Magnetricity Can We Find a Use For It?
The magnetic equivalent of electricity referred to as "Magnetricity" is "an interesting curiosity" as Professor Steve Bramwell states in this video. In September of 2009, physicists directed neutrons at spin ices made of titanium-containing compounds chilled close to absolute zero. The behavior of the neutrons suggested that monopoles, like those shown here were present, in the material.
The next step was to measure the amount of magnetic "charge" on the monopoles and to measure magnetic analogues to electric current for the first time. The motion and interaction of monopoles is what creates "magnetricity".
Professor Bramwell explains in the video "It's a bit like having individual north and south poles about the size of an atom that can sort of flow around within the material, and when you put a magnetic field on, they all set off and migrate to one end of the sample."
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Wind Energy Posts Big Numbers in 2009 But Slows in 2010
A report from the U.S. Department of Energy that was prepared by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory titled "2009 Wind Technologies Market Report." highlights the latest statistics in U.S. wind power. The report gives in depth analysis of both gains and loses in the wind power industry from 2008 to 2010 and beyond.
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Fusion Power This Decade Without Carbon Waste
Dr. Edward Moses spells out the energy demands for a growing population with growing energy needs and then explains how his work with fusion energy at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) can address this problem. The video below is just a highlight of this very interesting 90 minute lecture.
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Cambridge Scientists Explain How Education Lowers Risk of Dementia
A team of researchers from the UK and Finland has discovered why people who stay in education longer have a lower risk of developing dementia – a question that has puzzled scientists for the past decade.
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Age Old Mystery Finally "Laid" to Rest
Which came first .... the chicken, or the egg? The philosophical mystery that has perplexed generations has finally been "cracked" by scientists from Sheffield University and the University of Warick. The researchers have discovered that a protein required for the formation of the chicken egg shells is found in only one place - inside the ovaries of the chicken.
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University of Washington's Microrobot Shows Off Latest Improvements
This 1mm tall robot is ultralight, thermal powered and the latest design from the Karl F. Böhringer, MEMS Laboratory at the University of Washington. Referred to as "Insect like" this free moving omnidirectional rectangle is capable of carrying impressive loads of up to 7 times its own weight.
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Keith Cowing: Famous Hacks at NASA - Video
Keith Cowing - Keith Cowling is editor of NASA Watch, an online publication devoted to the free and uncensored exchange of information on space policy and NASA operations. His May 2010 presentation talks about some of the impromptu hacks needed to get things accomplished during NASA missions.
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Could Ovarian Transplantation Increase Longevity?
At the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome today, Dr. Noriko Kagawa, of the Kato Ladies' Clinic in Tokyo, reported that transplanting the ovaries of young mice into aging female mice not only made the old mice fertile again - but also rejuvenated their behavior, and increased their lifespan by more than 40%!
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Modified Tomato - Longer Shelf Life
Avtar Handa, a horticulture researcher with Purdue University has succeeded in slowing the aging process of transgenic tomato plants - extending the shelf life of picked tomatoes by about a week.
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Of Venom and Silk - A Video Report on Spider Biologist Norman Platnick
Alex Liu of NYU's Scienceline.org made this informative video on Spider biologist Norman Platnick and the state of his work with the American Museum of Natural History. Dr. Platnick has traveled the world cataloging some of these creatures, many for the first time ever. World renowned for his work, he hopes to find as many as species as possible before some disappear.
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