provide important confirmation of a theoretical model which could have important applications in mag...

May 17, 2012 10:03 AM EDT

Beyond the High-Speed Hard Drive

Strange new materials experimentally identified just a few years ago are now driving research in condensed-matter physics around the world. First theorized and then discovered by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and their colleagues ...

May 16, 2012 11:39 AM EDT

Bright Future for Solar Power in Space

Solar power gathered in space could be set to provide the renewable energy of the future thanks to innovative research being carried out by engineers at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

May 16, 2012 09:51 AM EDT

IAEA Progress Report on Supporting New Nuclear Power Programmes

A country's decision to embark on nuclear power is very complex and requires considerable analysis. The IAEA supports Member States throughout the decision-making process from initial assessment to siting, construction, operation and decommissioning.

May 16, 2012 09:19 AM EDT

Black Holes Turn up the Heat for the Universe

HITS astrophysicists discover a new heating source in cosmological structure formation

May 15, 2012 03:23 PM EDT

Timely Discovery: Physics Research Sheds New Light on Quantum Dynamics

Kansas State University physicists and an international team of collaborators have made a breakthrough that improves understanding of matter-light interactions.

May 15, 2012 10:02 AM EDT

Watching an Electron Being Born

A strong laser beam can remove an electron from an atom - a process which takes place almost instantly. At the Vienna University of Technology, this phenomenon could now be studied with a time resolution of less than ten attoseconds (ten billionths of a billionth of a second).

May 15, 2012 09:07 AM EDT

Lawrence Livermore Work May Improve the Efficiency of the Biofuel Production Cycle

By deciphering the makeup of a bacterium found in the soil of a tropical rain forest, scientists may have a better understanding of how to more efficiently produce biofuels.

May 15, 2012 08:08 AM EDT

Berkeley Lab Scientists Generate Electricity From Viruses

Imagine charging your phone as you walk, thanks to a paper-thin generator embedded in the sole of your shoe. This futuristic scenario is now a little closer to reality. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a way to genera...

May 15, 2012 07:02 AM EDT

Google-backed Wind Power Line Clears Hurdle

A planned $5 billion transmission line to send power from wind farms off the East Coast cleared a hurdle, allowing the Google Inc-backed project to move to the next step in the approval process, officials said.

May 14, 2012 04:15 PM EDT

Researchers Look to Relatives for Clues in Quest to Develop Sources of Bioenergy

Arranging DNA fragments into a genome sequence that scientists can interpret is a challenge often compared to assembling a puzzle except you don't have the box and have no idea what the picture is supposed to be. Sometimes clues from other publicly-available DNA sequences of related organisms can be...