An international team of astronomers, led by scientists at the University of Manchester have produced new evidence that most of the energy in the Universe is in the form of the mysterious “Dark Energy”. The new evidence comes from a 10-year census of the sky for examples of gravitational lenses, which are seen when a galaxy bends the light from a distant quasar to form several images of the same quasar. Linking the number of lenses they found with the latest information on the numbers of galaxies, th

A diet rich in flaxseed seems to reduce the size, aggressiveness and severity of tumors in mice that have been genetically engineered to develop prostate cancer, according to new research from Duke University Medical Center. And in 3 percent of the mice, the flaxseed diet kept them from getting the disease at all.

“We are cautiously optimistic about these findings,” said Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, Ph.D., associate professor, division of urology and senior author of the study that appears in t

The success of many advanced technologies that use devices such as sensors and actuators, including gyroscopes and optical devices, depends on microscopic components called microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices made of polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon). Researchers at Case Western Reserve University report in the November 8 issue of Science that miniature micron-sized polysilicon laboratory specimens subjected to cyclic tension/compression loading undergo fatigue, and could ultimately fa

Phoning home from 93 billion miles away–only E.T. and other science fiction characters can do that. But with the help of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) know-how, reality soon may catch up with imagination.

Conceptual designs for a “realistic interstellar explorer,” or RISE — a highly autonomous craft that would travel far beyond this solar system to collect scientific data — call for a laser-based communications link to Earth that relies in part on a recent NIST i

When it comes to sleuthing in science, few are better than the intrepid investigators at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). For example, take the “Case of the Stray Electrons.”

NIST researchers have created nanoscale devices that manipulate electrons in order to count them one at a time. Such counting is critical to the development of new fundamental electrical standards. When two electrons are bound in pairs (called Cooper pairs) in a superconductor, they can be man

Global Environment Facility Funds New UNEP Poverty-Busting Project Promising New Hope to People and Wildlife

A pioneering new project to heal dying and degraded lands fringing Africa`s mighty deserts was launched today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

The project, marking a new phase of the five year-old Desert Margins Programme, has numerous aims including conserving the rich and uni