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ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News |
| With fuzzy nanoparticles, researchers reveal a way to design tougher ballistic materials Posted: 13 Dec 2021 11:22 AM PST Researchers have discovered a new method to improve the toughness of materials that could lead to stronger versions of body armor, bulletproof glass and other ballistic equipment. The team produced films composed of nanometer-scale ceramic particles decorated with polymer strands (resembling fuzzy orbs) and made them targets in miniature impact tests that showed off the material's enhanced toughness. Further tests unveiled a unique property not shared by typical polymer-based materials that allowed the films to dissipate energy from impacts rapidly. |
| Want to limit carbon and curb wildfire? Create a market for small trees Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST Thinning treatments reduce the risk of wildfire and provide ecological benefits for California's forests, but they also generate wood residues that are often burnt or left to decay, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A new analysis shows how incentivizing industries that convert wood residues into useful products -- including biofuels and construction-quality engineered lumber -- could fund forest thinning treatments while preventing the release of carbon. |
| Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST Researchers have looked at what limits the efficiency of a promising solar material to reveal the nature of multiple different kinds of defects, their varied roles in device efficiency and their responses to treatment. |
| New copper surface eliminates bacteria in just two minutes, scientists report Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST A new copper surface that kills bacteria more than 100 times faster and more effectively than standard copper could help combat the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. |
| Scientists give new lease of life to e-waste plastics Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST Plastics found in electronic waste (e-waste) are rarely recycled due to their complex composition and hazardous additives, but scientists have now developed a new use for them -- by repurposing them as an alternative to the plastics used in laboratory cell culture containers, such as petri dishes. |
| Losing isn’t always bad: Gaining topology from loss Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST Losing particles can lead to positive, robust effects. An international collaboration has demonstrated a novel topology arising from losses in hybrid light-matter particles, introducing a new avenue to induce the highly-prized effects inherent to conventional topological materials, which can potentially revolutionise electronics. The study represents an experimental observation of a non-Hermitian topological invariant in a semiconductor in the strong light-matter coupling regime supporting formation of exciton-polaritons. |
| Technique speeds up thermal actuation for soft robotics Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:17 AM PST Researchers have come up with a new design for thermal actuators, which can be used to create rapid movement in soft robotic devices. |
| Gunfire or plastic bag popping? Trained computer can tell the difference Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:13 AM PST Engineering researchers have developed a gunshot detection algorithm and classification model that can discern similar sounds such as gunfire or a plastic bag popping. Discerning between a dangerous audio event like a gun firing and a non-life-threatening event, such as a plastic bag bursting, can mean the difference between life and death. Additionally, it also can determine whether or not to deploy public safety workers. Humans, as well as computers, often confuse the sounds of a plastic bag popping and real gunshot sounds. |
| Quantum algorithms bring ions to a standstill Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:12 AM PST Laser beams can do more than just heat things up; they can cool them down too. That is nothing new for physicists who have devoted themselves to precision spectroscopy and the development of optical atomic clocks. But what is new is the extremely low temperature that researchers at the QUEST Institute at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) have been able to reach with their highly charged ions -- this type of ion has never been cooled down as far as 200 µK before. The team working on this succeeded by combining their established methods which include the laser cooling of coupled ions and methods from the field of quantum computing. The application of quantum algorithms ensured that ions that are too dissimilar for traditional laser cooling to work effectively could be cooled down together after all. This means that we are getting closer to an optical atomic clock with highly charged ions, and this clock might have the potential to be even more accurate than existing optical atomic clocks. |
| Discovery of ‘split’ photon provides a new way to see light Posted: 13 Dec 2021 08:16 AM PST Nearly a century after Italian physicist Ettore Majorana laid the groundwork for the discovery that electrons could be divided into halves, researchers predict that split photons may also exist. The finding advances the fundamental understanding of light and how it behaves. |
| Ultrarapid cooling enables the observation of molecular patterns of life Posted: 13 Dec 2021 06:48 AM PST Fluorescence light microscopy has the unique ability to observe cellular processes over a scale that bridges four orders of magnitude. Yet, its application to living cells is fundamentally limited by the very rapid and unceasing movement of molecules that define its living state. What is more, the interaction of light with fluorescent probes that enables the observation of molecular processes causes their very destruction. Ultrarapid cryo-arrest of cells during live observation on a microscope now circumvents these fundamental problems. The heart of the approach is the cooling of living cells with enormous speeds up to 200,000 °C per second to -196 °C. This enables an unprecedented preservation of cellular biomolecules in their natural arrangement at the moment of arrest. In this low temperature state, molecular movement and light-induced destruction is stopped, enabling the observation of molecular patterns of life that are otherwise invisible. |
| From flashing fireflies to cheering crowds -- Physicists unlock secret to synchronization Posted: 13 Dec 2021 06:48 AM PST Physicists have unlocked the secret that explains how large groups of individual 'oscillators' -- from flashing fireflies to cheering crowds, and from ticking clocks to clicking metronomes -- tend to synchronize when in each other's company. This new discovery has a suite of potential applications, including developing new types of computer technology that uses light signals to process information. |
| Significant energy savings when electric distribution vehicles take their best route Posted: 13 Dec 2021 05:41 AM PST Range anxiety with electric commercial vehicles is real, since running out of battery can have serious consequences. Researchers have developed tools to help electric delivery-vehicles navigate strategically to use as little energy as possible. The secret lies in looking beyond just the distance traveled, and instead focusing on overall energy usage -- and has led to energy savings of up to 20 per cent. |
| Microfountain pen draws minute patterns for live cells, circuits Posted: 07 Dec 2021 12:26 PM PST Researchers outline the development of a flexible and easy-to-use micropen setup, capable of directly writing on surfaces to a microprecise level. The micropen is held over an ink reservoir as ink is drawn into the pen nozzle. Once filled, the nozzle is positioned for writing onto a tabletop surface. |
| Smart transformable nanoparticles promise advances in tumor diagnoses, treatment Posted: 07 Dec 2021 12:26 PM PST Researchers examine how biology triggers morphological changes in certain types of nanoparticles. These types of particles are called smart transformable nanoparticles, because they can alter their size and shape upon stimulation from their surrounding environment. |
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