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Physicists have managed to "entangle" the physical state of a group of atoms with that of another group of atoms across the room. This research represents an important advance relevant to the foundations of quantum mechanics and to quantum information science, including the possibility of scalable quantum networks (i.e., a quantum Internet) in the future. Reporting in the December 8 issue of the journal Nature, California Institute of Technology physicist H. Jeff Kimble and his colleagues announce the first realization of entanglement for one "spin excitation" stored jointly between two samples of atoms. In the Caltech experiment, the atomic ensembles...

Using tiny semiconductor crystals, biological probes and a laser, Johns Hopkins University engineers have developed a new method of finding specific sequences of DNA by making them light up beneath a microscope. The researchers, who say the technique will have important uses in medical research, demonstrated its potential in their lab by detecting a sample of DNA containing a mutation linked to ovarian cancer. The Johns Hopkins team described the new DNA nanosensor in a paper published in the November 2005 issue of the journal Nature Materials. "Conventional methods of finding and identifying samples of DNA are cumbersome and time-consuming,"...

Scientists at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have successfully demonstrated that a theoretical--and controversial--technique for generating embryonic stem cells is indeed possible, at least in mice. The theory, called altered nuclear transfer (ANT), proposes that researchers first create genetically altered embryos that are unable to implant in a uterus, and then extract stem cells from these embryos. Because the embryos cannot implant, they are by definition not "potential" human lives. Some suggest that this would quell the protests of critics who claim that embryonic stem cell research necessitates the destruction of human life. Scientists and ethicists have debated the merits...

It has been 20 years since the futurist Eric Drexler daringly predicted a new world where miniaturized robots would build things one molecule at a time. The world of nanotechnology that Drexler envisioned is beginning to come to pass, with scientists conjuring new applications daily. Now Salvatore Torquato, a Princeton University scientist, is proposing turning a central concept of nanotechnology on its head. If the theory bears out – and it is in its infancy -- it could have radical implications not just for industries like telecommunications and computers but also for our understanding of the nature of life. Torquato...

Online campaigning is transforming US politics and empowering individual voters dwarfed by the might of the print and broadcast media, the author of a major new Internet use survey said. The online revolution could even allow a third-party candidate to break the two-party Republican/Democrat monopoly of US politics, said Jeffrey Cole, who penned the major University of Southern California (USC) study due to be released on December 6. "The Internet will forever change the course and nature of American politics," Cole said. "The Internet is no longer a marginal force in American politics -- it is quickly becoming the central...

Researchers at the University of Michigan have been able to use a small quantum computer consisting of two atoms to do a super-fast data base search. This same system could someday be scaled to a much larger quantum computer that could outperform any conventional computer for certain applications. The super-fast search is called Grover's Quantum Search Algorithm, and it can be used to search unsorted databases for specific information. If you wanted to find a name belonging to a phone number in the phonebook, Grover's algorithm could be used to search for the corresponding name much faster than using a...

Rice University Scientists have done it. After BMW announced the possibility of producing a car that would utilize nanotechnology practically for all functions, Rice University scientists developed the world’s first single-molecule car- the car that was driven on a gold microscopic highway. It a small coupe that is devoid of any plush seating or conventional steering system. But it is a real solution for the grid locked cities. With a wheelbase of less than 5 nm, parking it is a cakewalk. According to Professor Tour this development is a watershed in so far as constructing successfully a nanocar represents the...

Scientists at the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have coaxed six atoms into spinning together in two opposite directions at the same time, a so-called Schrödinger “cat” state that obeys the unusual laws of quantum physics. The ambitious choreography could be useful in applications such as quantum computing and cryptography, as well as ultra-sensitive measurement techniques, all of which rely on exquisite control of nature’s smallest particles. The experiment, which was unusually challenging even for scientists accustomed to crossing the boundary between the macroscopic and quantum worlds, is described in the Dec. 1 issue of Nature.*...

A team of scientists at Yale University has completed the first comprehensive map of the proteins and kinase signaling network that controls how cells of higher organisms operate, according to a report this week in the journal Nature. The study is a breakthrough in understanding mechanisms of how proteins operate in different cell types under the control of master regulator molecules called protein kinases. Although protein kinases are already important targets of cancer drugs including Gleevec and Herceptin, until recently, it has been difficult to identify the proteins regulated by the kinases. Led by Michael Snyder, Lewis B Cullman Professor...

Engineers at Purdue University are the first researchers to create a material that has a "negative index of refraction" in the wavelength of light used for telecommunications, a step that could lead to better communications and imaging technologies. "This work represents a milestone because it demonstrates that it is possible to have a negative refractive index in the optical range, which increases the likelihood of harnessing this phenomenon for optics and communications," said Vladimir Shalaev, the Robert and Anne Burnett Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The material consists of tiny parallel "nanorods" of gold that conduct clouds of electrons...

Exploiting biology's own chemical toolbox, researchers have developed a new technique that will allow them to modify specific sequences within a DNA molecule. The approach will not only help reveal the impact of biochemical alterations to DNA, but could have far-reaching implications for DNA-based medical diagnosis and nanobiotechnology. Combining chemistry with biotechnology, Saulius Klimasauskas, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) international research scholar at the Institute of Biotechnology in Vilnius, Lithuania, and chemists at the Institute of Organic Chemistry in Aachen, Germany, have harnessed a group of essential enzymes to add various chemical groups to DNA, thereby altering its function....

Cardiology researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have found that a single injection of a harmless virus engineered to carry a beneficial, mutant gene enabled animals to manufacture their own supply of the gene's protein product that protects against plaque buildup in blood vessels. As a result, the amount of plaque was significantly reduced, as was an immune reaction that can lead to plaque buildup and rupture, which can cause a blocked artery and heart attack or stroke. The researchers will present their findings from this and other studies at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2005 Nov. 13 through 16...

In work that could radically change how engineers search for new materials, MIT researchers have developed a way to test the mechanical properties of almost 600 different materials in a matter of days -- a task that would have taken weeks using conventional techniques. The new process could lead to the faster identification of dental implants that don't crack, tank armor that's more resistant to missiles, and other materials dependent on mechanical properties like stiffness and toughness. The trick? The team, led by Assistant Professor Krystyn J. Van Vliet of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, miniaturized the process....

A biotechnology company with a specialty in killing mosquitoes is turning to wireless technology and computers to make a killing for itself. American Biophysics, a small private company based in North Kingstown, R.I., runs a healthy business selling the "Mosquito Magnet," a system to rid American backyards of biting insects, according to its new CEO Devin Hosea. Simply described, the magnet emits a humanlike scent that includes carbon dioxide and moisture to attract bloodsucking insects. When the bugs flutter past, they're sucked into and suffocated by a vacuumlike device. Now AmBio, as the company is commonly called, is upping the...

A means for controlling single-molecule switches by engineering their design and surrounding environment has been developed by a research team led by scientists at Penn State, Rice University, and the University of Oregon. The research demonstrates that single-molecule switches can be tailored to respond in predictable and stable ways, depending on the direction of the electric field applied to them--while some switches were engineered to turn on, others were engineered to turn off in response to the same applied electric field. The discovery, which is an essential step in the emerging field of molecular electronics, could further the development of...

Complex computing operations could be greatly accelerated through massive parallel processing in a quantum computer. The smallest units of information are known as quantum bits, which could be realized using atoms or molecules, if one can manipulate their position, quantum state, and interactions with other particles. Controlling single atoms in an optical resonator is now one decisive step closer to becoming reality for the research team led by Professor Gerhard Rempe of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, near Munich, Germany. The scientists report in the journal Nature Physics that they were able to cool single rubidium...

A genetic experiment to unlock the secrets of the ageing process has created organisms that live six times their usual lifespan, raising hopes that it might be possible to slow ageing in humans.

Greenwich Mean Time would become an "irrelevance" if proposals to redefine how time is measured are accepted, an historian at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, UK, has warned. US scientists want to change the current system, which keeps clocks in sync with solar time by adding a leap second every 18 months or so. The proposals will be discussed at a meeting in Geneva on Wednesday. UK scientists believe the meridian's role in time-keeping is under threat. The Prime Meridian, which runs through Greenwich in south-east London, became the basis for the world's time-keeping in 1884. The decision stemmed from the...

Song Yoo-geun, 8, wants to build flying cars, defying Newton's law of gravity, and the physics genius which has made him Korea's youngest university student may very well drive him to that dream. Amid scholastic achievements that have confounded experts, the public spotlight is squarely on the child prodigy and his parents, both 46 and both former teachers. What has made Yoo-geun - born late November 1997 and actually just shy of 8 years old - so special? His parents differ from the vast majority of Korean parents who show a passion approaching zeal for their children's education. "No fixed...

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26 - A team of Stanford electrical engineers has discovered how to modulate, or switch on and off, a beam of laser light up to a 100 billion times a second with materials that are widely used in the semiconductor industry. The group used a standard chip-making process to design a key component of optical networking gear potentially more than 10 times faster than the highest-performance commercial products available today.