ATLANTA -- Something really shocking is going on in a microquasar, or black hole, dubbed "Old Faithful," some 40,000 light years from Earth. It seems to be behaving like a giant particle collider, with massive shock waves generating eruptions every 45 to 90 minutes. This is the second time that Old Faithful, the first known microquasar in our galaxy, the Milky Way, has been observed to be acting strangely. Two years ago astronomers presented evidence, from X-ray and infrared observations, that the microquasar is sending out jets of hot gas at close to regular half-hour intervals.
The New York City tech campus is generating interest - and questions - from around the community. Tech campus proposal leaders will answer questions at a forum Feb. 3, and the Chronicle periodically will run an FAQ. (Jan. 26, 2012)
Researchers are using nanotechnology to build microscopic silicon devices with features comparable in size to DNA, proteins and other biological molecules – to count molecules, analyze them, separate them, perhaps even work with them one at a time.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has designated a 13-member national consortium as the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), creating the world's largest and most accessible nanoscale laboratory. The consortium will enable university students and researchers, as well as scientists from corporate and government laboratories, to have open access to resources they need for studying molecular and higher length-scale materials and processes and applying them in a variety of structures, devices and systems. Named to lead NNIN is Sandip Tiwari, director of the NSF-funded Cornell Nanoscale Facility (CNF), a national user facility on the Cornell campus. NSF funding to the new network is expected to be $70-million or higher for five years, beginning in January 2004, with the possibility of a five-year renewal. (December 22, 2003)
Cornell materials scientists have come up with a novel technique that could vastly improve the performance and yield of silicon microelectronic and optical devices, which are used in semiconductor integrated circuits that power everything from computers to telephones.
Cornell chemists have created the world's smallest wires and encased them in a plastic polymer, an accomplishment that could lead to a host of new electrical or optical uses at the nanometer scale.
Although expensive and complicated to adjust, a split keyboard mounted onto the arms of a worker's chair can help reduce a typist's risk of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and other cumulative trauma disorders, according to a new Cornell study.
Most people recognize that Cornell is a place where knowledge is created. Very few think about what happens next. In future editions of this Cornell Innovations column, we'll describe some of the great ideas that have been dreamed up by Cornellians.
The computer-modeling accomplishment - which is expected to aid the future design of tiny insect-like flying machines and should dispel the longstanding myth that "bumblebees cannot fly.
Two years after he stepped down as Cornell's president, Hunter Rawlings is back. In those two years, numerous projects launched under his previous watch have come to fruition.