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A team of researchers working at Argonne National Laboratory, in Illinois, has found a way to dramatically reduce friction between two macroscopic scale surfaces—to near zero. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they accidently discovered the method and why they believe it might be useful for real world applications. As most people are aware, friction causes energy loss and wear and tear on mechanical parts—lubricants such as oil are used to help reduce friction and to dissipate heat, but scientists would really like to find a way to prevent it from happening in the...

A few months back I was at the main Apple Store in New York City. I wanted to buy a case for my son’s iPod touch—but it was December 23. The crowds were so thick, I envied sardines. Fortunately, I knew something that most of these people didn’t: I could grab an item off the shelf, scan it with my iPhone and walk right out. Thanks to the free Apple Store app, I didn’t have to wait in line or even find an employee. The purchase was instantly billed to my Apple account. I was in and out of there...

I used to run a lot...in my younger years. In the mid 90s I was running 20-25 miles every sunday afternoon, and around 10 miles the other days of the week. It all ended in '96 when I developed knee problems and iliotibial band friction syndrome, snapping hip syndrome, and chronic tendonitis of the iliotibial band, and also serious problems with the muscle attached to the iliotibial band...and a few other things like ganglion cysts in my feet and meniscus issues with the knees, and some other stuff. I went to doctors. I took pills, took supplements, did strengthening excercizes,...

Carney downplays friction as cause of Chief of Staff Daley's resignationBy Amie Parnes - 01/10/12 12:52 PM ET White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters to take William Daley's decision to resign "at face value" despite news reports that suggest that the departing chief of staff felt marginalized in recent months. Daley, who is leaving the White House at the end of the month, said he wanted to spend more time with his family in Chicago. "These jobs are tough," Carney said, comparing time at the White House to dog years. Carney credited Daley for helping President Obama navigate...

Rep. Waters: Obama ‘got carried away’By Alicia M. Cohn, Daniel Strauss and Mike Lillis 09/26/11 09:19 PM ET Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Monday tried to downplay friction between the black community and President Obama but warned the president might have gotten “carried away” in remarks made over the weekend. Waters, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), appeared in a number of media interviews on Monday following Obama’s speech to the CBC Gala on Saturday, where the president told the audience to “stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying.” Waters said that there was room for improvement in the...

Cracks Open in N.Korea-China Ties Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie's frank comments about North Korea on Sunday were "extremely rare" according to a South Korean intelligence official. "We are trying to persuade them not to take risks," Liang said in a speech at the 10th International Institute for Strategic Studies Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore. North Korea earlier stepped up the rhetoric against South Korea, saying it would no longer engage the South, revealing a secret meeting with Seoul officials, and threatening "retaliation" for South Korean attempts at psychological warfare. These developments came in...

/begin my translation Friction Developing between N. Korea and Iran over Delivery of Missile Components (Seoul Kyodo = Yonhap) Iran and N. Korea are bickering over the troubled assembly phase of Iran's new intermediate range ballistic missile(IRBM) whose parts are imported from N. Korea and put together locally. According to diplomatic source(s) in Seoul, Iran recently postponed its test launch of IRBM because electronic components to ensure its accuracy had not arrived from N. Korea in time. Analysts are trying to figure out why N. Korea is having trouble delivering missile parts on schedule. N. Korea explained Iran that the...

NEW YORK | The rumors are true, according to Sarah Palin: The McCain-Palin campaign was not a happy family. In Mrs. Palin's autobiography "Going Rogue," the former Alaska governor confirms reports of tension between her aides and those of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain. The vice presidential candidate confirms that she had wanted to speak on election night, but was denied the chance and says she was kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign.

There appears to be a rift developing between President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton. It was bound to happen sometime. Her job has been diluted by four special envoys that report, not to her, but directly to the President. Her cabinet position was a buyoff to gain the Clintons’ support after Obama’s nomination. I reported on a secret meeting between Bill Clinton and candidate Obama in Harlem on 9/11, where no doubt a deal was made.. But deals between political enemies are short lived, especially when their purpose has been served. Obama got what he wanted, her heavily female...

The quantum stickiness between very close surfaces produces no drag when they move, researchers claim.The 'sticky' Casimir force can even be repulsive.Jay Penni and Federico Capasso The quantum-mechanical effect that makes objects stick together when they are very close produces no friction when the objects are moving, two physicists claim. The results suggest that the operation of nanoscale machinery might not be as sticky a problem as feared. It's long been thought that the 'Casimir force', which pulls together two objects when they are much less than a hair's breadth apart, will create a drag force when the objects move....

Friction rises in Nigerian governmentJefferson case contributing to the tension Thursday, October 05, 2006 By Bruce Alpert WASHINGTON -- Imagine that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were accusing each other of improprieties so bad that they called for impeachment proceedings. That bizarre scenario is akin to what is playing out in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, as President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar engage in a monumental political battle that got its impetus, at least in part, from the lengthy U.S. Justice Department probe of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans. There is concern within Nigeria...

Grazing the Nanograss - Adaptable substance may cool computers and put a zoom lens in your cell phone. Future Watch by Gary H. Anthes OCTOBER 11, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - A drop of water glides across the flat surface like quicksilver, moving effortlessly from place to place as the surface is tilted. It's hard to believe that the little bead is water, for it doesn't wet the surface as it races around, seemingly without friction. The little drop in this impromptu laboratory demonstration isn't on an ordinary surface. It's riding on "nanograss," a bed of upright silicon posts a thousand times...

US policies pose challenge for Communist Party A senior Central Party School official warns of a future for Chinese diplomacy that is fraught with conflict and friction By Jason Leow BEIJING - The Communist Party's 'serious test and challenge' in the coming years will be American unilateralism and its 'new interventionist ideology', a senior official at the Central Party School has warned. The party's legitimacy will also rest on how it keeps faith with socialist practices against the growing capitalist creed, Mr Yu Yunyao, the school's administrative vice-president, wrote in an official journal. In Outlook Weekly, a journal by the...

US Congress: Russia will be barred from Iraq restoration The US House of Representatives passed an amendment to the law on financing the war in Iraq, which bars France, Germany, Russia and Syria from participating in contracts on Iraq’s postwar restoration, financed by Washington. Under the amendment, French, German, Russian and Syrian companies will be barred from taking part in such contracts, as well as from getting access to information about them. According to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the passage of this amendment is a retaliation against the opposition of these countries to the US-led military campaign in...

<p>LEWISTON, Maine (AP) Somali leaders and Mayor Larry Raymond pledged Friday to work together to resolve friction after the mayor warned of a strain on resources if more Somalis moved to the city.</p> <p>The meeting was behind closed doors, and Somali leaders said afterward that they understand the social and economic pressures facing the city.</p>