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Ceramics reinforced with nanotubes

The new material has up to five times the fracture toughness of conventional alumina, making it more forgiving under dynamic loads. It also exhibits high electrical conductivity ten trillion times greater than pure alumina, with interesting thermal properties that make it suitable for thermal barrier coatings.

SourceUniversity of California - Davis·JournalApplied Physics Letters·DateSep 16, 2003

Cool running semiconductors

Researchers have developed thin layer silicon with improved lattice vibrational frequency, leading to a 30% increase in thermal conductivity. This breakthrough enables faster charging and more efficient heat conduction in digital semiconductor devices.

Landcover changes may rival greenhouse gases as cause of climate change

A new NASA-funded study reveals that human-caused land-use changes significantly contribute to climate change, potentially more so than greenhouse gas emissions. The research proposes a method for comparing different climate change factors, highlighting the importance of land surface changes in redistributing heat and affecting regiona...

SourceNASA/Goddard Space Flight Center·JournalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London·DateOct 1, 2002

Variability in West Antarctic ice streams normal

Recent research suggests that West Antarctic ice streams are experiencing normal variability, contrary to predictions of imminent shutdown and sea-level rise. The study found that local conditions, such as geothermal heat and frictional forces, drive the slowdown or speeding up of ice streams.

SourcePenn State·JournalGeophysical Research Letters·DateJul 24, 2002

All fault lines are not equal

Researchers found a significant difference in movement on each side of the Eastern California Shear Zone, with one side moving more than the other due to varying heat flow properties. This discovery provides a more accurate method for modeling earthquake data and could be applicable in many places.

SourcePenn State·JournalGeophysical Research Letters·DateJul 6, 2001

Heat capacity of glassy substance holds key to its transition kinetics

University of Illinois researchers have developed a theory that explains how glassy materials behave and predict the speed of molecular motion changes with temperature. The theory, based on thermodynamic measurements of heat capacity, provides a universal form for expressing glass transition phenomena.

SourceUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau·JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences·DateApr 2, 2000