Given the low interest rates and plummeting prices for solar energy equipment, it would seem a good time for investing in solar power generation. GE Energy Financial Services, for one, has been pursuing solar deals actively and on Wednesday it announced a $100 million equity investment in a solar power plant in Arizona.

Very recently, researchers discovered an important population of immune cells called memory T cells living in parts of the body that are in contact with the environment (e.g., skin, lung, GI tract). How these "resident" memory T cells are generated was unknown, and their importance with regard to how our immune system remembers infection and how it prevents against re-infection is being studied intensively. A new study has used a vaccinia virus infection to answer important questions about how these newly discovered cells protect us.

First Solar's (FSLR) fiscal 4Q11 and 2011 results came with a couple of unexpected surprises — including a big nasty one related to performance issues — and industry watchers are raising voices for what could be a radical shift in the company's business.

One of the best wind resources in the world will soon be home to a massive new wind project.

An amendment introduced by Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador easing rules for geothermal energy exploration passed the U.S. House by a 244-176 bipartisan vote in February. Supporters had awaited the news after the rule passed the House Committee on Natural Resources in summer 2011.

The push for a Production Tax Credit (PTC) extension continued on Capitol Hill with bipartisan contingents in both the House and Senate recently calling for action.

3M and Chesapeake Energy Corporation announced an agreement to collaborate in designing, manufacturing and marketing a broad portfolio of compressed natural gas (CNG) tanks for use in all sectors of the United States transportation market.

Younan Xia, Ph.D., an internationally recognized leader in the field of nanotechnology, recently joined the Georgia Institute of Technology as the first Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Eminent Scholar in Nanomedicine.

New ultrafast laser equipment, capable of generating intense pulses of light as short as a few femtoseconds from the UV to the Infrared, will help scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) measure how energy is transferred from molecule to molecule and point the way to molecular structures for exploiting solar radiation.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is issuing a call for proposals in graphene engineering research. The aim of the call, where there will be up to GBP20 million of funding available, is to focus research on manufacturing processes and technologies linked to graphene in order to accelerate the development and generation of novel devices, applications technologies and systems.