The researchers hope that these results will encourage any future Mars Sample Return mission to add desert varnish to its Martian shopping list.

The source of the varnish, which looks like it has been painted onto the rocks, has intrigued scientists since the mid nineteenth century, including Darwin, who was so fascinated that he asked the [...]

Adidas has supplied the Match Balls to all major UEFA and FIFA tournaments since 1970. For the World Cup of 2006, the ball had to be rounder than ever.Three years ago Bayer and Adidas began developing the new World Cup ball, called the Teamgeist, German for Team Spirit. 30 technicians, designers and marketing employees were [...]

Ian Boyd and colleagues at University College London (UCL) have discovered a world first in the manufacturing of microchips. The team has used nanotechnology techniques to successfully induce the oxidation of silicon at room temperatures using light from ultraviolet (UV) excimer lamps, instead of high-temperature furnaces.

The oxidation process creates the natural oxide coating on silicon, [...]

Researchers were trying a variation of a graphite-based hydrogen storage method by mixing coal and cyclohexene with small steel balls. As the balls crushed the coal at room temperature, hydrogen gas was produced. In examining the remaining material, they found nanodiamonds had been created. Further experiments are under way to understand what [...]