Science & Technology

Unusual meteorite unlocks treasure trove of solar system secrets

An unusual meteorite that fell on a frozen lake in Canada five years ago has led a Florida State University geochemist to a breakthrough in understanding the origin of the chemical elements that make up our solar system. Professor Munir Humayun of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the geological sciences department at FSU […]

FSU’s Center for Advanced Power Systems receives major grant

Tree limbs brush against an Ohio power line, causing it to short-circuit. Soon, a nearby power plant is knocked off-line. A giant cascading effect then occurs, ultimately forcing the shutdown of more than 100 power plants in the northeastern United States and Canada and leaving 50 million people without power. Such was the chain of […]

Cyberstalkers beware: New toolkit nabs online predators

Researchers at Florida State University are developing a computer system designed to help law enforcement agents thwart cyberstalking. Computer science Professor Sudhir Aggarwal and members of the Florida Cybersecurity Institute have built a hardware and software prototype called the Predator and Prey Alert (PAPA) system. The forensic toolkit is designed to provide high-quality evidence for […]

FSU chemist’s ultrathin films promise a multitude of uses

Imagine a special coating that can be applied to any of a number of surfaces. With its application, carpets, furniture and clothing become super-resistant to stains; automobile bodies are impermeable to water and rust; stents put in place during heart surgery no longer are susceptible to tissue growth that can restrict blood flow; and cell […]

FSU chemistry professor wins top award in chromatography

John G. Dorsey, the Katherine Blood Hoffman Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Florida State University, has been selected to receive the 2006 Award in Chromatography from the American Chemical Society. The award will be presented in Atlanta in March, and a special symposium will be held in Dorsey’s honor at that time. The ACS’ […]

Professors’ odor-scrubbing “bio-filters” will reduce greenhouse gasses

Thanks to old tires, broken glass and yard debris, Leon County’s Solid Waste Facility (Landfill) soon will emit less odor, and waste disposal will be more environmentally friendly. Florida State University oceanography Professor Jeff Chanton and Florida A & M University/FSU College of Engineering Assistant Professor Tarek Abichou plan to recycle the waste materials into […]

FSU oceanography professor wins international honor

With research ranging from a new explanation for the parting of the Red Sea during the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt to a prediction that the Three Gorges Dam in China could increase air temperatures over Japan, Doron Nof, Fridtjof Nansen Professor of Oceanography at FSU, has won the prized European Geosciences Union (EGU) Fridtjof Nansen […]

World-record magnet to pull in scientific breakthroughs

The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory has marked a major scientific leap forward with the unveiling of a new, world-record magnet. This new, spectacularly precise magnet, displayed during a commissioning ceremony on July 28, is expected to yield important discoveries in the fields of chemical and biomedical research. The laboratory, established by the National Science […]

FSU scientist warns North Atlantic right whale facing extinction

The North Atlantic right whale’s future looks grim if the current mortality rates continue, according to Florida State University assistant professor of oceanography Douglas Nowacek and a group of fellow scientists from across the nation. They have co-authored a paper, “North Atlantic Right Whales in Crisis,” that appears in the July 22 edition of the […]

FSU food scientist is lead scholar in trade negotiations with China

After mad cow disease was twice detected in North American livestock in 2003, The People’s Republic of China banned imports of all U.S. meat by-products. The cost to U.S. industry: 25 percent of meat-bone-meal (MBM) exports and almost $30 million a year. A possible key to resumption of that once-burgeoning trade: FloridaState University researcher Yun-Hwa […]

FSU magnet lab pulling in U.S. students, teachers for summer research

Some of the world’s most advanced research is taking place at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, where scientists are pushing the boundaries of human knowledge in the fields of physics, biology, bioengineering, chemistry, geochemistry, biochemistry, materials science and engineering. This summer, those same scientists are taking on another task: mentoring some of the nation’s […]

FSU researchers find ‘magic’ at the subatomic level

Do you believe in magic? Nuclear physicists at Florida State University do—and their work is helping to provide a better understanding of how all matter in the universe was, and continues to be, created. Ingo Wiedenhoever, an assistant professor of physics at FSU, and graduate student Joel Fridmann have authored a paper describing an experiment […]