SPOTLIGHT
Scan Uncovers Thousands of Copycat Scientific Articles
A new computerized scan of the biomedical research literature has turned up tens of thousands of articles in which entire passages appear to have been lifted from other papers. Researchers estimate that there may be as many as 200,000 duplicates among some 17 million papers in leading research database Medline.
Rogue Stars: The Miscreants of Our Galaxy
A young star speeding away from the Milky Way is in fact an alien visitor, astronomers have confirmed. The wayward object is one of several rogues that are giving astronomers a glimpse into the volatile nature of our galaxy and others.
Funding shortfalls threaten science research
Scientists are chafing at the U.S. government’s unfulfilled pledge to boost funding for basic scientific research, the source of innovations ranging from the World Wide Web to high-tech cancer treatments.
Lasers Make Other Metals Look Like Gold
In a feat of optical alchemy a postdoctoral researcher uses ultrashort laser bursts to pockmark the surface of a metal in a way that is not perceptible to the touch.
Dark Fluid: Dark Matter And Dark Energy May Be Two Faces Of Same Coin
Astronomers at the University of St Andrews believe they can “simplify the dark side of the universe” by shedding new light on two of its mysterious constituents.
Probing The Cosmic Web Of The Universe: New Light On Dark Energy
Astronomers have used ESO’s Very Large Telescope to measure the distribution and motions of thousands of galaxies in the distant Universe.
Weird “Spider,” Volcanism Discovered on Mercury
The photos reveal widespread volcanic activity, asteroid assaults, and a spider-shaped formation the likes of which have never before been seen in the solar system.
50 Years Later: First U.S. Satellite’s Souvenirs Still Circle the Earth
Fifty years ago today, the 70-foot (21-meter) tall Juno 1 rocket, a modified Redstone missile, launched the Explorer I satellite, marking the first U.S. built payload to enter Earth orbit.
The key to a more efficient nanolaser?
There are some discussions about the recent applications on photonic nanolasers and photonic integrated circuits based on photonic crystals.
Screen-printed Solar Cells In Many Colors And Designs, Even Used In Windows
Newly designed solar cells can be screen-printed in a wide array of colors and patterns to allow them to be attractively incorporated into building design.
A2: The Hydrogen-Powered Hypersonic Airliner
The A2 is designed to carry up to 300 passengers from Brussels to Sydney in under 4 hours. The speedy airliner will benefit from a 2-mode engine ? turbojet and ramjet propulsion systems ? that will make it both extremely efficient at slow speeds and able to reach top speeds with great ease.
Satellite could plummet to Earth
A large US spy satellite has gone out of control and is expected to crash to Earth some time in late February or March. Officials said the satellite had lost power and propulsion, and could contain hazardous materials.
Smash! The Search for Sparticles
Squarks, selectrons, neutralinos. A few types of supersymmetric particles, a special particle that may be created when the world’s most powerful atom smasher goes online this spring.
The world’s lowest noise laser: Researchers outsmart quantum physics
Researchers have produced a laser beam of especially high quality. In doing so, they have achieved a new world record in the control of photons by precisely placing the photons in a specific order.
Giant Particle Accelerator Discovered In The Sky
ESA?s orbiting gamma-ray observatory, Integral, has made the first unambiguous discovery of highly energetic X-rays coming from a galaxy cluster.
Parallelism allows industry to keep up with Moore?s Law
Currently, chip speeds have topped out at a little under 4 gigahertz (4 billion cycles per second) because they get hotter as they run faster, and at higher speeds they fry themselves.
