Latest Physical quantities Stories
Every so often, Earth's magnetic field flips on its head, turning the magnetic North Pole into the South Pole and vice versa. It last happened 780,000 years ago, and is predicted to occur again in about 1,500 years ... maybe. The overall frequency is hard to predict - there was one period in Earth's history when the field didn't reverse for 30 million years. Why these flip-flops happen at all is a great riddle, but a new hypothesis on the origins of the...
What have we learned since the 1973-74 oil crisis? Have we become less dependent on foreign oil? We certainly learned how to build inefficient vehicles, such as the Hummer and many others. Why blame Exxon Mobil for making a $40 billion profit on $360 billion in revenue? I don't hear anyone blaming Walmart for making a $13 billion profit on less than 25 percent of Exxon's revenue. I didn't hear anyone blaming Citigroup for making a $25 billion profit in 2005, and General Electric for making...
By Daniel Walker, Greenville Herald-Banner, Greenville, Texas Aug. 2--The hottest weather of the year is expected this weekend. The National Weather Service placed northeast Texas under a high heat advisory on Friday that will remain in effect through Monday evening. Affected areas include Hunt, Rockwall, Delta, Collin, Van Zandt, Hopkins and Rains Counties. The National Weather Service is predicting that the high each day will be around 102 degrees with afternoon heat index values that...
Researchers said Thursday that the key to saving money on ever growing fuel prices is looking at vehicle efficiency in a new way: gallons-per-mile. Duke Larrick, a researcher with Duke University, said, "There is a math illusion here." His study was published in the journal Science.   As the price of gasoline tops $4 a gallon, using miles-per-gallon can be misleading for those trying to save dollars. Richard Larrick and Jack Soll discussed fuel efficiency while carpooling...
By Greg Stiles, Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore. Jun. 17--Rising fuel costs have led commercial airlines to take drastic measures. They have cut routes, reduced the number of flights, laid off employees and reduced air speed, while charging for checked bags and even snacks. General aviation aircraft -- ranging from small recreational airplanes to corporate jets -- have seen changes, too. The fixed base operators who fuel, maintain and store planes say they've seen fewer weekend flyers,...
International study elucidates the relationship between migratory birds, light and Earth's magnetic fieldA team of researchers at Arizona State University and the University of Oxford are the first to model a photochemical compass that may simulate how migrating birds use light and Earth's weak magnetic field to navigate. The team reports in the April 30, 2008, online issue of Nature that the photochemical model becomes sensitive to the magnitude and direction of weak magnetic fields similar...
3-D images are not only useful in medicine; the observation of internal structures is also invaluable in many other fields of scientific investigation. Recently, researchers from the Hahn-Meitner-Institute (HMI) in Berlin in cooperation with University of Applied Sciences in Berlin have succeeded, for the first time, in a direct, three-dimensional visualization of magnetic fields inside solid, non-transparent materials. This is announced by Nikolay Kardjilov and colleagues in the current...
University of Maryland physicists have shown that in graphene the intrinsic limit to the mobility, a measure of how well a material conducts electricity, is higher than any other known material at room temperature. Graphene, a single-atom-thick sheet of graphite, is a new material which combines aspects of semiconductors and metals.Their results, published online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, indicate that graphene holds great promise for replacing conventional semiconductor materials...
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A species of worm that thrives on undersea hot-water vents prefers the hottest water possible, choosing to live at temperatures that kill other animals, researchers reported on Thursday. Their unique abilities to withstand hot water shooting like a geyser from hydrothermal openings may help the stalk-like worms prey on bacteria that other animals cannot reach, the researchers report in Friday's issue of the journal...
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A species of worm that thrives on undersea hot-water vents prefers the hottest water possible, choosing to live at temperatures that kill other animals, researchers reported on Thursday. Their unique abilities to withstand hot water shooting like a geyser from hydrothermal openings may help the stalk-like worms prey on bacteria that other animals cannot reach, the researchers report in Friday's issue of the journal...
