Scientists want to adopt a set of declarations to improve the security of research that uses DNA synthesis. Drew Endy, Asst Prof of Bioengineering at MIT, is interviewed at the MIT Technology Review about these policy efforts. Issues related to the development of synthetic biology can be organized into four topics: safety and security, ownership …
Since the 1980s, scientists have known that solitons can carry an electrical charge when traveling through certain organic polymers. A new study now suggests that solitons have intricate internal structures. Scientists may one day use this information to put the particles to work in molecular electronics and artificial muscles, said Ju Li, assistant professor of …
Cornell University researchers have created a broadband light amplifier on a silicon chip, a major breakthrough in the quest to create photonic microchips. In such microchips, beams of light traveling through microscopic waveguides will replace electric currents traveling through microscopic wires. The amplifier uses a phenomenon known as four-wave mixing, in which a signal to …
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have designed and built a novel electromagnetic trap for ions that could be easily mass produced to potentially make quantum computers large enough for practical use. The new trap, described in the June 30 issue of Physical Review Letters,* may help scientists surmount what is …