ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News

Rice University chemists treat waste plastic to absorb carbon dioxide from flue gas streams more efficiently than current processes.

Scientists have developed a treatment for pulmonary fibrosis by using nanoparticles coated in mannose -- a type of sugar -- to stop a population of lung cells called macrophages that contribute to lung tissue scarring. The cell-targeting method holds promise for preventing this severe lung scarring disease, which can result in life-threatening complications like shortness of breath.

Scientists have built instruments to give humans eyes and a nose on Mars -- and now they are helping add ears as well.

New research looks at how the geometry of shells relates to the energy input required to actuate snap-through instability.

The burgeoning field of optoelectronic devices is driving the development of new alkali metal-based chalcogenides with qualities that have to be robustly investigated.

The analysis of astrophysical plasmas is vital in the quest to learn about some of the Universe's most powerful and mysterious objects and events such as stellar coronae and winds, cataclysmic variables, X-ray binaries containing neutron stars and black holes, supernova remnants, or outflows in active galactic nuclei. The success of such research will lead to future astrophysical X-ray observatories enabling scientists to access techniques that are currently not available to X-ray astronomy. A key requirement for the accurate interpretation of high-resolution X-ray spectra is accurate knowledge of transition energies.

Researchers have constructed a photovoltaic cell that harvests energy from the environment during the day and night, making use of the heat leaking from Earth back into space. At night, solar cells radiate and lose heat to the sky, reaching temperatures a few degrees below the ambient air. The device under development uses a thermoelectric module to generate voltage and current from the temperature gradient between the cell and the air. The setup is inexpensive and, in principle, could be incorporated within existing solar cells.

Scientists have developed a pollen-based 'paper' that, after being printed on, can be 'erased' and reused multiple times without any damage to the paper.

Honey might be a sweet solution for developing environmentally friendly components for neuromorphic computers, systems designed to mimic the neurons and synapses found in the human brain. Hailed by some as the future of computing, neuromorphic systems are much faster and use much less power than traditional computers. Engineers have demonstrated one way to make them more organic too by using honey to make a memristor, a component similar to a transistor that can not only process but also store data in memory. They created the memristors by processing honey into a solid form and sandwiching it between two metal electrodes, making a structure similar to a human synapse. They then tested the honey memristors' ability to mimic the work of synapses with high switching on and off speeds of 100 and 500 nanoseconds respectively. The memristors also emulated the synapse functions known as spike-timing dependent plasticity and spike-rate dependent plasticity, which are responsible for learning processes in human brains and retaining new information in neurons.

A new method of obtaining ancient genomic data without damaging source material has been developed, creating new opportunities for museum and archaeological collections worldwide.

Scientists have created a battery designed for the electric grid that locks in energy for months without losing much storage capacity. It's a step toward batteries that can be used for seasonal storage: saving renewable energy in one season, such as the spring, and spending it in another, like autumn.

As the demand for home deliveries from online purchases continues to increase, researchers recently published research showing that some -- but not all -- consumers will accept going to alternate delivery locations to get their packages rather than having them delivered directly to their front door.

Producing low-cost metal-oxide thin films with high electronic quality for solar water splitting is not an easy task. Especially since quality improvements of the upper metal oxide thin films need thermal processing at high temperatures, which would melt the underlying glass substrate. Now, a team has solved this dilemma: A high intensity and rapid light pulse directly heats the semiconducting metal-oxide thin film, allowing it to reach the optimal temperature without damaging the substrate.

A new endoscope design that combines ultrasound with optical coherence tomography can assess the structural features of the endometrium with unprecedented detail. This dual-mode endoscope could help doctors diagnose infertility problems that are related to endometrial receptivity with greater accuracy than current imaging technologies.

Scientists propose an open platform for managing the vast amounts of diverse data produced in chemical research.

A research team has discovered that sandwiching a topological insulator between two 2D ferromagnetic insulators provides a quantum avenue towards ultra-low energy future electronics, or topological photovoltaics.

With the help of the CRISPR/Cas molecular scissors, genetic information in a plant can be modified to make the latter more robust to pests, diseases, or extreme climatic conditions. Researchers have now developed this method further to eliminate the complete DNA of specific cell types and, thus, prevent their formation during plant development. This will also help researchers better understand development mechanisms in plants.

Scientists have found a common substance that can reversibly and rapidly store and release relatively large amounts of low-grade heat without decomposing. The research could lead to more efficient reuse of industrial waste heat.

Platinum is an important catalyst. But up until now, nobody know how exactly single platinum atoms behave during catalysis.

Though bicycle sharing systems (BSSs) are popular in many big cities, it is necessary to actively rebalance the number of bicycles across the various ports with optimization algorithms. In a recent study, researchers statistically analyzed the bicycle usage patterns in four real-world BSSs to obtain realistic benchmarks for testing these algorithms. Their findings can make BSS rebalancing more efficient through an understanding of the social dynamics of human movement.

Researchers have introduce a new path towards superior organic thermoelectric devices: highly efficient modulation doping of highly ordered organic semiconductors under high doping concentrations.

Semiconducting perovskites that exhibit superfluorescence at room temperature do so due to built-in thermal 'shock absorbers' which protect dipoles within the material from thermal interference.