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Is the UK's energy policy fit for purpose?

Business as usual' is not an option for the UK's nuclear energy sector; our energy companies' 'regressive and unjust funding approach' is causing fuel poverty, and the Northern Powerhouse could play a key role in shaping the UK's climate change future.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-uk-energy-policy-purpose.html

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New approach uses light instead of robots to assemble electronic components

An international team of researchers has developed a new light-based manipulation method that could one day be used to mass produce electronic components for smartphones, computers and other devices. A cheaper and faster way to produce these components could make it less expensive to connect everyday objects—from clothing to household appliances—to the internet, advancing the concept known as the Internet of Things. The micromanipulation technique might also be used to create a safer and faster-charging replacement for mobile device batteries.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-approach-robots-electronic-components.html

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Researchers model Coulomb crystals to understand star evolution

Matter in the cores of old white dwarfs and the crusts of neutron stars is compressed to unimaginable densities by intense gravitational forces. The scientific community believes this matter is composed of Coulomb crystals that form at temperatures potentially as high as 100 million Kelvin.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-coulomb-crystals-star-evolution.html

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Researcher seeks to tame 'ghost' of uncertainty in complex dynamic systems

We're surrounded by dynamic systems—systems demonstrating behavior changing through time—in engineering, nature, civilization, even our personal lives. Even an ordinary bathtub could be considered a dynamic system with inflow and outflow of water and a reservoir level in the tub (along with a few rubber ducks, maybe). More complex dynamic systems include aircrafts, robots, glaciers, traffic flows, power grids, national economies and global climate change.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-ghost-uncertainty-complex-dynamic.html

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Cosmos code helps probe space oddities

Black holes make for a great space mystery. They're so massive that nothing, not even light, can escape a black hole once it gets close enough. A great mystery for scientists is that there's evidence of powerful jets of electrons and protons that shoot out of the top and bottom of some black holes. Yet no one knows how these jets form.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-cosmos-code-probe-space-oddities.html

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NASA-developed drone aircraft offer one-of-a-kind capabilities

NASA scientists, who always are on the hunt for new platforms from which to carry out their research, now may avail themselves of two agency-developed unmanned aerial systems, or UASs, that some say represent the future for drone aircraft.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-nasa-developed-drone-aircraft-one-of-a-kind-capabilities.html

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Improving sensor accuracy to prevent electrical grid overload

Electrical physicists from Czech Technical University have provided additional evidence that new current sensors introduce errors when assessing current through iron conductors. It's crucial to correct this flaw in the new sensors so that operators of the electrical grid can correctly respond to threats to the system. The researchers show how a difference in a conductor's magnetic permeability, the degree of material's magnetization response in a magnetic field, affects the precision of new sensors. They also provide recommendations for improving sensor accuracy. The results are published this week in AIP Advances.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-sensor-accuracy-electrical-grid-overload.html

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Paradoxical persistence of all negative growths from reformulation of Markowitz theorem

An improvement on the famous Markowitz theorem may have the potential to not only more accurately predict the next financial crises, but also the outbreak of pests and diseases, or whether a patient will have a heart attack in two hours or not.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-paradoxical-persistence-negative-growths-reformulation.html

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A little stress is good for cellular health and longevity

Northwestern University molecular bioscientists have discovered that a little stress can be good for cellular health. The findings will help researchers better understand the molecular mechanisms that drive aging and risk for age-associated degenerative diseases.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-stress-good-cellular-health-longevity.html

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How a 'flipped' gene helped butterflies evolve mimicry

Female swallowtail butterflies do something a lot of butterflies do to survive: they mimic wing patterns, shapes and colors of other species that are toxic to predators. Some - but not all - swallowtail species have evolved several different forms of this trait. But what kind of genetic changes led to these various disguises, and why would some species maintain an undisguised form when mimicry provides an obvious evolutionary advantage?
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-flipped-gene-butterflies-evolve-mimicry.html

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Los Angeles Zoo's old Indian rhinoceros euthanized

A 48-year-old Indian rhinoceros that had survived skin cancer has been euthanized at the Los Angeles Zoo.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-los-angeles-zoo-indian-rhinoceros.html

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Schools shut amid health emergency as smog blankets India's capital

A public health emergency was declared as choking smog blanketed New Delhi on Tuesday, with authorities ordering the temporary closure of all primary schools in the world's most polluted capital city.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-schools-health-emergency-smog-blankets.html

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Cities can cut greenhouse gas emissions far beyond their urban borders

Greenhouse gas emissions caused by urban households' purchases of goods and services from beyond city limits are much bigger than previously thought. These upstream emissions may occur anywhere in the world and are roughly equal in size to the total emissions originating from a city's own territory, a new study shows. This is not bad news but in fact offers local policy-makers more leverage to tackle climate change, the authors argue in view of the UN climate summit COP23 that just started. They calculated the first internationally comparable greenhouse gas footprints for four cities from developed and developing countries: Berlin, New York, Mexico City, and Delhi. Contrary to common beliefs, not consumer goods like computers or sneakers that people buy are most relevant, but housing and transport - sectors that cities can substantially govern.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-cities-greenhouse-gas-emissions-urban.html

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Measuring atoms for better navigation and mineral detection

Better navigation systems and tracking of minerals and water may be the result of a new discovery by physicists studying atom measurement devices.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-atoms-mineral.html

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Researchers study human movement to build better robots

Draw a figure eight in the air. It might feel like one swift movement. But in fact, the velocity of your hand and arm likely varies, traveling faster through the straight parts and slowing down during the curves.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-human-movement-robots.html

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Software vastly improves the ability of ships to reroute through unpredictable weather

Major research discoveries generate news headlines. But a research undertaking by one University of Connecticut engineering lab seeks to forestall some headlines of a different kind.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-software-vastly-ability-ships-reroute.html

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Hydroelectric dams threaten Brazil's mysterious Pantanal—one of the world's great wetland

The Pantanal in central South America may not be as globally famous as the Amazon rainforest, but it has the continent's highest concentration of wildlife. Now, however, the region's endangered plants and animals, along with its still undiscovered secrets, may be wiped out in return for cheap hydroelectricity.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-hydroelectric-threaten-brazil-mysterious-pantanalone.html

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Chemists unlock the potential of fluoroalkenes

One of the strongest chemical bonds in organic chemistry is formed between carbon and fluorine, giving unique properties to chemical compounds featuring this group. Pharmaceutical researchers are very interested in carbon-fluorine bond containing molecules because of the way they mimic certain behaviors of biological compounds. However, the strength of the carbon-fluorine bond makes it difficult to remove and replace fluorine atoms in a molecule, greatly limiting the structures and types of chemicals that can be made.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-chemists-potential-fluoroalkenes.html

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Novel intermolecular surface force reveals actomyosin driving mechanism

The actin and myosin complex (actomyosin) generates contraction force of a muscle utilizing the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) hydrolysis reaction. Many attempts have thus been made to explain the molecular origin of the actomyosin motility.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-intermolecular-surface-reveals-actomyosin-mechanism.html

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Highly flexible organic flash memory for foldable and disposable electronics

A KAIST team reported ultra-flexible organic flash memory that is bendable down to a radius of 300 μm. The memory exhibits a significantly-long projected retention rate with a programming voltage on par with the present industrial standards.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-11-highly-flexible-memory-foldable-disposable.html

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Source: https://phys.org/