ScienceDaily: Strange Science News |
- Nanowrinkles, nanofolds yield strange hidden channels
- Blocked holes can enhance rather than stop light going through
- Robojelly gets an upgrade: Underwater robot learns to swim more like the real thing
- Abnormal levels of caffeine in water indicate human contamination
- Butterfly wings inspire design of water-repellent surface
- Mechanism of wine swirling explained
- Ingredients involved in 'splashing' revealed
Nanowrinkles, nanofolds yield strange hidden channels Posted: 22 Nov 2011 08:09 PM PST Wrinkles and folds, common in nature, do something unusual at the nanoscale. Researchers have discovered that wrinkles on super-thin films have hidden long waves. The team also found that folds in the film produce nanochannels, like thousands of tiny subsurface pipes. The research could lead to advances in medicine, electronics and energy. |
Blocked holes can enhance rather than stop light going through Posted: 22 Nov 2011 10:33 AM PST Conventional wisdom would say that blocking a hole would prevent light from going through it, but engineers have discovered the opposite to be true. A research team has found that placing a metal cap over a small hole in a metal film does not stop the light at all, but rather enhances its transmission. |
Robojelly gets an upgrade: Underwater robot learns to swim more like the real thing Posted: 22 Nov 2011 08:32 AM PST Engineers have developed a robot that mimics the graceful motions of jellyfish so precisely that it has been named Robojelly. Developed for the U.S. Office of Naval Research in 2009, this vehicle was designed to conduct ocean underwater surveillance, enabling it potentially to detect chemical spills, monitor the presence of ships and submarines, and observe the migration of schools of fish. |
Abnormal levels of caffeine in water indicate human contamination Posted: 22 Nov 2011 08:20 AM PST Researchers have discovered that traces of caffeine are a useful indicator of the contamination of our water by sewers. |
Butterfly wings inspire design of water-repellent surface Posted: 21 Nov 2011 08:48 AM PST Researchers mimic the many-layered nanostructure of blue mountain swallowtail wings to make a silicon wafer that traps both air and light. |
Mechanism of wine swirling explained Posted: 21 Nov 2011 07:41 AM PST Wine drinkers know that swirling a good vintage around in a glass aerates the wine and releases its bouquet. Just how the process -- known as "orbital shaking" -- works, however, has been something of a mystery. |
Ingredients involved in 'splashing' revealed Posted: 21 Nov 2011 07:41 AM PST "Splashing" plays a central role in the transport of pollutants and the spread of diseases, but while the sight of a droplet striking and splashing off of a solid surface is a common experience, the actual physical ingredients and mechanisms involved in splashing aren't all that well understood. A team of researchers has discovered that there is indeed more involved in splashing than previously believed. |
You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Strange Science News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 |
No comments:
Post a Comment