Articles in the Category: Physics and Chemistry

Scientists Say Toxic BP Oil Mix Sits on Gulf Floor and Floats Below the Surface

Scientists Say Toxic BP Oil Mix Sits on Gulf Floor and Floats Below the Surface
After one of their research vessels returned from the Gulf, University of South Florida scientists say they found significant amounts of toxic oil sitting on the Gulf floor – and it is killing sea life. Small oil droplets speckle the Gulf floor and are hard to detect. Best seen under ultraviolet...

AMPERE Project to Watch Space Weather

AMPERE Project to Watch Space Weather
WARNING: Video Press Release The National Science Foundation, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Boeing and Iridium successfully demonstrate space weather observation system, Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE). The new NSF-funded Boeing AMPERE project is...

Droid-1 Blows into Illegal Operation

Droid-1 Blows into Illegal Operation
Science enthusiast Bobby Russell launched his Quest for Stars program last week by sending a helium-filled weather balloon about 107,000 feet up, to the edge of space. On board, Russell outfitted the styrofoam payload bay with cameras, GPS and a Motorola Droid smartphone set to take pictures every seven...

Science Buff Sends Balloon to Edge of Space

Science Buff Sends Balloon to Edge of Space
San Diego science buff Bobby Russell thought it would be a great experiment to attach cameras, sensors, GPS and a smartphone to a weather balloon and launch it to the edge of space. He even received permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct his launch. But instead of collecting...

BP Spins Kevin Costner Oil-Separating Centrifuge into Action

BP Spins Kevin Costner Oil-Separating Centrifuge into Action
“I’ve been to all the oil spill conferences around he country and all I see are booms and the latest helicopter. But I’ve never seen one machine that deals with getting the oil out. That’s me.” — Kevin Costner Actor Kevin Costner was visibly frustrated when he testified...

Black Holes and Holographic Worlds — from World Science Festival

Black Holes and Holographic Worlds — from World Science Festival
Black Holes and Holographic Worlds: (1:33:28) Dutch professor and physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf says the idea of black holes falls right in between the two largest theories in physics–general relativity and quantum mechanics. General relativity describes large structures in the universe while quantum...

Mystery of Hole Punch Clouds Explained

Mystery of Hole Punch Clouds Explained
New research from the National Center for Atmospheric Research has solved the mystery of so-called hole punch clouds. As turboprop and jet aircraft climb or descend under certain atmospheric conditions, they can inadvertently seed mid-level clouds and cause narrow bands of snow or rain to develop and...

Methane Bubbles up from the Arctic

Methane Bubbles up from the Arctic
Researchers at University of Alaska Fairbanks are afraid the permafrost in the Siberian continental shelf is beginning to fail. If it does the trapped methane below will release into the ocean and eventually into the atmosphere. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas — about 25 times more potent...

EPA to Study Oil and Gas “Fracking”

EPA to Study Oil and Gas “Fracking”
The Environmental Protection Agency is going to spend $1.9 million to study the practice of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” by the oil and natural gas industry to reach deep natural resources. The process injects water, sand and chemicals deep into the ground to get to buried oil and...

Chile’s Quake of the Century

Chile’s Quake of the Century
The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck near the city of Concepcion, Chile over the weekend is the largest recorded quake in 50 years. Though more people were killed and left homeless after the Haiti earthquake in January, this quake was about 500 times more powerful. Cameras captured the earthquake...

Fixing Food with Science

Fixing Food with Science
Cookbook author David Joachim shows how his book The Science Of Good Food can fix most any kitchen mess. And in this video you’ll learn how to turn a basic custard into a delicious orange flan. Joachim says you can turn to the book when you are baking a cake and something goes wrong. He’ll...

The Science of…The Winter Olympics

The Science of…The Winter Olympics
San Francisco Bay area teachers are using the 2010 Winter Olympics to teach kids about math and science. The Silicon Valley Education Foundation teamed up with NBC Learn — the educational arm of NBC News — and the National Science Foundation to provide free lesson plans and video clips....

The Love Hormone Field Test

The Love Hormone Field Test
It’s a rare occasion when a scientist can test a theory outside the confines of a laboratory. So when Paul Zak got a call from New Scientist reporter Linda Geddes to take her blood at her wedding, he just couldn’t say no. Dr. Zak is an ocytoxin researcher who studies social indicators of...

Science on Track for Big Budget Gains in 2011

Science on Track for Big Budget Gains in 2011
The federal agencies submitted their budget requests to Congress this week, marking a big moment for all things science. According to preliminary reports about $148 billion of the Presidents full $3.8 trillion budget is heading for scientific research programs. Photo courtesy of Brookhaven National...

Scientists Return to Haiti to Study Quake

Scientists Return to Haiti to Study Quake
A group of geoscientists from leading research universities just received a grant to travel to Haiti to study the aftermath of the 7.0 Haiti earthquake that devastated the capital of Port-au-Prince on January 12. Led by Eric Calais from Purdue University, the team will take measurements of the changes...

Building a Potato Powered Calculator

Building a Potato Powered Calculator
Long a science fair project staple, this potato powered calculator is easy to recreate yourself. Batteries not necessary.

Cold Snap Masks Global Warming for a Minute

Cold Snap Masks Global Warming for a Minute
Much of the country and for that matter the Northern Hemisphere has been locked in an icy weather pattern that sent records tumbling and even forced Florida produce growers to seal oranges and strawberries in ice to protect them from frigid temperatures. Some scientists are saying this is yet another...

Fizzy Science of Champagne

Fizzy Science of Champagne
For centuries, champagne makers considered pent-up carbon dioxide a hazard that could make their bottles explode. But the bubbles are so pleasing to the palette, it’s no wonder 322 million bottles of champagne were sold world-wide last year. WSJ’s Robert Lee Hotz reports.

Final Frontier Goes Commercial

Final Frontier Goes Commercial
There are growing signs that outer space is going to become the domain of private enterprise. Since the U.S. space program began, it has been largely controlled by the federal government. But that’s all changing. The first spaceport just broke ground in New Mexico. The first commercial spaceline...

Team Science Started the Internet and Powers the Large Hadron Collider

Team Science Started the Internet and Powers the Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider, a $6 billion particle accelerator, is so large that a recent status report lists 2,900 authors. Robert Lee Hotz reports on how the project is a prime example of how scientists are inventing new ways to foster teamwork through the Internet and shared databases around the world.

Moon Water Found–Now What?

Moon Water Found–Now What?
Moon Water, courtesy of Babaloo. After a lackluster lunar blast that was barely visible, scientists worried there might not be water on the moon. But after analyzing the mountain of preliminary data, NASA confirmed there is water–in the form of ice–just below the surface of the lunar poles. This...

Climate Deniers Turn Up Heat on Science Societies

Climate Deniers Turn Up Heat on Science Societies
Scientists within the most venerated science organizations in the United States are mounting rebellions against those organizations and their somewhat unified policy on the science of climate change–that it is real and being driven by human activities. A group of several hundred of 47,000 physicists...

Science Teachers off to Antarctica

Science Teachers off to Antarctica
Gary Wesche is counting the days. It’s down to 14 now before he heads to Antarctica as part of a scientific expedition. KMBC’s Bev Chapman reports from St. Regis Catholic School in Kansas City. Wesche’s expedition to study ice sheets is organized by PolarTREC where you can follow Gary’s...

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