World’s Most Complex Silicon Phased-array Chip Developed

UC San Diego electrical engineers have developed the world’s most complex “phased array” — or radio frequency integrated circuit. This DARPA-funded advance is expected to find its way into U.S. defense satellite communication and radar systems. In addition, the innovations in this chip design will likely spill over into commercial applications, such as automotive satellite systems for direct broadcast TV, and new methods for high speed wireless data transfer.

Multiple Fluorescent Proteins Blend In Fantastic Images Of Neurons

By activating multiple fluorescent proteins in neurons, neuroscientists at Harvard University are imaging the brain and nervous system as never before, rendering their cells in a riotous spray of colors dubbed a “Brainbow.”

Brainbow allows researchers to tag neurons with roughly 90 distinct colors, a huge leap over the mere handful of shades possible with current fluorescent labeling. By permitting visual resolution of individual brightly colored neurons, this increase should greatly help scientists in charting the circuitry of the brain and nervous system.

New Magnet Design Sheds Light On Nanotechnology And Semiconductor Research

Engineers at Florida State University’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory have successfully tested a groundbreaking new magnet design that could literally shed new light on nanoscience and semiconductor research.

When the magnet — called the Split Florida Helix — is operational in 2010, researchers will have the ability to direct and scatter laser light at a sample not only down the bore, or center, of the magnet, but also from four ports on the sides of the magnet, while still reaching fields above 25 tesla. By comparison, the highest-field split magnet in the world attains 18 tesla. “Tesla” is a measurement of the strength of a magnetic field; 1 tesla is equal to 20,000 times the Earth’s magnetic field.

Revolutionary Laser Technique Destroys Viruses And Bacteria Without Damaging Human Cells

Physicists in Arizona State University have designed a revolutionary laser technique which can destroy viruses and bacteria such as AIDS without damaging human cells and may also help reduce the spread of hospital infections such as MRSA.

Radio Waves Fire Up Nanotubes Embedded In Tumors, Destroying Liver Cancer

Cancer cells treated with carbon nanotubes can be destroyed by non-invasive radio waves that heat up the nanotubes while sparing untreated tissue, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and Rice University has shown in preclinical experiments.

Storing Data On Atomic Roundabouts

There are right-handed and left-handed yoghurts, right-handed and left-handed snail shells, and right-handed and (occasionally) left-handed screws. Scientists at the University of Bonn have now demonstrated the existence of right-handed and left-handed “magnetic vortices”. Through their research, in collaboration with colleagues from Berlin and Geneva, they believe that this physical phenomenon could eventually lead to the construction of faster and more reliable hard disks. The physicists have reported their discovery in Nature.

New Giant Molecule Created

Ulrich Kortz, Professor of Chemistry at Jacobs University, and his team successfully synthesized a polyoxometalate with 100 Tungsten and 20 Cerium atoms that has a molar mass of about 30 kilo Dalton. With a maximum diameter of 4.2 nm the inorganic molecule is comparable in size to large complex bio-molecules or even small viruses.

Fortifying Feed With Biodiesel Co-products

Biofuel research isn’t just a matter of finding the right type of biomass—corn grain, soybean oil, animal fat, wood or other material—and converting it into fuel. Scientists must also find environmentally and economically sound uses for the by-products of biofuel production. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists Brian Kerr and William Dozier have done just that.

Quantum Device Traps, Detects And Manipulates The Spin Of Single Electrons

A novel device, developed by a team led by University at Buffalo engineers, simply and conveniently traps, detects and manipulates the single spin of an electron, overcoming some major obstacles that have prevented progress toward spintronics and spin-based quantum computing.

Understanding The Big Bang: Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider Aids Search For Quark-gluon Plasma

A large scale STAR experiment is currently under way at Brookhaven National Laboratory, with the Sun Grid Compute Utility from Sun’s Network.com delivering large-scale computing power and related resources on a utility basis as the project requires.