ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News


New material offers remarkable combo of toughness and stretchiness

Posted: 21 Feb 2022 08:54 AM PST

Researchers have created new materials that are very stretchable and extremely tough. The new materials fall under the broader category of ionogels, which are polymer networks that contain salts that are liquid at room temperature.

Bacteria upcycle carbon waste into valuable chemicals

Posted: 21 Feb 2022 08:54 AM PST

Researchers engineered a strain of bacteria to break down carbon dioxide (CO2), converting it into commonly used, expensive industrial chemicals. The carbon-negative approach removes CO2 from the atmosphere and bypasses using fossil fuels to generate these chemicals.

Can machine-learning models overcome biased datasets?

Posted: 21 Feb 2022 08:54 AM PST

Researchers have applied the tools of neuroscience to study when and how an artificial neural network can overcome bias in a dataset. They found that data diversity, not dataset size, is key and that the emergence of certain types of neurons during training plays a major role in how well a neural network is able to overcome dataset bias.

Electrifying motorcycle taxis in Kampala, Uganda, shows air pollution benefits

Posted: 21 Feb 2022 07:23 AM PST

In a new study, researchers set out to understand the air pollutant emissions impacts of electrifying motorcycle taxis in Kampala, Uganda.

Metal mix and match: An unexpected discovery could improve the crystallinity of coordination nanosheets

Posted: 21 Feb 2022 05:57 AM PST

Coordination nanosheets are emerging 2D materials with a wide range of applications. However, highly crystalline nanosheets are difficult to synthesize through solution-based approaches. In a recent study, scientists found a simple strategy to improve the structural order and performance of nanosheet films by using two different metal ions instead of one. Their findings highlight a solution for the development of high-quality coordination nanosheets with superior crystallinity and conductivity.

Versatile ‘nanocrystal gel’ could enable advances in energy, defense and telecommunications

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 12:30 PM PST

New applications in energy, defense and telecommunications could receive a boost after a team created a new type of 'nanocrystal gel' -- a gel composed of tiny nanocrystals each 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair that are linked together into an organized network.