ScienceDaily: Computers & Math News

Levitation recreates nature's dumbbells Posted: 07 Jan 2015 09:25 AM PST Using magnetic levitation to imitate weightlessness, physicists have manufactured solid wax models of splash form tektites. "These wax models provide the first direct experimental validation for numerical models of the equilibrium shapes of spinning droplets. This research is of importance to fundamental physics and also to study of tektite formation," an author said.

New light shed on electron spin flips Posted: 07 Jan 2015 07:11 AM PST Researchers have derived a new set of equations that allows for calculating electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) transition probabilities with arbitrary alignment and polarization of the exciting electromagnetic radiation.

Doing more with less: Steering a quantum path to improved internet security Posted: 07 Jan 2015 05:22 AM PST New research may lead to greatly improved security of information transfer over the internet. Physicists have demonstrated the potential for 'quantum steering' to be used to enhance data security over long distances, discourage hackers and eavesdroppers and resolve issues of trust with communication devices.

Responsive material could be the 'golden ticket' of sensing Posted: 07 Jan 2015 05:22 AM PST A new responsive material 'glued' together with short strands of DNA, and capable of translating thermal and chemical signals into visible physical changes, could underpin a new class of biosensors or drug delivery systems.

Hey, guys: Posting a lot of selfies doesn't send a good message Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:18 AM PST The picture isn't pretty for guys who post a lot of selfies on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. A new study showed that men who posted more online photos of themselves than others scored higher on measures of narcissism and psychopathy.

DNA origami could lead to nano 'transformers' for biomedical applications Posted: 05 Jan 2015 12:10 PM PST If the new nano-machines built at The Ohio State University look familiar, it's because they were designed with full-size mechanical parts such as hinges and pistons in mind. The project is the first to prove that the same basic design principles that apply to typical full-size machine parts can also be applied to DNA--and can produce complex, controllable components for future nano-robots.