Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

In the eyes of many planetary scientists, the surface of Mars's northern hemisphere has long looked like it once contained an ocean. Now it is "sounding" that way, too.

Understanding and visualizing the energy states of electrons in a crystal provides important insights into many modern electronic materials, such as superconductors, or other materials that physicists can use to develop novel electronic applications. The electronic states at the surface of a crystal, or the two-dimensional layers within a sample, are of particular interest to materials scientists, but are notoriously difficult to image using conventional techniques.

Recent experiments carried out at the DIII-D tokamak in San Diego have allowed scientists to observe how fusion plasmas spontaneously turn off the plasma turbulence responsible for most of the heat loss in plasmas confined by toroidal magnetic fields. Using a new microwave instrument based on the same principles as police radar guns, researchers from UCLA observed the complex interplay between plasma turbulence and plasma flows occurring on the surface of tokamak plasmas.

When Mars orbiters decades ago spotted valleys and other fluvial landforms on the surface of the Red Planet, a tantalizing idea came to the fore. Perhaps, planetary scientists ventured, ancient Mars was blanketed by a thick atmosphere that kept the planet much warmer and wetter than it is now, with flowing water, lakes and maybe even an ocean covering at least part of its surface. And if Mars had water some three billion to four billion years ago, they wondered, why not life?

From detecting pathogens in blood samples to the study of protein synthesis, Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) sensors have many uses in modern biology. In this technique, antibodies anchored to gold electrodes on a piece of quartz crystal act like the "hooks" on the sticky side of a Velcro strap, grabbing molecules of interest as they pass by. The more molecule-sensing antibodies on the surface of the sensor, the more sensitive the QCM device's detection capabilities.

From detecting pathogens in blood samples to the study of protein synthesis, Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) sensors have many uses in modern biology. In this technique, antibodies anchored to gold electrodes on a piece of quartz crystal act like the "hooks" on the sticky side of a Velcro strap, grabbing molecules of interest as they pass by

For years, ripples at the surface of the Dead Sea hinted there was something mysterious going on beneath its salt-laden waters. But in a lake where accidentally swallowing the water while diving could lead to near-instant asphyxiation, no one was in a hurry to find out what it might be. This year, some intrepid divers changed that, stumbling onto a geological and biological treasure and capturing it on video

(PhysOrg.com) -- X-rays have been used for more than a century to expose the invisible in many of its forms. When a family doctor studies an X-ray of a broken leg or an agent scans a carry-on bag at an airport security gate, hard X-rays, with their ability to penetrate beyond the surface of a material, reveal hidden objects.