In another nod to the value of basic science and technology research, President Obama in his weekly radio address today said long–term investments in innovation are needed to ensure the country's long-term economic growth. The recession is easing, Obama said. But recovery will be slow, and he called for a...

A newly discovered repulsive aspect to light could one day control telecommunications devices with greater speed and less power, researchers said today. The discovery was made by splitting infrared light into two beams that each travel on a different length of silicon nanowire, called a waveguide. The two light beams...

Editor's Note: ScienceLives is an occasional series that puts scientists under the microscope to find out what makes them tick. The series is a cooperation between the National Science Foundation and LiveScience. Name: Niren Murthy Age: 38 Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology Field of Study: Biomedical Engineering Biomedical engineer Niren...

There are lots of mechanical myths about what causes a car's brakes to produce that biting howl. The all too familiar piercing squeal is heard at road junctions and traffic lights the world over as drivers hit the brakes. But, understanding what causes brake squeal might help researchers find a...

China supplies most of the rare earth minerals found in technologies such as hybrid cars, wind turbines, computer hard drives and cell phones, but the U.S. has its own largely untapped reserves that could safeguard future tech innovation. Those reserves include deposits of both light and heavy rare earths —...

Using computers based on the mind-boggling physics of the quantum world, researchers now hope to simulate reality on the molecular scale better than ever before. Scientists want to simulate molecules on computers to better understand and improve how they might react – for instance, how a drug might behave in...

Every heart attack kills part of the heart. It chokes off blood to the nerve and muscle cells that keep the heart beating. But future surgeons might implant a nanopatch that serves as scaffolding to regrow heart cells and resurrect the dead region. That hope rests upon finding the right...

Hyperloop Sketches (Image credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX)Elon Musk, of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, revealed his futuristic Hyperloop transportation system on August 12, 2013. [Full Story: Hyperloop Unveiled - Billionaire Elon Musk Reveals Wild Idea for Superfast Travel] Hyperloop Passenger Transport Capsule Conceptual Design Rendering (Image credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX)This rendering shows the...

The concept of a time machine typically conjures up images of an implausible plot device used in a few too many science-fiction storylines. But according to Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which explains how gravity operates in the universe, real-life time travel isn't just a vague fantasy. Traveling forward...

(ISNS) -- Creativity, technique and talent are all required to dance beautifully, or play a piece of music in a truly exceptional way, but researchers report that the discipline of biomechanics can reveal how to make the movements of performing artists more efficient and less likely to cause injuries. Biomechanics...

This article was originally published on The Conversation. The publication contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. There are about 600,000 bridges in the United States, and about one in four is classified as functionally obsolete or structurally deficient. This doesn’t mean they’re in danger of...

NEW YORK — A festival of tech enthusiasts, DIYers and crafters is taking over the New York Hall of Science in Queens this weekend. The fifth annual World Maker Faire in New York will be open Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 20-21). This celebration of innovation, hands-on education, science and technology...

How do you hit a target if you have bad aim? The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is known for developing some of the country's most futuristic technologies, has developed a high-tech sniper-bullet system to solve that problem. DARPA recently conducted its first successful live-fire tests of the...

The U.S. Navy successfully launched a Standard Missile-3 — traditionally a ship-based, anti-ballistic missile — from an onshore launch site for the first time, military officials announced Wednesday (May 21). The successful missile launch late Tuesday (May 20) from a test site at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the...

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to Live Science in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Compared to the monumental machines of science, such as the International Space Station or the Large Hadron Collider , the human brain doesn't look like much. However, this three-pound amalgam of squishy cells...