News
Graphene joins the race to redefine the ampere
May 13, 2013 11:19 am | CommentsA new joint innovation could pave the way for redefining the ampere in terms of fundamental constants of physics. The world's first graphene single-electron pump provides the speed of electron flow needed to create a new standard for electrical current based on electron charge.
Photonic quantum computers: a brighter future than ever
May 13, 2013 11:08 am | by University of Vienna | CommentsHarnessing the unique features of the quantum world promises a dramatic speed-up in information processing as compared to the fastest classical machines. Scientists succeeded in prototyping a new and highly resource efficient model of a quantum computer – the boson sampling computer.
World grapples with rise in cyber crime
May 13, 2013 10:57 am | by PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press | CommentsInternational law enforcement agencies say the recent $45 million dollar ATM heist is just one of many scams they're fighting in an unprecedented wave of sophisticated cyberattacks. Old-school robberies by masked criminals are being eclipsed by stealth multimillion dollar cybercrime operations which are catching companies and investigators by surprise.
Wireless researchers host ‘Game-Jam’
May 13, 2013 10:56 am | by Massachusetts Institute of Technology | CommentsIt is difficult to provide a detailed and comprehensive picture of wireless network data performance in the real world. Although providers like AT&T and Verizon offer coverage maps on their web sites, there is no reliable source of end-to-end network performance across different providers and across a range of locations during different times of day. CSAIL graduate students Victor Costan, Yu-han (Tiffany) Chen, Ravi Netravali, and...
Project aims to track big city carbon footprints
May 13, 2013 10:45 am | by ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer | CommentsEvery time Los Angeles exhales, odd-looking gadgets anchored in the mountains above the city trace the invisible puffs of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that waft skyward. Halfway around the globe, similar contraptions atop the Eiffel Tower and elsewhere around Paris keep a pulse on emissions from smokestacks and automobile tailpipes.
Non-inherited mutations account for many heart defects, Yale researchers find
May 12, 2013 1:00 pm | by Yale UniversityYale University | CommentsNew mutations that are absent in parents but appear in their offspring account for at least 10% of severe congenital heart disease, reveals a massive genomics study led by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine....
Bloomberg bars reporters from client activity
May 11, 2013 2:13 pm | by RYAN NAKASHIMA - AP Business Writer - Associated Press | CommentsFinancial data and news company Bloomberg LP says it has corrected a "mistake" in its newsgathering policies and cut off its journalists' special access to client log-in activity on the company's ubiquitous trading information terminals after Goldman Sachs complained about the matter last month. ...
Flawed diamonds promise sensory perfection
May 10, 2013 1:34 pm | by EurekAlert! | CommentsFrom brain to heart to stomach, the bodies of humans and animals generate weak magnetic fields that a supersensitive detector could use to pinpoint illnesses, trace drugs – and maybe even read minds. Sensors no bigger than a thumbnail could map gas deposits underground....
Heady mathematics
May 10, 2013 1:25 pm | by EurekAlert! | CommentsBubble baths and soapy dishwater, the refreshing head on a beer and the luscious froth on a cappuccino. All are foams, beautiful yet ephemeral as the bubbles pop one by one. Two University of California, Berkeley, researchers have now described mathematically the successive stages in the complex evolution and disappearance of foamy bubbles....
New technique to improve quality control of lithium-ion batteries
May 10, 2013 12:44 pm | by Purdue University | CommentsResearchers have created a new tool to detect flaws in lithium-ion batteries as they are being manufactured, a step toward reducing defects and inconsistencies in the thickness of electrodes that affect battery life and reliability. The electrodes, called anodes and cathodes, are the building blocks of powerful battery arrays...
NRL shatters endurance record for small electric UAV
May 10, 2013 12:40 pm | by U.S. Naval Research Laboratory | CommentsResearchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory flew their fuel cell powered Ion Tiger UAV for 48 hours and 1 minute on April 16-18 by using liquid hydrogen fuel in a new, NRL-developed, cryogenic fuel storage tank and delivery system. This flight shatters their previous record of 26 hours and 2 minutes set in 2009 using the same vehicle...
New magnetic graphene may revolutionize electronics
May 10, 2013 12:27 pm | by EurekAlert! | CommentsResearchers from IMDEA-Nanociencia Institute and from Autonoma and Complutense Universities of Madrid (Spain) have managed to give graphene magnetic properties. The breakthrough, published in the journal 'Nature Physics', opens the door to the development of graphene-based spintronic devices...
Global network of hackers steals $45M from ATMs
May 10, 2013 11:26 am | by COLLEEN LONG - Associated Press - Associated Press | CommentsThe sophistication of a global network of thieves who drained cash machines around the globe of an astonishing $45 million in mere hours sent ripples through the security world, not merely for the size of the operation and ease with which it was carried out, but also for the threat that more such...
Tesla Model S gets Consumer Reports' top score
May 10, 2013 11:15 am | by TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer | CommentsThe Tesla Motors Inc. Model S electric car has tied an older Lexus for the highest score ever recorded in Consumer Reports magazine's automotive testing. The Model S, which starts at $62,400 after a federal tax credit, scored 99 points on a scale of 100 in the magazine's battery of tests.
NKorea nuke arsenal seen as matter of when, not if
May 10, 2013 11:04 am | by FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press | CommentsAfter three nuclear tests of apparently increasing power and a long-range rocket launch that puts it a big step closer to having a missile that can carry a nuclear warhead to American shores, many believe that in a matter of years — as little as five, maybe, though the timeframe is a point of debate — Pyongyang will have a very scary nuclear arsenal.
