Does Gravity Change with the Seasons?
from NewScientist
Everyone has heard of Newton's apple. He watched it drop to the ground in the autumn of 1666, prompting him to ask a series of questions. "Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground?" Newton wondered. "Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the Earth's centre?" Full Article

Nanoclusters Seem to Skirt Physics Law
from Science News
Nobody's above the law. But tiny clusters of colliding atoms may duck below the second law of thermodynamics. In simulations, researchers in Japan found that in rare cases, tiny clusters of atoms ricochet off each other faster than their approaching speeds. Full Article

Complex Molecules Found in Milky Way's 'Sweet Spot'
from Discovery News
The newly detected presence of two complex organic molecules in the Milky Way suggests the building blocks for life may exist in space even before the formation of planets. Full Article

Cloaked Eye Still Sees
from Science News
Cell phone antennas, radio receivers and GPS devices may one day go incognito. In a paper to appear in Physical Review Letters, Nader Engheta and Andrea Alù propose a new cloaking method that cancels out the electromagnetic waves bouncing off an object. The concept may ultimately lead to surreptitious sensors that can collect and send messages without detection. Full Article

Asteroids Won't Raise Killer Waves - But Mind the Splash
from NewScientist
The odds of encountering a tsunami kicked up by an asteroid strike have just plummeted. Best to hope, though, that you're not underneath the almighty splash such an impact could create. Full Article

NASA Study Predicts Uneven Ozone Recovery
from UPI
The U.S. space agency says the Earth's ozone layer should eventually recover from damage caused by chlorofluorocarbons but it has been changed forever. New research by National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists suggests the ozone layer of the future is unlikely to look much like the past because greenhouse gases are changing the dynamics of the Earth's atmosphere by altering the circulation of stratospheric air masses from the tropics to the poles. Full Article

Will Space-Based Solar Power Finally See the Light of Day?
from Scientific American
A satellite that reaps the sun's energy in space and beams it down to Earth for use as electricity may leave the realm of sci-fi and edge closer to reality this week following an energy deal in California. Full Article

Study Links Heat Transfer with Bonding
from UPI
U.S. scientists say they've discovered a strong correlation between the speed at which heat moves between two materials and how strongly the materials bond. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers said they also determined the flow of heat from one material to another can be dramatically altered by "painting" a thin atomic layer between the materials, thereby altering the way the materials interact. Full Article