New Research Could Lead to Enhanced MRI Scans

ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2011) — New research from the University of Southampton could lead to enhanced MRI scans, producing brighter and more precise images, and potentially allowing the detection of cancerous cells before they cause health problems.

Professor Malcolm Levitt of the University of Southampton, and co-workers, have been awarded a grant from the European Research Council of 2.8 million euros to support research into enhanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). NMR is the physical principle underlying MRI scanning, which is used routinely to detect abnormalities such as tumours. The long term aim is that this research will lead to a range of clinical applications, including the early detection of cancer.

 

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Switching light on and off - with photons

November 9, 2011 By Vivek VenkataramanRubidium atoms will absorb photons only if two photons of specific wavelengths arrive at the same time. This allows one stream of photons to turn another on or off. (Gaeta Group)
















(PhysOrg.com) -- Cornell researchers have demonstrated that the passage of a light beam through an optical fiber can be controlled by just a few photons of another light beam.

Such all-optical control is the idea behind photonics, where beams of light replace electric currents in circuits, yielding higher speed and lower power consumption. Just as a transistor can switch an electric current on or off, photonic circuits need a way for one light beam to switch another. One of the holy grails is single-photon switching, where just one photon controls the passage of another.

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Still in the dark about dark matter

December 6, 2011 By Amina Khan

Dark matter, the mysterious stuff thought to make up about 80 percent of matter in the universe, has become even more inscrutable.

Scientists have been trying for decades to better understand and detect the nature of dark matter, which could help them figure out how galaxies first formed.

"We don't know much about dark matter," said Stefan Funk, a particle astrophysicist at Stanford University.

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Nobel Physics Prize: Astronomers win for insights into expanding universe

 A trio of astronomers won the Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday for discovering that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, a finding that implies that the cosmos will end in frozen nothingness. The three are Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess of the United States and US-Australian Brian Schmidt, who are honoured for findings that were – to their own admission – both a complete surprise and a little scary.

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