The new findings is reported by Brian Wernicke and colleagues from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the current issue of Science . Since 1991 Wernicke and colleagues have been using the satellite-based Global Positioning System to measure the movement of Yucca Mountain with unprecedented precision. The team […]
In the report NuPECC suggests that national funding agencies should become more involved during the planning stage of these new facilities because future facilities and detectors will be significantly more complex and expensive compared to present systems. It also recommends that more young researchers should be encouraged into nuclear theory groups, so that progress in […]
During his five-year tenure at CERN, Llewellyn Smith has overseen an increase in funds for the Large Hadron Collider by persuading countries outside CERN, particularly the US, to become involved in the project. A theoretical physicist by training, Llewellyn Smith replaced Carlo Rubbia as director general of CERN in 1994. Prior to that, he streamlined […]
DERA has an annual turnover of £1bn, 90% of which comes from the Ministry of Defence, and is active in many areas of physics including semiconductors, materials and optics. The agency would encourage the exploitation of defence technology by industry, and the transfer of civilian technology into military programmes. For example, in the 1960s researchers […]
In Ammann’s scheme the plants are grown in a vertical structure with their roots protruding into a central column. A nozzle at the top of the structure sprays nutrients into this column, wetting the roots of the plants. The plants are also able to breathe in nitrogen and carbon dioxide through their roots, as would […]
The UK government is committed to basic science, said Battle. “The ongoing comprehensive spending review gives us the opportunity to spell out our commitment to the science base, ” he added. Battle called on physicists to keep drawing a parallel between the UK and the US, where the budget request for 1999 is up 8% […]
The government is to contribute £20 million to a University Challenge Fund to help universities to exploit academic research. The Welcome Trust and the Gatsby Trust have contributed a further £20 million to the scheme, and the government hopes to raise another £10 million from other sources. Brown also announced an extra £250 million for […]
Interference from satellites is an increasing problem for radio astronomers, and this problem is set to get worse as hundreds of telecommunications satellites are launched into low-Earth orbit over the next few years. Signals from the satellites – mostly for mobile phones – interfere with the radio signals from outer space that the astronomers are […]
Although ESA has undergone a cost cutting exercise over the past two years, it is still looking for new sources of revenue. Rodota hopes to open up additional sources of finance by increasing the number of commercial programmes at the agency. He has targeted three areas in particular: telecommunications, multimedia and Earth observation. Battle also […]
The device works by storing the data as regions of electric charge. The charge is trapped within a thin dielectric layer coated onto a conducting platter. The hard drive reads and writes data using field tip-emitters fabricated on the top of a silicon chip. The tip of each emitter is only 25 nanometres across, which […]
