For more information about electricity check the Wikipedia article here
Researchers at University of California, Davis have shown for the first time how whole cells and fragments orient and move in response to electrical stimuli like an electric field. Surprisingly enough, their results show that whole and fragments move in opposite directions, despite being governed by the same electric field. The findings help better our understanding [...]
Fri, Feb 22, 2013
Pollination is the game, “summon bees” is the spell, and electricity is the mana – that’s how I’d try to explain it to a gamer. A little more on the serious side, flowers advertise presence of nectar to bees using electrical signals, basically indicating if they’ve been visited by another bee or not. Usually, plants [...]
Wed, Dec 5, 2012
Lighting has gone a long way since Thomas Edison ushered in the first mass-produced light bulbs, causing not only a lighting revolution, but also sparking an electricity infrastructure boom. Still, lighting ins’t as efficient as one might expect in the 21st century, currently amounting in the US alone to 30% of the energy consumption. The [...]
Tue, Nov 20, 2012
While current solar energy conversion technology is preoccupied with generating electricity with as much efficiency as possible, researchers at Rice University have invented a new technological set-up consisting of nanoparticles smaller than the the wavelength of light that can transform solar energy into steam almost instantly. Their findings show a registered efficiency of 24%, while current [...]
Thu, Oct 25, 2012
In an extremely exciting find, scientists at Aarhus University in Denmark found a type of bacteria that creates electrical currents on the sea floor. Despite the lack of air or sun light, these tiny bacteria flourish and form vast swaths of electrically pulsating multi-cellular organisms. The researchers found that the bacteria breaks down substances in deeper sediments [...]
Fri, Jul 29, 2011
In the evergrowing search for new energy sources, scientists have started searching for more simple solutions, and what they found was that heat can be an incredible ally. “In the search for new sources of energy, thermopower – the ability to convert temperature differences directly into electricity without wasteful intervening steps – is tremendously promising,” [...]
Thu, Jul 28, 2011
Dolphins are absolutely amazing creatures, smarter beyond whatever you might think, and with a heart of gold. But now, researchers have shown that aside from these qualities, the common Guiana dolphins have yet another remarkable ability: the power to sense electric fields. The dolphin carries its baby just as any other placental mammal does, and [...]
Tue, Apr 12, 2011
Yellowstone is without a doubt one of the most fascinating places on the face of the planet. But it doesn’t only attract families or people who want to relax, but it attracts scientists as well, and among them, geologists and geophysicists hold a top spot. University of Utah researchers made the first large-scale picture of [...]
Thu, Mar 31, 2011
You might think that this isn’t quite the best time in the world to announce a nation wide nuclear plan, with the Japan double tsunami/earthquake incident which lead to the consequent Fukushima nuclear crisis and all, but South African officials don’t seem to let nature intimate them. As such, South Africa’s cabinet ratified a controversial [...]
Thu, Jul 15, 2010
Superconductivity occurs when the natural electrical resistance is exactly 0; it occurs in certain materials at very low temperatures. According to the Cambridge University youtube channel: The first in a new range of powerful superconductors which could revolutionise the production of machines like hospital MRI scanners and protect the national grid have been developed by [...]
Tue, Feb 23, 2010
Eddy currents are electrical phenomena that take place when a conductor is exposed to an oscilation of the magnetic field due to the relative motion of the field source and conductor; rewind. You have a conductor, say a copper tube, and a magnet. One moves relative to the other and you’ve got current (basically a [...]
Mon, Jan 4, 2010
Researchers from Yale University succeeded in what seemed to be an impossible task: they’ve created a transistor from a single molecule. In case you don’t know, a transistor is a “semiconductor device commonly used to amplify or switch electronic signals” (via wikipedia). The team showed that using a single benzene molecule attached to gold contacts [...]
Wed, Sep 23, 2009
Researchers have figured out a way to ‘plug’ into electrical power generated by trees. It’s a well known fact for years that plants can conduct electricity (humans can too, take care kids), and now scientists from MIT found out just how much they can pack up: 200 millivolts of electrical power (=0.2 volts). The lemon [...]
Tue, Jan 8, 2008
Researchers are searching everyday for options which could bring an ending to the energy issue or at least delay it for an undefinite time and bacteria researching has developed a lot so it would only seem sensible to bring those two together. The point would be well to obtain a bacteria which generates electricity. Researchers [...]
Some photos of the amazing sun halo hovering over NYC
Record level atmospheric CO2. Reaches 400 ppm for the first time in 3 million years
Your brain detects grammar errors even when you’re not aware of them
CT scan images caterpillar to butterfly metamorphosis in 3-D
First mathematical proof that prime numbers come in infinite pairs
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Mon, Apr 8, 2013
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