news 2010

Physics/Astronomy - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 11.05
Few new atomic structures
Drawing on powerful computational tools and a state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscope, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison and Iowa State University materials science and engineering researchers has discovered a new nanometer-scale atomic structure in solid metallic materials known as metallic glasses.

Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 18.04
Bridges get a quick check-up
Engineers have developed a new imaging technique that lets them see the insides of massive concrete bridges. Much like a sonogram, this technique provides quick, easy-to-interpret images, so that the health of these expensive structures can be assessed and monitored.

Life Sciences - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 27.03
Stem cell study boosts MND research
A breakthrough using cutting-edge stem cell research could speed up the discovery of new treatments for motor neurone disease ( MND ). The international research team has created motor neurones using skin cells from a patient with an inherited form of MND .

Life Sciences - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 28.02
Zebrafish aid motor neurone research
The quest for treatments for motor neurone disease, spinal cord injury and strokes could be helped by new research that shows how key cells are produced. University scientists have been able to manipulate the production of motor neurones - which control all muscle activity - in zebrafish.

Physics/Astronomy - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 6.02
A quantum connection between light and motion
Researchers have demonstrated a microscopic system in which light can be converted into a mechanical oscillation and back. This interaction is so strong that it becomes possible to control the motion of the oscillator at the level where quantum mechanics governs its behaviour.

Physics/Astronomy - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 15.12.2011
Physicists’ ’light from darkness’ breakthrough named a top 2011 discovery
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - They shook light from darkness. They coaxed something out of what we normally think of as nothing - the vacuum of space. And now their work has been named one of the top 10 breakthroughs of the year by Physics World, the international magazine announced today.

Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - Chemistry - 20.10.2011
Workings of molecular motor revealed
The structure and function of a ‘molecular motor' critical to the functioning of human organs and, when malfunctioning, implicated in cancer, kidney failure, and osteoporosis, has been revealed in unprecedented detail.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 21.09.2011
New gene identified for familial motor neuron disease
Families suffering from a history of motor neuron disease have helped an international scientific team locate a new gene linked to the incurable disease. The investigators studied a large group of Finnish patients and a family from Gwent, South Wales who have lost many relatives to early onset motor neuron disease (MND) and the neurodegenerative disease frontotemporal dementia, also known as Pick's disease.

Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 20.09.2011
Effectiveness of ’don’t ask, don’t tell,’ similar policies
Could working with an openly gay individual undermine a co-worker's on–the-job performance? Not likely, according to a recent UCLA Anderson School of Management study. In fact, concealing one's sexual orientation may actually have an adverse effect on workplace function.

Physics/Astronomy - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 30.06.2011
Engineers show dynamic experimental evidence for phenomenon of spreading drops
FINDINGS: The spreading of a liquid drop on a solid surface is a simple, everyday phenomenon. And while it is known that when a drop of oil is placed on a solid surface, its radius increases as its thickness decreases, the mechanisms underlying the process are still not well understood on a microscopic level, particularly at the moving edge between the liquid and solid, which is known as the "contact line" region.

Earth Sciences - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 7.06.2011
Researchers Examine Continental Evaporation Role in Weather Extremes
If we think of the atmosphere as a sponge, we can imagine that the sponge is very dry in the western US, and almost full over humid regions in the eastern US. The addition of moisture to the atmosphere from the land surface in these humid regions makes the sponge leak (makes rain fall).

Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 14.04.2011
Researchers explain why bicycles balance themselves
The 1949 movie "Jour de Fete" shows a postman frantically chasing his bicycle, which rides away on its own. It could happen. Many bicycles, even without a rider, naturally resist tipping over if they are going fast enough.

Physics/Astronomy - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 31.03.2011
A beginner’s lecture on the theory that troubled Einstein
Nonscientists are the intended audience for a talk about the theory that sparked the famous debate between Albert Einstein and Neils Bohr over the nature of quantum physics. David Mermin, professor emeritus of physics at Cornell University, will give the 2011 Robert Hofstadter Memorial Lectures on the Stanford University campus Monday, April 4, and Tuesday, April 5.

Life Sciences - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 24.01.2011
Rhythmic vibrations guide caste development in social wasps
Future queen or tireless toiler? A paper wasp's destiny may lie in the antennal drumbeats of its caretaker. While feeding their colony's larvae, a paper wasp queen and other dominant females periodically beat their antennae in a rhythmic pattern against the nest chambers, a behavior known as antennal drumming.

Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - Physics/Astronomy - 30.11.2010
Engineering Team Discovers Graphene’s Weakness
If you owned a mechanical device made out of the strongest material known to mankind, wouldn't you want to know under what circumstances it might fail? Marianetti, whose research focuses on modeling the behavior of materials at the atomic scale, was interested in the properties of graphene, a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon with myriad high-tech applications including smaller computers and longer-lasting batteries.