ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News

Researchers have uncovered hidden potential in metasurfaces and demonstrated optical devices that manipulate light's polarization state with an unprecedented degree of control. The research demonstrates a new way to control polarized light with metasurfaces. This new approach -- in which the researchers can engineer a holographic image with a polarization-tunable response across the image itself -- could lead to applications in diverse fields including imaging, microscopes, displays, and even astronomy.

Researchers took a middling monomer and, by using a special catalyst, they created a tougher polymer that can form long chains. The polymer can then be easily depolymerized back to the monomer state with an acid catalyst, resulting in a chemically recyclable thermoplastic that competes with the most popular plastics, polyethylene and polypropylene.

Researchers have discovered why boiling droplets can race across hot oily surfaces. The commonplace phenomenon, now quantified for the first time, could be harnessed for many useful applications.

Robots that need to use their arms to make their way across treacherous terrain just got a speed upgrade with a new path planning approach. The improved algorithm path planning algorithm found successful paths three times as often as standard algorithms, while needing much less processing time.

Researchers are analyzing new materials for electrical insulation, or packaging, that can remove heat more effectively compared to today's insulation, amid a need to redesign our electrical infrastructure for the next 100 years and beyond to match advanced technology.

New research has revealed that a simple but robust algorithm can help engineers to improve the design of cellular materials that are used in a variety of diverse applications ranging from defense, bio-medical to smart structures and the aerospace sector.

Instead of waiting for fully mature quantum computers to emerge, researchers have developed hybrid classical/quantum algorithms to extract the most performance -- and potentially quantum advantage -- from today's noisy, error-prone hardware.

Researchers have investigated the extent to which direct capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the ambient air can help to effectively remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The result: With careful planning, for example with regard to location and provision of the necessary energy, CO2 can be removed in a climate-effective manner.

Quantum entanglement is one of the most fundamental and intriguing phenomena in nature. Recent research on entanglement has proven to be a valuable resource for quantum communication and information processing. Now, scientists have discovered a stable quantum entangled state of two protons on a silicon surface, opening doors to an organic union of classical and quantum computing platforms and potentially strengthening the future of quantum technology.

Researchers recently completed a study that has the potential to improve cancer treatment for colorectal cancer and melanoma by using nanotechnology to deliver chemotherapy in a way that makes it more effective against aggressive tumors.

We often say that a substrate fits into its enzyme like a key in a lock, but this metaphor is imperfect. Substrate binding can also change the lock (the structure of the enzyme) to induce a perfect fit. An international team of researchers has now introduced a non-biological, crystalline material that demonstrates induced-fit binding behavior when it highly selectively takes up acetylene into its pores.

A low-cost and rapid 3D technique is helping scientists to gain insight into the colony- and community-level dynamics of the poorly understood stony coral tissue loss disease responsible for widespread coral death throughout the Tropical Western Atlantic. They adapted Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry to generate 3D models for tracking lesion progression and impacts on diseased coral colonies. They combined traditional diver surveys with 3D colony fate-tracking to determine the impacts of disease on coral colonies throughout Southeast Florida.

A research team has uncovered the role of a gene that is critical to boosting the number of insulin-producing cells during the early development of the pancreas. Experiments with mouse models revealed that inhibiting the gene at the early embryonic stage doubles the number of insulin-producing cells, with cells maintained into adulthood and all mice showing normal weight. The findings could bolster diabetes research efforts and eventually lead to new replacement therapies for the disease.