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(PhysOrg.com) -- Many have tried, but none have succeeded. For at least a hundred years, scientists looking at hydrogen have scratched their chins when musing over the fact that it, as an alkali metal, by all rights should exist as a metal under the right circumstances

Storing information in long-lasting quantum states is a prerequisite for building quantum computers. Intrinsic properties of nuclei known as magnetic spins are good storage candidates because they interact weakly with their environment; however, controlling them is difficult

Many physicists are great at figuring out how the world works, but less adept at describing those workings to a nontechnical audience. Brian Greene, a theoretical physicist at Columbia University, is an exception to that stereotype

A team of physicists headed by Prof.

These are tough times for science and technology journalists, who, if they still have jobs, rarely have the time and travel budgets required for in-depth reporting. But some journalists are still managing to produce tough, labor-intensive, on-the-ground investigations of vitally important topics. One standout is my long-time friend Glenn Zorpette of IEEE Spectrum , the magazine of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

By Ewen Callaway of Nature magazine Procedures that involve human embryonic stem cells cannot be patented, the European Court of Justice declared today. Oliver Br

In the developing field of spintronics, physicists are designing devices to transmit data using the inherent axial rotation, or spin, of electrons rather than their charge as is used in electronics. Weak coupling of electron spin to electrical currents, however, makes gaining this level of control difficult

Building electronic devices that work without needing to actually transport electrons is a goal of spintronics researchers, since this could lead to: reduced power consumption, lower levels of signal noise,

Listen to the announcement of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, to Daniel Shechtman of the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. [More]

This tiny tablet can be powered by the sun, and dramatically improves a student's abilities to learn math. Over the years, computers have become an integral part of education in the developed world. But what of schools in less wealthy areas that lack access to electricity, not to mention the cash for pricey electronics?

At work in a biosafety level-4 lab. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectius Disease A workplace accident might mean a paper cut or spilled coffee for many--or even loss of life or limb for others. For a select few scientists, however, a little slipup on the job could release a deadly virus or toxin into the environment

The development of periodic structures in embryos giving rise to the formation of, e.g., spine segments, is controlled not by genes but by simple physical and chemical phenomena.

Oops, I said my last post on the

Experts say the cascading blackout that put millions of Westerners in the dark last week was no surprise: Major power outages have more than doubled in the last decade. "This is just evidence that we need a smarter, better, more secure system," said Massoud Amin, director of the Technological Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota, who has analyzed federal data on the reliability of the nation's electric grid.

What if instead of restoring its reactors, the country figured out a way to do it all with renewables. It would take work and ingenuity, but it's totally possible.