Math Model May Decrease Phantom Traffic Jams from MSNBC Some traffic jams have no apparent cause — no accident, no stalled vehicle, no lanes closed for construction. There is no easy way out of these maddening messes once you're stuck in them, but a new study has figured out how to reduce the odds of them forming at all. Full Article To Fix This Engine, You'll Need a Quantum Mechanic from ScienceNOW The first electric motor whirred to life nearly two centuries ago, and in recent decades scientists and engineers have worked to build ever-smaller ones. Now, a team of theoretical physicists has proposed a fully quantum-mechanical version of the classic spinning electric motor that consists of just two atoms trapped in a ring of light. Full Article Magic Carpets Hide Objects in Plain Sight from NewScientist The latest twist on invisibility cloaks won't hide Harry Potter in the middle of a room, but it might just let spies conceal microphones under the rug or the wallpaper. So called "carpet cloaks" are the first technology to succeed in hiding objects by deflecting light across a range of wavelengths. Full Article

Solar System on a Collision Course
from ScienceNOW
T. S. Eliot got it wrong. The world could indeed end with a bang, not a whimper, as the poet prophesied. New supercomputer simulations predict that, in 3 billion to 4 billion years, there is a slight chance that Venus or Mars will slam into our planet thanks to the subtle gravitational interactions between Jupiter and Mercury. Full Article

Computer-Generated Sound Effects Make a Splash
from NewScientist
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is so advanced today that it can be difficult to distinguish from reality. But the creation of the sounds that accompany the images are still largely the work of skilled "Foley artists" working with physical props. Full Article

How Maple Fruits Fall
from ScienceNews
A heavy body and lone, stubby wing seem unlikely features for an object trying to fly—but they help the seeds of maple trees travel thousands of meters from a parent tree, researchers report in the June 12 Science. Full Article

Getting a Theory of Everything by Ditching Tenet of Physics
from Ars Technica
A few recently published papers indicate that the long-running attempt to unite quantum mechanics and relativity might be finally seeing some compelling progress. A long-cherished tenet of physics, the Lorentz Invariance, is the first casualty. Full Article

Top 25 Green Energy Leaders
from Scientific American
It is no longer enough to just conserve energy. More and more corporations, government agencies and entire cities are making large, long-term commitments to ensure that the power they do use comes from renewable sources. To recognize these trendsetters, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publishes a quarterly list of the top American users of green power: organizations that generate their own renewable energy, buy it from suppliers or purchase offset credits to compensate for their traditional energy use. Full Article

Earth's Magnetic Field Remains a Charged Mystery
from RedOrbit
400 years of discussion and we're still not sure what creates the Earth's magnetic field, and thus the magnetosphere, despite the importance of the latter as the only buffer between us and deadly solar wind of charged particles (made up of electrons and protons). New research raises question marks about the forces behind the magnetic field and the structure of Earth itself. Full Article

USGA Lab Keeps Technology (and the Golf Ball) From Going Too Far
from The Star-Ledger
Over the past year, 2,700 clubs and 800 balls have trickled in to the USGA's headquarters in Far Hills. As the senior technical director of the USGA, Dick Rugge has seen more innovations in the name of golf than he ever thought he'd have to count. Full Article