For anyone who is a fan of Harry Potter books, the magical wonders in its pages are miracles to marvel at. We non-magic folks can however recreate much of that using science:). Case in point: Moving Pictures. Fujitsu Laboratories Limited, Fujitsu Frontech Limited, and Fujitsu Limited have announced their joint development of the world's first film substrate-based bendable color electronic paper:):). The new electronic paper features vivid color images that are unaffected even when the screen is bent, and features an image memory function that enables continuous display of the same image without the need for electricity:D.

Bendable Electronic Paper (Courtesy: PhysOrg)The thin and flexible electronic paper uses very low power to change screen images, thereby making it ideal for displaying information or advertisements in public areas as a type of new electronic media that can be handled as easily as paper.
Electronic paper offers all of the same characteristics of paper such as being thin, flexible, and lightweight. It also boasts low power consumption in that it does not require electricity except during screen image changes, making electronic paper especially suited for advertisements or information bulletins in public places for which paper is currently used. Electronic paper is especially convenient for use on curved surfaces, such as columns. In addition, electronic paper can be conveniently used in conjunction with mobile devices as an easy-to-read and portable display device.
Thus, key features of this new technology include: a) No electricity for continuous display, b) thin, flexible and lightweight, and c) more vivid color than LCDs:).
The possibilities are endless. It can have huge impact on advertizing, publishing, handheld computers, medical research and so on and on:).

A valve is a mechanical device that regulates the flow of fluids by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. For example, our hearts have four valves, which help in regulating the blood flow in, out and throughout the heart.
The smaller the valve, greater is the control the user has in regulating the flow of the fluid. With this in mind, UCLA chemists have created the first nano-valve that can be opened and closed at will to trap and release molecules:).

The research is published in the in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. According to the lead researcher Thoi Nguyen from California NanoSystems Institute (CNI) in UCLA, the new valve can trap and release molecules on demand, unlike other valves which can only control flow of liquids.
This nano valve consists of moving parts - switchable Rotaxane molecules that resemble linear motors designed by CNI director Fraser Stoddart's team - attached to a tiny piece of glass (porous silica), which measures about 500 nanometers, and which Nguyen is currently reducing in size. Tiny pores in the glass are only a few nanometers in size. It's big enough to let molecules in and out, but small enough so that the switchable rotaxane molecules can block the hole:):).
The Rotaxane molecules can switch between two alternate structures. By controlling this switching, and putting the molecule at the mouth of a hole, the researchers were able to control the opening and closing of the hole. The research can pave the way to new techniques in drug delivery, molecular electronics, and industrial processes:).

In nuclear physics, Fusion is a kind of nuclear reaction where two or more subatomic particles combine to create other subatomic particles. For example, a Deuterium (also called heavy Hydrogen, with one Proton and one Neutron) nucleus can combine with a Neutron to produce a Tritium (Heavier Hydrogen, with one proton and two neutrons) nucleus. Many such fusion reactions are exothermic, that is, a net amount of energy is released when the particles combine. The major bottleneck that prohibits us from using fusion as a energy source is that it usually requires extremely high speeds of collision (and thus high temperatures) to fuse the particles together.

Deuterium to Tritium Fusion (Courtesy: PowerFrontiers)One controversial approach that is claimed to have successfully initiated fusion reactions at low temperatures is by collapsing bubbles containing Deuterium, using sound waves. The collapsing bubble is supposed to generate high temperatures inside it, thereby initiating a fusion. Now latest research by scientists at Purdue University might have found solid evidence for it:):). The new findings (by Yiban Xu and Adam Butt) are published in the journal Nuclear Engineering and Design.
A glass test chamber about the size of two coffee mugs was filled with a liquid called Deuterated Acetone, which is a compound that contains Deuterium atoms. The researchers exposed the test chamber to neutrons and then bombarded the liquid with a specific frequency of ultrasound, which caused cavities to form into tiny bubbles. The bubbles then expanded to a much larger size before imploding, apparently with enough force to cause fusion reactions!!
The researchers found evidence of Tritium (a product of the fusion reaction). The experiment also yielded neutrons, whose energy was as expected for such fusion reactions:):). Interestingly, the same results were not seen when normal acetone (which has Hydrogen instead of Deuterium) was used, thus bolstering the findings.
If the findings are independently confirmed, this would be a watershed moment in the history of science. Not only would it make costly and behemoth constructions like the Tokamak reactor (to be built in France by a six-country alliance) superfluous, it could also result in new energy production technologies at a much earlier date:):). I am keeping my fingers crossed:D:D.

There is a near-consensus in the scientific community that large, Jupiter-like planets can only form in systems with only one star (like our Solar System). When there are two or more stars in a system (binary stars, for example), the planetary orbits can get very complicated. The debris material that coalesces to form planets do not form large planets during computer simulations of such systems.
However, scientists will soon be forced to reconsider their theories:). A new planet has been discovered orbiting around a star in a triple-star system in the constellation Cygnus. The planet is a so-called hot Jupiter but it is much closer to its parent star than predicted by current theories of planetary formation.

Through the Artist's Eye: Trinary Sunset (Courtesy: CaltechIn recent years, astronomers have discovered hundreds (as of last month, the count is 155) of planets. Most of these planets are in single-star systems and are large, as the current technology can only detect larger planets with relative ease. However, we know that 60% of the stars in the universe form binary or trinary systems! So the big open question is: are there planets in those systems? The answer seems to be yes:).
The new planet (size similar to Jupiter's) orbits the main star of a triple-star system called HD-188753 every 3.35 days. Two of the stars form a binary system that orbits around the third primary star at an average distance of 12.3 astronomical units, where one astronomical unit (AU) is the average distance between the Sun and the Earth. The planet orbits the primary star at a distance of just 0.05 AU!!
The puzzle: why is the planet so close to the star? Current planetary theories suggest that such a large planet should not be able to form so close to a star in a multi-star system. So a (perhaps major) reworking of the theories might be in order.

Hyperion, a moon of the planet Saturn, is really very funny. It is the only moon in the Solar System that rotates chaotically:). Basically, it tumbles around in space. This is because the moon looks like a irregular pile of rubble, which suggests that it is a fragment of a larger body that was broken by a large impact in the distant past.
Cassini-Huygens is a joint NASA/ESA/ASI unmanned space mission intended to study Saturn and its moons. It is currently surveying this tumbling moon, Hyperion. The Cassini spacecraft has also captured a video of the moon, which can be seen here:).

Hyperion (Courtesy: Wikipedia)Preliminary estimates of its density show that Hyperion is only about 60 percent as dense as solid water ice, indicating that much of its interior (40 percent or more) must be empty space. This makes the moon more like an icy rubble pile than a solid body. The moon’s spongy-looking exterior is an interesting coincidence, as much of Hyperion's interior appears to consist of voids. Hyperion is close to the size limit where, like a child compacting a snowball, internal pressure due to the moon’s own gravity will begin to crush weak materials like ice, closing pore spaces and eventually creating a more nearly spherical shape.
So in Hyperion, we see the maximum size a pile of rubble can take, beyond which the rubble compactifies under its own mass, and slowly forms a sphere:D.

Most of us carry a number of credit/ATM cards, cash, and several other cards (driving license, bank card, library cards and so on). It makes our wallet bulky, and there is always the danger of losing the wallet! Now, thanks to researchers at Tokushima University (Yoshio Hayasaki and colleagues), secure optical data storage could soon literally be at our fingertips:):).
The researchers have discovered that data can be written into a human fingernail by irradiating it with femtosecond laser pulses. Capacities are said to be up to 5 mega bits and the stored data lasts for 6 months - the length of time it takes a fingernail to be completely replaced.

Etching on a fingernail (Courtesy: PhysicsWeb)The approach is simple. The team uses a femtosecond (10^-15 seconds) laser system to write the data into the nail and a fluorescence microscope to read it out. During the writing, the fluorescence of the nail increases in the irradiated regions. The fluorescence microscope is able to read this difference in intensity, while reading the data from the nails:):).
Each "bit" of information has a diameter of 3.1 microns (10^-6 meters) and is written by a single femtosecond pulse. A motorised stage moves the nail to create a bit spacing of 5 microns across the nail and a depth of 20 microns between recording layers. Considering that the nail fragment used was about 2x2x0.4 cubic millimetres in size, a total of around 1560 KiloBytes could be stored. More data could be stored if the full human nail were used!
The team is now focussing on reading to and writing from a nail that is still attached to the finger. This means that the team also has to find ways to compensate for the movement of the finger. Once this issue is sorted out, we could have our credit card numbers, and other important data, right at our finger-tips:D:D.

It might happen again. Back in 2001, the Talibans destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas, as they thought the magnificent statues promoted idolatry:(:(. Now, some of Islam's historic sites in Mecca, possibly including a home of the Prophet Mohammad, are under threat from Saudi real estate developers and Wahhabi Muslims who view them as promoting idolatry:(.

Bamiyan Buddha, prior to destruction (Courtesy: Pratyeka)Sites such as this belong to the whole world. It really does not matter if you believe or not believe in that particular religion or ideology; the sites represent important events in world history. By some perverse logic, the Saudis have not allowed preservation of old buildings, especially those related to the prophet. They fear other Muslims will come to see these buildings as blessed and this could lead to polytheism and idolatry:)).
The Washington-based Saudi Institute, an independent news gathering group, says most Islamic landmarks have been destroyed since Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932. It cited a 1994 edict by the kingdom's senior council of religious scholars which ruled that preserving historical buildings might lead to polytheism.
The historic buildings might be destroyed to create a parking lot, and towers to house people who visit Saudi Arabia every year for the annual pilgrimage known as Hajj.
As long as such mindless morons (a.k.a. religious scholars) exist, there will be no peace in the world. Ironically, the biggest monuments to Islam are its mosques, and the Kaaba (black cube-like structure) in Mecca. I wonder if the Islamic purists would consider those monuments 'un-islamic' as well;).