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ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News |
| New understanding of complex catalysis advances catalyst design Posted: 24 Feb 2022 03:03 PM PST Understanding the reaction pathways and kinetics of catalytic reactions at the atomic scale is critical to designing catalysts for more energy-efficient and sustainable chemical production, especially multimaterial catalysts that have ever-changing surface structures. Researchers have now peered into the black box to understand the evolving structures in a multimaterial catalyst at the atomic scale. |
| 'Seeing' non-uniformities in 2D materials may lead to new medical sensors Posted: 24 Feb 2022 03:03 PM PST A novel and better approach at detecting non-uniformities in the optical properties of two-dimensional materials could potentially open the door to new uses for these materials. |
| Interaction with lung cells transforms asbestos particles Posted: 24 Feb 2022 01:17 PM PST Asbestos fibers can cause lung cancer and other diseases, often multiple decades following exposure. Many researchers have sought to elucidate disease mechanisms, but a new study took the opposite approach, using a high-tech microscope to look at how the mineral changed upon interaction with lung cells. Their findings suggest that the mineralogical transformations inside the cells may play a role in triggering disease. |
| Transparent ultrasound chip improves cell stimulation and imaging Posted: 24 Feb 2022 01:15 PM PST Ultrasound scans -- best known for monitoring pregnancies or imaging organs -- can also be used to stimulate cells and direct cell function. A team of researchers has developed an easier, more effective way to harness the technology for biomedical applications. |
| Researchers develop 3D imaging technique to understand how dendrites form in batteries Posted: 24 Feb 2022 11:59 AM PST As the world lessens its dependence on fossil fuels, industries and manufacturers are turning to lithium-ion batteries to power the machines that make modern life possible. These batteries power electric vehicles, mobile phones, drones, vacuum cleaning robots and other machines and will be an essential component to the energy transition. But there's a problem with lithium-ion batteries: as they age and are charged, they develop dendrites. A research team is trying to solve the dendrite problem by investigating how these structures grow on batteries. Dendrites are spiky structures that accumulate on the batteries' anodes. These structures reduce the life of the batteries, hinder their ability to hold a charge and can short-circuit machines potentially causing safety hazards like battery fires. |
| A new platform for customizable quantum devices Posted: 24 Feb 2022 11:09 AM PST Scientists have demonstrated a wide range of tunability in a family of qubits, an important step in designing custom qubits for specific applications. |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2022 11:08 AM PST Making nanoscale patterns in 'scintillator' materials that convert X-rays into light could allow a tenfold signal enhancement for medical or industrial imaging, researchers report. This method might lead to improvements in medical X-rays or CT scans, to reduce dose exposure and improve image quality. |
| Chemical synthesis yields potential antibiotic Posted: 24 Feb 2022 11:08 AM PST Chemists developed a new way to synthesize himastatin, a natural compound that has shown potential as an antibiotic. A new strategy for producing a natural compound could also be used to generate variants with even stronger antimicrobial activity. |
| A laser-quick and non-destructive method to detect cracks in concrete structures Posted: 24 Feb 2022 11:08 AM PST Large concrete structures need to be regularly tested for defects that may compromise their stability. While acoustic tests performed by certified inspectors are usually the inspection method of choice, these tests take longer to perform as the structure's size increases. In a new study, scientists developed a new method to identify defects using shock waves generated by laser-induced plasma. The new method is faster, completely non-destructive, and allows for timely evaluation of concrete infrastructure. |
| Direct 'uphill' isomerization of numerous olefin classes Posted: 24 Feb 2022 11:06 AM PST Researchers have used excited-state electron transfer events to 'pump' olefin molecules up and then have them fall back down through a series of favorable steps to ultimately transform into a less stable isomeric form. This essentially allows internal olefins, or alkenes, to migrate along the carbon chain to the terminal position -- a kind of musical chairs that shunts the double bond to a position of less overall stability. |
| Entanglement unlocks scaling for quantum machine learning Posted: 24 Feb 2022 09:52 AM PST The field of machine learning on quantum computers got a boost from new research removing a potential roadblock to the practical implementation of quantum neural networks. |
| Student's device enables researchers to easily track elusive insects Posted: 24 Feb 2022 09:06 AM PST With some home security software and a little ingenuity, researchers have developed an inexpensive device that will allow them to study the behavior and activity of insects in regions of the world where they're most diverse. |
| Error mitigation approach helps quantum computers level up Posted: 24 Feb 2022 09:06 AM PST Recent research has yielded a new approach to quantum error mitigation - 'noise estimation circuits' - that could help make quantum computing's theoretical potential a reality. |
| Development of a diamond transistor with high hole mobility Posted: 24 Feb 2022 08:27 AM PST Using a new fabrication technique, engineers have developed a diamond field-effect transistor (FET) with high hole mobility, which allows reduced conduction loss and higher operational speed. This new FET also exhibits normally-off behavior (i.e., electric current flow through the transistor ceases when no gate voltage is applied, a feature that makes electronic devices safer). These results may facilitate the development of low-loss power conversion and high-speed communications devices. |
| Visualization of the origin of magnetic forces by atomic resolution electron microscopy Posted: 24 Feb 2022 08:26 AM PST Scientists have observed atomic magnetic fields, the origin of magnetic forces, for the first time using an innovative Magnetic-field-free Atomic-Resolution STEM they developed. |
| Fingertip sensitivity for robots Posted: 24 Feb 2022 08:26 AM PST Striving to improve touch sensing in robotics, scientists developed a thumb-shaped sensor with a camera hidden inside and trained a deep neural network to infer its haptic contact information. When something touches the finger, the system constructs a three-dimensional force map from the visible deformations of its flexible outer shell. This research invention significantly improves a robot finger's haptic perception, coming ever closer to the sense of touch of human skin. |
| 'Workhorse' of photovoltaics in tandem with perovskite Posted: 24 Feb 2022 08:26 AM PST So-called PERC cells are used in mass production of silicon solar cells, they are considered the workhorses of photovoltaics, dominating the market. Now two teams have shown that such standard silicon cells are also suitable as a basis for tandem cells with perovskite top cells. Currently, the efficiency of the tandem cell is still below that of optimised PERC cells alone, but could be increased to up to 29.5% through targeted optimization. The research was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics as part of a joint project. |
| Automation is fueling increasing mortality among U.S. adults, study finds Posted: 23 Feb 2022 02:26 PM PST The automation of U.S. manufacturing -- robots replacing people on factory floors -- is fueling rising mortality rate among America's working-age adults, according to a new study. |
| Navigation tools could be pointing drivers to the shortest route — but not the safest Posted: 23 Feb 2022 01:45 PM PST Time for a road trip. You punch the destination into your GPS and choose the suggested route. But is this shortest route the safest? Not necessarily, according to new findings. |
| Water filtration membranes morph like cells Posted: 23 Feb 2022 11:32 AM PST Morphogenesis is nature's way of building diverse structures and functions out of a fixed set of components. While nature is rich with examples of morphogenesis -- cell differentiation, embryonic development and cytoskeleton formation, for example -- research into the phenomenon in synthetic materials is scant. Researchers are taking a step forward using electron tomography, fluid dynamics theories and machine learning to watch soft polymers as the polymers learn from nature. |
| Posted: 23 Feb 2022 10:34 AM PST Thirty-six million people in the U.S. use an energy system developed by a handful of activists in the 1990s. A scholar examines this unusual story. |
| (Bio)sensing protein interactions Posted: 23 Feb 2022 07:48 AM PST Researchers have designed a highly sensitive sensor capable of identifying proteins in solution down to a single molecule. |
| Scientists develop long lasting anti-fogging coating for plastic surfaces that 'self-cleans' Posted: 23 Feb 2022 05:58 AM PST Scientists have developed a new type of coating that, when applied on a plastic surface, prevents fogging and 'self-cleans', overcoming the need for frequent reapplications. |
| Posted: 21 Feb 2022 05:57 AM PST Imagine making some liquids mix that do not mix, then unmixing them. In one of the grand challenges of science, a device which previously 'unboiled' egg protein is now unraveling the mystery of incompatible fluids -- a development that could enhance many future products, industrial processes and even the food we eat. |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2022 04:54 PM PST A new accelerator chip called 'Hiddenite' that can achieve state-of-the-art accuracy in the calculation of sparse 'hidden neural networks' with lower computational burdens has now been developed. By employing the proposed on-chip model construction, which is the combination of weight generation and 'supermask' expansion, the Hiddenite chip drastically reduces external memory access for enhanced computational efficiency. |
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