ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News

Drilling with the beam of an electron microscope, scientists have precisely machined tiny electrically conductive cubes that can interact with light and organized them in patterned structures that confine and relay light's electromagnetic signal. This demonstration is a step toward potentially faster computer chips and more perceptive sensors.

A research team has developed a material made of natural proteins that contracts autonomously.

A new, more precise method of simulating quantum materials has revealed the basis for superconductivity in copper-based oxides known as cuprates. Researchers, using powerful supercomputers, found that phonons, vibrational energy from crystal structure, contribute to a key feature observed in cuprates, which may indicate their indispensable contribution to superconductivity. If true, the finding may pave the way for tunable superconductivity in materials.

Researchers imaged nanoscale photocurrents in an all-polymer blend solar cell using photoconductive atomic force microscopy. Trace solvent additives were found to enhance polymer ordering and crystallization without undesirable changes in the scale of phase separation necessary for device performance. The findings explain the basis of the performance enhancement attributed to solvent additives and will accelerate research efforts aimed at establishing all-polymer blend solar cells as a viable environmentally sustainable choice.

A new study helps to explain what defines how long a drug molecule stays bound to its target.

A new study has determined the post-mortem interval of human skeletal remains using real samples, which has been made possible by the combination of two non-destructive analytical tools: Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics. This opens up new avenues for dating in the field of forensic medicine and anthropology.

The combination of a novel blood test and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can reduce overdiagnosis of low-risk cancers as well as societal costs in prostate cancer screening, according to a cost-effectiveness study.

Researchers have succeeded in observing the so-called Schwinger effect, an elusive process that normally occurs only in cosmic events. By applying high currents through specially designed graphene-based devices, the team succeeded in producing particle-antiparticle pairs from a vacuum.

Researchers have developed an innovative catalyst for the synthesis of propylene, which has potential benefits for the chemical industry and carbon recycling.

Researchers used the 2D material hexagonal boron nitride to build much smaller capacitors for superconducting qubits, enabling them to shrink the footprint of a qubit by two orders of magnitude without sacrificing performance.