Latest Nucleation Stories

By Larry Rulison, Albany Times Union, N.Y. Jul. 4--TROY -- An associate professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has figured out a way to make a pot of water boil more quickly. Nikhil Koratkar and a team of researchers at RPI lined a pot with tiny copper nanorods. They found that the copper material more effectively induced the "phase change" that occurs when the pot is heated to the boiling point, turning the water to vapor. The resulting benefit is that less energy is required to...

New Haven, Conn. -- A team of researchers at Yale University is the first to devise a way to predict the microstructure of crystals as they form in materials, according to a report in the September issue of Applied Physics Letters. Although there are theoretical models that predict grain size and ways to monitor the growth of individual crystals, this new method makes it possible to estimate grain size and therefore the properties of materials that are dependant on microstructure. Researchers...

HOUSTON, June 9, 2005 "“ A University of Houston student has made an award-winning breakthrough in biosensors that could help bioterrorism researchers in their ability to quickly and accurately detect toxic biological agents. Mrinal Shah, a doctoral student in chemical engineering at UH, has developed new methods in the use of biosensors that could provide one of the first steps in developing a protein-based biosensor that would help the government in safeguarding the nation. Working under...