Tue, 29 Jul 2008 Bioengineers Develop "Microscope On A Chip". Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have turned science fiction into reality with their development of a super-compact high-resolution microscope, small enough to fit on a finger tip. This "microscopic microscope" operates without lenses but has the magnifying power of a top-quality optical microscope, can be used in the field to analyze blood samples for malaria or check water supplies for giardia and other pathogens, and can be mass-produced for around $10.more

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 How Secure Is Your Network? New Program Points Out Vulnerabilities, Calculates Risk Of Attack. To help IT managers safeguard valuable information most efficiently, computer scientists are applying security metrics to computer network pathways to assign a probable risk of attack, calculating the most vulnerable points of attack.more

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 Exotic Materials Using Neptunium, Plutonium Provide Insight Into Superconductivity. Physicists at Rutgers and Columbia universities have gained new insight into the origins of superconductivity – a property of metals where electrical resistance vanishes – by studying exotic chemical compounds that contain neptunium and plutonium. more

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 Controlled Growth Of Truly Nanoscale Single Crystal Fullerites For Device Applications. Researchers have found a way to make ultra-small pure carbon crystals entirely formed from the spherical carbon "buckyball" molecule known as C60. The method used involves mixing two liquids together, one of which contains C60, at low temperature. more

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 Tips On How To Build A Better Home For Biological Parts. Researchers have compiled a series of guidelines that should help researchers in their efforts to design, develop and manage next-generation databases of biological parts. more

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 Multitasking Nanotechnology: Tiny Electronically Active Chemicals Can Form Ordered Layers. Tiny electronically active chemicals can be made to form ordered layers on a surface. These nanostructured layers may one day be used to build the components of electronics devices, such as transistors and switches, for a future generation of powerful computers based on molecules rather than silicon chips.more

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 Early Warning System For Earthquakes: Seismic "Stress Meter" Warned Of Earthquake 10 Hours In Advance. Although measurement techniques surrounding earthquakes have improved enormously over the last few decades, it has remained very difficult to measure changes in the crust that could enable earthquake prediction. Now, scientists have measured interesting changes in the speed of seismic waves that preceded two small earthquakes by 10 and 2 hours. These measurements are an encouraging sign that hold promise for the field of earthquake prediction. more

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 Super Atoms Turn Periodic Table Upside Down. Researchers have developed a technique for generating atom clusters made from silver and other metals. Surprisingly enough, these so-called super atoms (clusters of 13 silver atoms, for example) behave in the same way as individual atoms and have opened up a whole new branch of chemistry.more

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 New Electrostatic-based DNA Microarray Technique Could Revolutionize Medical Diagnostics. Researchers have invented a technique in which DNA assays -- the key to personalized medicine -- can be read and evaluated with no need of elaborate chemical labeling or sophisticated instrumentation. Based on electrostatic repulsion that yields images visible to the naked eye, the technique could revolutionize the use of DNA microarrays for both research and diagnostics. more

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 Physicists Create Millimeter-sized "Bohr Atom". Nearly a century after Danish physicist Niels Bohr offered his planet-like model of the hydrogen atom, physicists have created giant, millimeter-sized atoms that resemble it more closely than any other experimental realization yet achieved. The scientists used lasers and electric fields to coax potassium atoms into a precise configuration with one point-like, "localized" electron orbiting far from the nucleus.more