news 2011

Physics/Astronomy - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 25.04
Three Earthlike planets identified
It's not little green men, but it could be a step in that direction: astronomers, using data from the NASA Kepler Mission, have identified three Earthlike planets orbiting their own suns, all of which could be hospitable to life.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 25.01
Researchers Suggest a Proximate Cause of Cancer
AUSTIN, TX — Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin's Department of Chemical Engineering are the first to show that mechanical property changes in cells may be responsible for cancer progression - a discovery that could pave the way for new approaches to predict, treat and prevent cancer.

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).

Earth Sciences - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 6.04.2011
New Caltech Research Suggests Strong Indian Crust Thrust Beneath the Tibetan Plateau
PASADENA, Calif.—For many years, most scientists studying Tibet have thought that a very hot and very weak lower and middle crust underlies its plateau, flowing like a fluid. Now, a team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is questioning this long-held belief and proposing that an entirely different mechanism is at play.

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.

Physics/Astronomy - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 5.08.2010
Physicists use offshoot of string theory to describe puzzling behavior of superconductors
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Physicists are divided on whether string theory is a viable theory of everything, but many agree that it offers a new way to look at physical phenomena that have otherwise proven difficult to describe.

Earth Sciences - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 21.07.2010
Scientists theorize why volcano erupts
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Understanding the processes that cause volcanic eruptions can help scientists predict how often and how violently a volcano will erupt. Although scientists have a general idea of how these processes work - the melting of magma below the volcano causes liquid magma and gases to force their way to Earth‘s surface ' eruptions happen so rarely, and often with little warning, that it can be difficult to study them in detail.

Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 17.05.2010
Schooling Fish Offer New Ideas for Wind Farming
The quest to derive energy from wind may soon be getting some help from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) fluid-dynamics expert John Dabiri-and a school of fish. As head of Caltech's Biological Propulsion Laboratory, Dabiri studies water- and wind-energy concepts that share the theme of bioinspiration: that is, identifying energy-related processes in biological systems that may provide insight into new approaches to-in this case-wind energy.

Physics/Astronomy - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 30.03.2010
Tiny Gold Particles Help Researchers Find Protein Impostor
March 31, 2010 — Coral Gables — University of Miami assistant professor in the College of Engineering, Na Li and her collaborators have developed a fast, economical and easy method to detect melamine in milk.

Physics/Astronomy - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 5.02.2010
Princeton scientist makes a leap in quantum computing
Jason Petta, an assistant professor of physics, has found a way to alter the property of a lone electron without disturbing the trillions of electrons in its immediate surroundings. Such a feat is an important step toward developing future types of quantum computers.

Business/Economics - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 13.03
Center for Innovative Metal Processing created
University Park, Pa. - Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory and Sciaky, Inc., a subsidiary of Phillips Service Industries will establish the Center for Innovative Metal Processing through Direct Digital Deposition as a Manufacturing Demonstration Facility under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Open Manufacturing Initiative.

Mathematics - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 15.12.2011
Less knowledge, more power: Uninformed can be vital to democracy, study finds
by Morgan Kelly Contrary to the ideal of a completely engaged electorate, individuals who have the least interest in a specific outcome can actually be vital to achieving a democratic consensus.