Tech
We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Obama selects Steven Chu as Energy Secretary
Featured blog: Chu is an energy researcher who also shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics.
- Chemistry
ENV Tidbits: Corals, nano concerns, and more
News nuggets on climate-imperiled corals, nanotech worries, and soft drinks bearing pesticides.
- Chemistry
Nanosilver disinfects — but at what price?
Silver demonstrates some unusual immunological impacts at the nanoscale.
- Computing
New theory defines faster MRI
Better equations could improve MRI quality, or even bring quantum computing closer.
- Physics
Superconductivity does the twist
Electron fluctuations could explain why exotic material conducts without resistance.
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- Agriculture
A Mushrooming Advance
Human skin isn't the only thing that makes vitamin D upon exposure to the ultraviolet radiation.
- Chemistry
Blueprint to repel oil and water
The texture of surfaces could be designed so that both water and oil can bead up and thus flow off.
- Chemistry
From Aerators to Rust — New Lead Risks
Rusty water and other unusual sources of toxic risks in home drinking water.
- Chemistry
Faucets Destined for Brassy Changes
Although new standards poised to take effect in a few years will reduce the lead-leaching risk from drinking water faucets, showerheads and many other water dispensers around will remain unregulated.
- Tech
Lead-free? Faucets are anything but
Featured blog: Users of brand-new buildings on a major university campus were surprised to discover high concentrations of lead in the water. Faucets were the culprit.
- Chemistry
Holey Copper Pipes!
Engineers are homing in on germs and other surprises behind the development of tiny holes in home water pipes.
