Focus: Hidden - DC Metro

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The George Washington University announced a new scholarship in partnership with the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA).

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Thousands of times a second the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory re-creates the hot quark soup that existed at the dawn of the universe. Particles composed of heavy quarks can help reveal details about the quark-gluon plasma, and by extension, the early universe and the origins of matter.

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This week in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing, researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada report a novel design for electromagnetic energy harvesting based on the "full absorption concept." This involves the use of metamaterials that can be tailored to produce media that neither reflects nor transmits any power—enabling full absorption of incident waves at a specific range of frequencies and polarizations.

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Recently, researchers at Fudan University's Institute of Biomedical Sciences in Shanghai developed a lab-on-a-chip device that can rapidly diagnose cryptosporidium infections from just a finger prick -- potentially bringing point-of-care diagnosis to at-risk areas in rural China in order to improve treatment outcomes.

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A team of Finnish scientists has found a new way to examine the ancient art of putting ink to paper in unprecedented 3-D detail. The technique could improve scientists' understanding of how ink sticks to paper and ultimately lead to higher quality, less expensive and more environmentally-friendly printed products.

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Early schemes to model the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and their impact on sea levels failed to accurately account for changes caused by snowfall and snow melt. These changes depend on ice sheet elevation and region. Researchers developed a new method that includes the effects of elevation and region.

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The amount of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) produced from isoprene released by trees as well as the SOA volatility are more accurately tied to interactions with electron-rich, carbon-based chemicals, known as organic peroxy radicals, that compete with nitrogen oxides in reactions.

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Whether inside algae turning biomass to fuels or human cells reacting to radiation exposure, proteins change their shape via atomic motions to perform a specific task. Scientists determined three classes of atomic motion, helping enable discoveries related to biobased or bio-inspired materials for energy production and use.

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When heated to just above room temperature, the electrical conductivity of vanadium dioxide abruptly increases by a factor of 10,000. Unusually large lattice vibrations, which are the oscillations of atoms about their equilibrium positions, stabilize this highly conductive metallic phase.

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Scientists engineered a strain of a consolidated bioprocessing bacterium that breaks down biomass without pretreatment, producing ethanol and demonstrating the successful conversion of switchgrass cellulosic biomass.

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New material that may change the way we cool our food, homes and cars

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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill selected as the lead institution for a new DHS Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (COE). S&T will provide the Coastal Resilience COE with an initial $3 million grant for its first operating year.

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mobile application archiving technology across all major mobile apps markets. In addition to Android apps, the technology can now archive apps from iTunes, Windows Phone Store, Google Play, Amazon, and 83 global third-party mobile app markets such as Baidu and Cydia.

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Tropical monsoons in Indonesia and floods in the United States are both provoked by the Madden-Julian Oscillation, yet, despite its importance, global models often struggle to simulate it accurately. Scientists showed that MJO simulations are most sensitive to lower level heating in the atmosphere.

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A head and neck surgeon at UCSD discusses the development of new molecules that cause tumors and nerves to glow, making it easier for them to be identified during surgery.

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Some microorganisms found in nature and not grown in the laboratory reinterpret the instructions coded into their DNA. Short segments of DNA that signal other organisms to stop adding building blocks or amino acids to a protein are instead interpreted as "add another amino acid."

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• Researchers have developed a system that could be used to identify novel drug candidates that protect the function of the kidney cells that are damaged in patients with chronic kidney disease. • One drug identified through the system effectively protected the kidney cells of rodents exposed to kidney damaging agents.

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Scientists discovered that for palladium-nickel catalysts, certain surface characteristics, measured at the atomic level, sped the creation of carbon dioxide from carbon monoxide.

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For the first time, carbon nanotubes were spontaneously inserted into natural and synthetic cell membranes to form pores that mimic biological channels. The pores replicate the major functions of protein-based biological channels.

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Scientists built a highly active and durable class of electrocatalysts by exploiting the structural evolution of solid platinum-nickel nanocrystals. The novel material enhanced catalytic activity for splitting oxygen, a reaction vital to fuel cells and potentially other uses.

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Recognizing and giving thanks for the positive aspects of life can result in improved mental, and ultimately physical, health in patients with asymptomatic heart failure, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

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New research led by Kimberly A. Gudzune, MD, MPH, and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that commercial weight-loss programs can offer significant weight loss after one year of participation when compared to a control group, which could be medically significant for many people with obesity or excess weight. According to the authors, many commercial programs show promising weight-loss results, but additional research is needed to better understand the long-term outcomes. Further, given that the programs were not compared directly against one another using the same study and evaluation methods, this research should not be used to rank one program over another.

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Pesticide exposure, not obesity alone, can contribute to increased cardiovascular disease risk and inflammation in premenopausal women, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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NASA’s Solar Probe Plus Mission – which will fly closer to the Sun than any spacecraft has before – reached a major milestone last month when it successfully completed its Critical Design Review (CDR).

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Predicting the types of clouds over the ocean is critical for climate projections. However, current climate models lack the spatial resolution necessary for accurate characterization of certain processes.

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Refining natural gas into an easy-to-transport, easy-to-store liquid so far has been a challenge. But now, a new material, designed and patented by researchers working at the Molecular Foundry nanoscience research center, is making this process a little easier

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A San Diego Supercomputer Center research team received NVIDIA’s 2015 Global Impact Award for its work, conducted in part on the Titan supercomputer, developing a GPU-accelerated code that simulates high-frequency earthquakes.

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The Energy Sciences Network is the Internet connection you wish you had – and more.

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NIBIB-funded researchers have developed a highly effective sensor system to improve the quality of clinical breast examinations by physicians. To improve training, the device incorporates a sensor that indicates when a physician is palpating (pressing) with adequate force necessary to detect a lump in the breast.

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Just as the Rosetta Stone has the same message in three different scripts giving scholars insights into ancient languages, so cerium-cobalt-indium5 is offering insights into the interplay between magnetism, superconductivity, and disorder in three classes of unconventional superconductors.

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A big barrier to building useful electronics with carbon nanotubes has always been the fact that when they're arrayed into films, a certain portion of them will act more like metals than semiconductors. But now a team of researchers have shown how to strip out the metallic carbon nanotubes from arrays using a relatively simple, scalable procedure that does not require expensive equipment. Their work is described this week in the Journal of Applied Physics.

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In the Journal of Applied Physics, a group of researchers from Durham University in the U.K. and the University of São Paulo-USP in Brazil describes using single-walled carbon nanotube composites (SWCNTs) as a material in “unconventional” computing. By studying the mechanical and electrical properties of the materials, they discovered a correlation between SWCNT concentration/viscosity/conductivity and the computational capability of the composite.

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s a symbol of friendship, Japan gave cherry trees to Washington, D.C., where they encircle the Tidal Basin. Not far away are the Smithsonian’s Asian art museums, the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. They hold many Japanese artworks that feature cherry blossoms, which Japanese poets have long associated with the transience and shortness of life. This Smithsonian Snapshot is an animated GIF of “Cherry Blossom Flurry at Kambayashi Hot Spring” from the Sackler Gallery.

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Long-term analysis of RTOG 9903 demonstrates that the addition of erythropoietin (EPO) did not improve local-regional control for anemic patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who receive radiation therapy or chemoradiation, according to a study published in the April 1, 2015 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics.

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Contrary to popular belief, excessive use of first-person singular pronouns such as "I" and "me" does not necessarily indicate a narcissistic tendency, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

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The Kidney Health Initiative (KHI) is seeking input from patients with kidney disease and their family members on future treatment options. The perspectives gathered in this new KHI project will help inform development of therapeutics and devices for kidney disease, which affects more than 20 million Americans.

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A study attacking the household use of bleach completely ignores the benefits of the product when it is properly used for cleaning, disinfecting and laundering, according to the American Cleaning Institute.

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• High parathyroid hormone levels and subsequent bone loss are major risk factors for worsening of coronary artery calcification in patients on dialysis.

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Last week at its 2015 Annual Conference, the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) premiered the first segments of an in-depth, online program specifically aimed at the nation’s healthcare industry, High-Performing Health.

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The American Medical Group Association today announced the appointment of Scott Hines, M.D., as Chair of the AMGA Public Policy Committee. Dr. Hines serves as Chief Quality Officer and Medical Director of Crystal Run Healthcare’s medical specialties division in Middletown, New York.

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The annual incidence rates of heat stroke, exertional rhabdomyolysis and exertional hyponatremia among service members in the active component rose slightly in 2014, according to newly released health surveillance reports.

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A junior environmental science major at Duquesne University who is exploring the remediation of arsenic in produced water from shale gas wells has become Duquesne’s first undergraduate to receive a prestigious $50,000 fellowship from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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In the workplace, age matters - but hiring or promoting based on age-related mental abilities can be a minefield, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

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The following articles are freely available online from Physics Today (www.physicstoday.org), the world's most influential and closely followed magazine devoted to physics and the physical science community.

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One of the biggest challenges in the training and testing of canine teams results from the explosives materials themselves - especially new homemade explosives. S&T funded training aid that matches the scent of explosive materials but poses no danger to the trainers, the canines or the environment.

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Night owls are more likely to develop diabetes, metabolic syndrome and sarcopenia than early risers, even when they get the same amount of sleep, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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Exposure to the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A during pregnancy may raise a mother’s susceptibility to weight gain and diabetes later in life, according to a new animal study published in the Endocrine Society’s journal Endocrinology.

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A new study out of West Virginia University suggests antioxidants may play a key role in reducing the long-term effects of concussions and could potentially offer a unique new approach for treatment.