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Plants tell caterpillars when it's safe to forage
The world is filled with cues that could influence the daily feeding patterns of an organism. Many plants, for example, respond to foraging damage by releasing specialized chemical signals-volatile organic compounds that evaporate in the air-that attract the forager's natural enemies.   view more (2006-05-16)

NIST atom interferometry displays new quantum tricks
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a novel way of making atoms interfere with each other, recreating a famous experiment originally done with light while also making the atoms do things that light just won't do.   view more (2007-05-29)

The crew will soon be able to watch you from the cockpit
AIRBUS, the European jet manufacturer, is planning to build concealed cameras into the light fittings above the seats in its aircraft. The idea is to let the crew monitor passengers and spot hijackers before they strike. The cameras also work in the dark.... view more (2002-05-08)

Lighting the Way: Measuring Surface Tension Just Got Easier
Inventors at Oxford University have developed a new method to indirectly measure the surface tension of liquid by tracking reflected light intensity to assess the surface configuration. The procedure is reliable, repeatable, quick to set-up and use, contact-less and non-destructive. Surface tension... view more (2003-09-05)

Tech Creates More Compact, Inexpensive Spectrometer
Being the delicate optical instruments that they are, spectrometers are pretty picky about light.   view more (2006-02-09)

New Approach Sheds Light on Ways Circadian Disruption Affects Human Health
Growing evidence indicates that exposure to irregular patterns of light and darkness can cause the human circadian system to fall out of synchrony with the 24-hour solar day, negatively affecting human health - but scientists have been unable to effectively study the relationship between circadian... view more (2008-07-17)

Why white light is best for our town centres
White lighting is twice as good at letting you see the face of someone else as that from the yellow light from high pressure sodium lamps commonly used to light our streets, according to new research sponsored by the ESRC and published as part of Social Science week. It can therefore allow the same... view more (2004-06-22)

Cornell researchers develop virus-size 'nanolamps' that could aid use of flexible electronic devices as sensors
To help light up the nanoworld, a Cornell interdisciplinary team of researchers has produced microscopic "nanolamps" — light-emitting nanofibers about the size of a virus or the tiniest of bacteria.   view more (2007-04-12)

Coffee Makes People Nervous
They did not work with people; instead they examined rats of two lines. The rats of the first line were more anxious by their nature. Some rats were kept in groups, while others were kept in single cages. It is known that solitude is an unfavourable factor for rats.... view more (2002-04-12)

Taming Tiny, Unruly Waves for Nano Optics
Nanoscale devices present a unique challenge to any optical technology - there's just not enough room for light to travel in a straight line.   view more (2007-10-09)

Livermore researchers find
With the exception of lasers and free-electron lasers, there hasn't been another fundamental way to produce coherent light for close to 50 years.   view more (2006-01-16)

Quantum decoys foil code-breaking attempts
Computer code-makers may soon get the upper hand on code-breakers thanks to a new quantum cryptography method designed at the University of Toronto. Quantum cryptography uses particles of light to share secret encryption keys relayed through fibre-optic communications.   view more (2005-07-19)

Researchers set new record for brightness of quantum dots
By placing quantum dots on a specially designed photonic crystal, researchers at the University of Illinois have demonstrated enhanced fluorescence intensity by a factor of up to 108. Potential applications include high-brightness light-emitting diodes, optical switches and personalized,... view more (2007-09-26)

Engineers develop smallest device to control light, advance silicon technology
An electrical engineer at the University of Texas at Austin has made a laser light blink while passing through a miniaturized silicon chip, a major step toward developing commercially viable optical interconnects for high performance computers and other devices.   view more (2006-01-19)

Freeing light shines promise on energy-efficient lighting
The latest bright idea in energy-efficient lighting for homes and offices uses big science in nano-small packages to dim the future Edison's light bulb.   view more (2008-07-16)

New efficiency benchmark for dye-sensitized solar cells
In a paper published online June 29 in the journal Nature Materials, EPFL professor Michael Graetzel, Shaik Zakeeruddin and colleagues from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have achieved a record light conversion efficiency of 8.2% in solvent-free... view more (2008-06-30)

A bright future for plastics -- robot 'skin,' flexible laptops and electric posters
With market analysts predicting a ten fold increase in the value of the organic light emitting display industry, from £1.5 billion to £15.5 billion, by 2014, it is no wonder that scientists and governments alike are keen to advance research into "plastic electronics".   view more (2008-07-01)

Supernova remnant menagerie
The supernova remnant N 63A is a member of N 63, a star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Visible from the southern hemisphere, the LMC is an irregular galaxy lying 160,000 light-years from our own Milky Way galaxy.   view more (2005-06-07)

Hubble finds large sample of very distant galaxies
New Hubble Space Telescope observations of six spectacular galaxy clusters acting as gravitational lenses have given significant insights into the early stages of the Universe. Scientists have found the largest sample of very distant galaxies seen to date: ten promising candidates thought to lie at... view more (2008-07-25)

Carbon-based quantum dots could mean 'greener' safer technology in medicine and biology
Chemists at Clemson University say they have developed a new type of quantum dot that is the first to be made from carbon.   view more (2006-05-24)

New light microscope may help unlock some of cells' secrets
A microscopy technique pioneered with the help of Florida State University's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory has led to the development of a new light microscope capable of looking at proteins on a molecular level.   view more (2006-08-17)

Ultrashort light pulse blazes new paths for science, industry
Researchers in Italy have created an ultrashort light pulse-a single isolated burst of extreme-ultraviolet light that lasts for only 130 attoseconds (billionths of a billionth of a second).   view more (2007-05-02)

Breakthrough in computer chip design eliminates wires in data transmission
Research slated to appear in the October 2 edition of the Optical Society of America's (OSA) Optics Express will unveil that researchers have created a new laser-silicon hybrid computer chip that can produce laser beams that will make it possible to use laser light rather than wires to send data... view more (2006-09-21)

NIST photon detectors have record efficiency
Sensors that detect and count single photons, the smallest quantities of light, with 88 percent efficiency have been demonstrated by physicists at the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST).   view more (2005-06-02)

Optical wireless and broadband over power lines: High speed, secure Wi-Fi alternative
Penn State engineers have shown that a white-LED system for lighting and high data-rate indoor wireless communications, coupled with broadband over either medium- or low-voltage power line grids (BPL), can offer transmission capacities that exceed DSL or cable and are more secure than RF.   view more (2006-01-12)

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