ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News

It can repel water, oil, alcohol and even peanut butter. And it might save the US Navy millions of dollars in ship fuel costs, reduce the amount of energy that vessels consume and improve operational efficiency.

In the photoelectric effect, a photon ejects an electron from a material. Researchers have now used attosecond laser pulses to measure the time evolution of this effect in molecules. From their results they can deduce the exact location of a photoionization event.

Art curators will be able to recover images on daguerreotypes, the earliest form of photography that used silver plates, after a team of scientists learned how to use light to see through degradation that has occurred over time.

Infrared cameras are the heat-sensing eyes that help drones find their targets even in the dead of night or through heavy fog. Hiding from such detectors could become much easier, thanks to a new cloaking material that renders objects -- and people -- practically invisible.

The Eagle Ford Group of Texas contains estimated means of 8.5 billion barrels of oil, 66 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 1.9 billion barrels of natural gas liquids, according to a new assessment.

An international team of researchers have developed a low-cost sensor made from semiconducting plastic that can be used to diagnose or monitor a wide range of health conditions, such as surgical complications or neurodegenerative diseases.

Polymer chemists have taken another step toward a future of high-performance, biorenewable, biodegradable plastics. The team describes chemical synthesis of a polymer called bacterial poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) ­- or P3HB. The compound shows early promise as a substitute for petroleum plastics in major industrial uses.

Scientists have solved the riddle behind one of the most recognizable, and annoying, household sounds: the dripping tap. And crucially, they have also identified a simple solution to stop it, which most of us already have in our kitchens.