To hear about the latest scientific discoveries, keep up to date with Sciencebase in your Google Reader, on My Yahoo! with our Facebook page or on Twitter. You can, of course, simply visit the site on regularly or get notified of news updates with our email newsletter or RSS newsfeed.
Until August 2010, you could have also read physical science news and all about the latest scientific discoveries in David Bradley's Spotlight column for Intute (formerly PSIGate) covering all aspects of physical sciences from astronomy, chemistry, geology, materials, nanotechnology, physics, to space and cosmology. The site is currently in archive mode, but you can read past articles below. As of March 2011, the complete PSIgate, Intute, Spotlight, Hot Topics archive is hosted on the snazzy physical science spot by David Bradley.
Inorganic oil
- The stock explanation for the origins of crude oil and natural gas is that these hydrocarbons are the end product of millions of years of geochemical processing of long-dead sea creatures. But, these materials might also be found much deeper in the Earth’s mantle and may have a non-organic origin hinting at a controversial mechanism for a partial replenishment of re serves.
Over and Oort on the comet's tale - An enormous asteroid or comet smashing into the Earth 65 million years ago killed off the dinosaurs. But, according to a new study by US scientists, published in the wake of an impact event on Jupiter, cometary collisions with Earth probably didn't cause any more than one other extinction event during life's history.
Nano X-ray tube - Material scientists, medical physicists, and cancer biologists will all benefit from the development by US researchers of a low-cost X-ray tube packed with sharp-tipped carbon nanotubes.
Non-carbon nanotubes - Carbon nanotubes rose to prominence on the back of the buckyball chemistry revolution in the 1990s and are now emerging from prototype applications across academic and industrial laboratories. They have potential in microelectronic circuits, novel sensor devices, special light conductors, and light-emitting nanotubes for display technology.
Tiny acid drops - The world’s smallest droplet of acid has been produced by scientists working at very low temperatures. The droplet of hydrochloric acid comprises just a single hydrogen chloride (HCl) molecule and four water molecules. This seemingly esoteric piece of ultracold chemistry could have significant implications for our understanding of how chlorine-containing compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) damage the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere.
Spotting carboot bombers - Improvised explosive devices are the weapon of choice for suicide bombers and have been a major cause of military and civilian casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the world. Now, a group in engineering at the University of Michigan have developed a novel approach to detection of such devices that might allow security forces to intervene in a situation before a device is detected.
Size matters on a planetary scale [June 2009] - Steering well clear of Mars and Phoenix, the Intute Spotlight this month falls on the smallest planet yet discovered beyond our Solar System. An international team of astronomers led by David Bennett of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, found a planet a mere three times as massive as the Earth orbiting a brown dwarf, a kind of star itself apparently too small to sustain the nuclear fusion reactions that power stars like the Sun.
Pathological proteins produce polymers [June 2009] - Deposits of distorted or otherwise errant proteins are key to understanding various brain diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and the prion disease variant-CJD, they are also implicated in the pathology of type II diabetes. However, while such amyloids are a medical nightmare, researchers in Israel suggest that outside the body, synthetic versions of these substances could help us design a whole new range of nanomaterials and biomimetic plastics.
Turning up the heat on quantum mechanics [June 2009] - Scientists have made a startling prediction about the quantum world that seems to show that simply taking the temperature of certain types of quantum systems at frequent intervals causes such systems to break one of the hard and fast rules of thermodynamics.
Mercury seals [May 2009 - chemistry,earth]
The Polar Bear has often been given the role of proverbial environmental canary,
coming to prominence in the movie An Inconvenient Truth by former US Vice
President Al Gore. But, researchers in Canada have now reported for the first
time ...
Global thermostat [May 2009 - earth]
Could increased chemical weathering of rocks by rivers increase the absorption
of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and so regulate the planet's temperature?
...
13.73 Billion years BCE [May 2009 - astronomy,materials]
Science doesn't have a lot to say about what happened before the Big Bang, but
researchers have now developed microwave detectors that will let them take a
look at the first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of ...
Pores for thought [Apr 2009 - chemistry]
A solid, but sponge-like material has been synthesised by chemists in Singapore.
The silica-type material has the most complicated pore structure ever reported
...
Chips are down [Apr 2009 - materials,physics]
Graphene is a modified form of the all-carbon pencil "lead" material graphite
and is being touted as the material of choice for a future generation of
computer chips to augment, or even usurp, silicon. Now, three research teams ...
Volcanic greenhouse [Apr 2009 - earth]
Volcanoes, such as Mount Vesuvius, that sit on carbonate sediments could
represent a previously underestimated source of atmospheric carbon dioxide ...
Recycling in the greenhouse [Mar 2009 - chemistry,materials]
Could we use solar power to convert that troublesome greenhouse gas, carbon
dioxide, into useful methane fuel for heating and electricity generation? ...
Antarctica's big chill [Mar 2009 - earth]
Today, we are concerned with global warming, melting ice-sheets, and the
subsequent rise in sea levels. However, 35 million years ago, Antarctica was
suddenly, ...
Extracting the H2 [Mar 2009 - chemistry,materials]
US chemists have developed a novel class of materials that are porous and
structured like a honeycomb. They have demonstrated that the materials can
effectively separate hydrogen from a complex mixture of gases, ...
Ocean-going stalks fight global warming [Feb 2009 - earth]
Burying crop residues at sea may help reduce global warming, according to
researchers in the USA. They suggest that transporting millions of tonnes of
bailed up cornstalks, wheat straw, and other crop residues from farms, and
burying it in the deep ocean ...
Testing times for chameleon chromium [Feb 2009 - chemistry,earth]
A new standard for chemical testing has been developed for a carcinogenic
chromium salt. The hexavalent chromium ion was at the heart of the pollution
controversy on which the movie Erin Brokovich was based. ...
Musing on supermassive black holes [Feb 2009 - astronomy]
New observations from a collection of powerful telescopes have allowed
astronomers from Germany and the US to settle a paradox regarding the behaviour
of merging elliptical galaxies. The team has revealed evidence that the largest,
...
3D astrophysics [Jan 2009 - astronomy]
Astrophysicists are using a novel 3D computer visualization technique to help them understand the role of gravity in the formation of vast, stellar nurseries, also known as molecular clouds. ...
Cosmic nanodiamonds [Jan 2009 - astronomy,chemistry,earth]
Tiny particles of crystalline carbon found in sediments at six sites in North America dating back almost 13000 years, suggest that a swarm of carbon-and-water-rich comets ...
Microbial power [Jan 2009 - chemistry,earth,materials]
New insights into the workings of a metal-munching bacteria and how it exploits semiconducting nanominerals could provide a new approach to making biological fuel cells ...
Scientific Discoveries in 2008
Scientific Discoveries in 2007
Scientific Discoveries in 2006
Scientific Discoveries in 2005
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