Unmasking the properties of 2-D materials
It is now possible to grow large-area ultrathin sheets of molybdenum disulfide, a two-dimensional (2D) material promising the next generation of electronic and optoelectronic devices, thanks to a new...
View ArticleNanocrystalline shape memory alloys lose their memory as the crystalline...
The ability of shape memory alloys, used as materials for medical stents, to revert to their original shape after an increase in temperature is suppressed at nanometer grain sizes due to effects...
View ArticlePopped sorghum making its way onto snack scene
Orville Redenbacher might not have envisioned grain sorghum in his air poppers, but the niche snack is finding its way onto U.S. grocery shelves, and a Texas A&M AgriLife Research program is...
View ArticleGrain refiner breakthrough for magnesium alloys
Scientists at Brunel University London have perfected the first ever grain refiner master alloy for magnesium-aluminium alloys.
View ArticleDust grains could be remnants of stellar explosions billions of years ago
Microscopic dust particles have been found in meteoritic material on Earth, particles that were likely formed in stellar explosions that occurred long before the creation of our star, the sun.
View ArticleSmartphones and cloud computing the key to farmers' future
Smartphones are set to replace tractors as a farmer's most useful tool and cloud computing will be just as important as rain clouds for WA's grain growers.
View ArticleDust counter got few 'hits' on Pluto flyby
A student-built University of Colorado Boulder instrument riding on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft found only a handful of dust grains, the building blocks of planets, when it whipped by Pluto at...
View ArticleUncovering bacterial role in platinum formation
Australian scientists have uncovered the important role of specialist bacteria in the formation and movement of platinum and related metals in surface environments.
View ArticleStorage density beyond 10 Tb/in2 possible for heat-assisted magnetic recording
(Phys.org)—Global demand for data storage is constantly increasing, driven by new technologies such as Big Data and the Internet of Things, as well as personal and enterprise storage. The hard disk...
View ArticleIndian dancing frog's secretive tadpoles unearthed from sand beds
A new tadpole that burrows through sand has been unearthed from the streambeds in the Western Ghats of India, according to a study published March 30, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Gayani...
View ArticleSmall but not forgotten: New ideas on pollen's ecology and evolution
Pollen grains may be small but they have a big job. Delivering a sperm to an egg is a little more complicated when the parents don't move around. For plants, pollen success means reaching a receptive...
View ArticleWater ice detected at the surface of a distant star's disk
(Phys.org)—A team of Japanese astronomers has recently discovered water ice at the surface of a distant star's disk. Using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI) installed on the Gemini South...
View ArticleDiscovery and synthesis of AMOR sugar chains that guide pollen tube growth
A group of scientists at Nagoya University has succeeded in discovering AMOR, a sugar chain molecule that increases the fertilization efficiency in plants. AMOR was found to be responsible for...
View ArticleDid comets kick-start life on Earth? Chemists find missing piece of puzzle
The origin of life on Earth has been a matter of intense debate throughout human history. Even today, scientists don't know whether the molecular building blocks of life were created on Earth or...
View ArticleEuropa's heaving ice might make more heat than scientists thought
Jupiter's moon Europa is under a constant gravitational assault. As it orbits, Europa's icy surface heaves and falls with the pull of Jupiter's gravity, creating enough heat, scientists think, to...
View ArticleSaturn spacecraft samples interstellar dust
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected the faint but distinct signature of dust coming from beyond our solar system. The research, led by a team of Cassini scientists primarily from Europe, is...
View ArticleSilicate stardust traces histories of dust in the galaxy
NASA scientists are revealing the histories of dust particles from dying stars that roved the Galaxy for millions of years before the sun and planets formed. These stardust grains survived the harsh...
View ArticleNew data compare, contrast Pluto's icy moons
A newly downlinked spectral observation of Pluto's moon Nix from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft provides compelling evidence that its surface is covered in water ice, similar to what the New Horizons...
View ArticleNew technique provides detailed views of metals' crystal structure
Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have developed a new combination of methods that can provide detailed information about the microstructure of polycrystalline metals.
View ArticleBehind the scenes of protostellar disk formation
For a long time the formation of protostellar disks – a prerequisite to the formation of planetary system around stars – has defied theoretical astrophysicists: In a dense, collapsing cloud of gas and...
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