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ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News |
| Sparking sustainable new chemical catalysts Posted: 18 May 2022 01:06 PM PDT New research could lead to the creation of new, sustainable catalysts based on tungsten oxide and similar compounds. The project used computational simulations to understand how tungsten oxide interacts with hydrogen at the molecular level and the findings were verified through lab experimentation. |
| Researchers magnify hidden biological structures with MAGNIFIERS Posted: 18 May 2022 01:06 PM PDT A research team has combined two emerging imaging technologies to better view a wide range of biomolecules, including proteins, lipids and DNA, at the nanoscale. Their technique brings together expansion microscopy and stimulated Raman scattering microscopy. |
| Accelerating the pace of machine learning Posted: 18 May 2022 01:06 PM PDT Machine learning happens a lot like erosion. Data is hurled at a mathematical model like grains of sand skittering across a rocky landscape. Some of those grains simply sail along with little or no impact. But some of them make their mark: testing, hardening, and ultimately reshaping the landscape according to inherent patterns and fluctuations that emerge over time. Effective? Yes. Efficient? Not so much. Researchers are now seeking to bring efficiency to distributed learning techniques emerging as crucial to modern artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). In essence, the goal is to hurl far fewer grains of data without degrading the overall impact. |
| Keeping buildings cooler with a wood-based foam Posted: 18 May 2022 11:07 AM PDT Summertime is almost here, a time when many people try to beat the heat. But running air conditioners constantly can be expensive and wasteful. Now, researchers have designed a lightweight foam made from wood-based cellulose nanocrystals that reflects sunlight, emits absorbed heat and is thermally insulating. They suggest that the material could reduce buildings' cooling energy needs by more than a third. |
| Component for brain-inspired computing Posted: 18 May 2022 10:07 AM PDT Researchers have developed a new material for an electronic component that can be used in a wider range of applications than its predecessors. Such components will help create electronic circuits that emulate the human brain and that are more efficient at performing machine-learning tasks. |
| On the road to cleaner, greener, and faster driving Posted: 18 May 2022 08:38 AM PDT Researchers have developed a technique to control a fleet of autonomous vehicles as they approach and pass through a signalized intersection in a way that reduces fuel consumption and greenhouse emissions from idling and stop-and-go traffic, while improving travel speeds. |
| Teaching physics to AI makes the student a master Posted: 18 May 2022 08:38 AM PDT Researchers have demonstrated that incorporating known physics into machine learning algorithms can help the inscrutable black boxes attain new levels of transparency and insight into material properties. |
| Researchers create photonic materials for powerful, efficient light-based computing Posted: 18 May 2022 08:38 AM PDT Researchers are developing new photonic materials that could one day help enable low power, ultra-fast, light-based computing. The unique materials, known as topological insulators, are like wires that have been turned inside out, where the current runs along the outside and the interior is insulated. In their latest work the researchers demonstrated a new approach to create the materials that uses a novel, chained, honeycomb lattice design. |
| At-risk sea life in the Atlantic needs better protection from an increase in shipping Posted: 18 May 2022 07:18 AM PDT New research has shown a dramatic increase in shipping in the North East Atlantic. Scientists now warn that more monitoring in the area is required to help protect sea life on the at-risk register. |
| Nuclear physics and extreme environments of cosmic explosions Posted: 18 May 2022 07:18 AM PDT Researchers have helped peer inside a nova -- a type of astrophysical nuclear explosion -- without leaving Earth. These stellar events help forge the universe's chemical elements, and astronomers have explored their nature with an intense isotope beam and a custom experimental device with record-setting sensitivity. |
| Key to reducing defects in multimaterials Posted: 18 May 2022 07:18 AM PDT Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are high-performance materials with expected applications in aerospace, automobiles, defense, and medicine. These materials are usually employed in conditions of extreme temperature and pressure, therefore making it important for them to be as defect-free as possible. Now, researchers have found a way to minimize defects in FGMs by manipulating the gradient of the elemental composition. |
| New model could improve matches between students and schools Posted: 18 May 2022 07:17 AM PDT Simultaneous and uncoordinated school admissions in situations where students have multiple options can lead to unfilled seats and a lot of stress for families and administrators. To create a fairer, more efficient system, market design researchers created a matchmaking model that draws from game theory, computer science and industrial engineering. |
| Reliable diagnostics at the tip of your finger Posted: 18 May 2022 05:06 AM PDT Biomarkers are components that may be present in biological samples and are related to specific diseases. Therefore, doctors can analyze biological samples from a patient to check their health condition or to monitor the progress of a specific therapy. Typically, these samples need to be purified and diluted before the analysis, and current medical diagnostic techniques rely on healthcare facilities and laboratories for these routine analyses. This is a lengthy process that requires trained personnel and expensive instrumentation to extract, transport, store, process, and analyze the samples in centralized locations. Moreover, during a period of global crisis like the ongoing pandemic, the pressure of thousands of analysis requests can saturate and collapse the healthcare system. |
| Energy-efficient AI hardware technology via a brain-inspired stashing system? Posted: 17 May 2022 06:04 PM PDT Researchers have proposed a novel system inspired by the neuromodulation of the brain, referred to as a 'stashing system,' that requires less energy consumption. Computer scientists have now developed a technology that can efficiently handle mathematical operations for artificial intelligence by imitating the continuous changes in the topology of the neural network according to the situation. |
| New material can 'capture toxic pollutants from air' Posted: 17 May 2022 06:04 PM PDT A new material is capable of capturing trace amounts of benzene, a toxic pollutant, from the air and crucially use less energy than existing materials to do so. |
| Automated platform for plasmid production Posted: 17 May 2022 02:02 PM PDT Researchers have developed PlasmidMaker, a versatile automated platform for plasmid design & construction. These circular DNA molecules are used by scientists to introduce new genes into a target organism, and have extensive use in basic and applied biology. In particular, they have applications in the large-scale production of bioproducts. |
| Chemists skew the odds to prevent cancer Posted: 17 May 2022 02:02 PM PDT A theoretical framework shows how to increase the odds of identifying cancer-causing mutations before tumors take hold. Researchers demonstrate that only a few energetically favorable pathways are likely to lead to cancer. |
| Algorithms empower metalens design Posted: 17 May 2022 01:05 PM PDT Researchers have developed a new method for designing large-scale metasurfaces that uses techniques of machine intelligence to generate designs automatically. The method will enable new metasurface designs that can make an impact on virtual or augmented reality, self-driving cars, and machine vision for embarked systems and satellites. |
| Aerodynamics of perching birds could inform aircraft design Posted: 17 May 2022 10:07 AM PDT To uncover the mystery behind the differences in motion, a team of researchers studied the aerodynamics of bird perching maneuvers and their implications for aircraft design. |
| Major infrared breakthrough could lead to solar power at night Posted: 17 May 2022 08:22 AM PDT Based on similar technology to night-vision goggles, researchers have developed a device that can generate electricity from thermal radiation. |
| New silicon nanowires can really take the heat Posted: 17 May 2022 08:22 AM PDT A research team has demonstrated an ultrathin silicon nanowire that conducts heat 150% more efficiently than conventional materials used in advanced chip technologies. The device could enable smaller, faster, energy-efficient microelectronics. |
| Rocket engine exhaust pollution extends high into Earth's atmosphere Posted: 17 May 2022 08:22 AM PDT Researchers assessed the potential impact of a rocket launch on atmospheric pollution by investigating the heat and mass transfer and rapid mixing of the combustion byproducts. The team modeled the exhaust gases and developing plume at several altitudes along a typical trajectory of a standard present-day rocket. They did this as a prototypical example of a two-stage rocket to transport people and payloads into Earth's orbit and beyond and found the impact on the atmosphere locally and momentarily in the mesosphere can be significant. |
| Improved wind forecasts save consumers millions in energy costs Posted: 17 May 2022 08:22 AM PDT Scientists determined that by increasing the accuracy of weather forecasts over the last decade, consumers netted at least $384 million in energy savings. The researchers based their predictions on NOAA's High Resolution Rapid Refresh model, which provides daily weather forecasts for every part of the U.S. These include wind speed and direction data, which utilities can use to gauge how much energy their turbines will produce. |
| Desktop air curtain system prevents spread of COVID-19 in hospital settings Posted: 17 May 2022 08:22 AM PDT Researchers have developed a desktop air curtain system that blocks all incoming aerosol particles. An air curtain, or air door, is a fan-powered ventilation system that creates an air seal over an entryway, but one challenge in developing smaller air curtains is fully blocking emitted aerosol particles over time because it is difficult to maintain the air wall over a long distance. |
| Magnetic nanoparticles in biological vehicles individually characterized for the first time Posted: 17 May 2022 06:48 AM PDT Magnetic nanostructures are promising tools for medical applications. Incorporated into biological structures, they can be steered via external magnetic fields inside the body to release drugs or to destroy cancer cells. However, until now, only average information on the magnetic properties of those nanoparticles could be obtained, thus limiting their successful implementations in therapies. Now a team has conceived and tested a new method to assess the characteristic parameters of every single magnetic nanoparticle. |
| Magnetic resonance makes the invisible visible Posted: 17 May 2022 06:48 AM PDT Researchers have developed an advanced NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) method to monitor fast and complicated biomolecular events such as protein folding. |
| New light on organic solar cells Posted: 17 May 2022 05:30 AM PDT Efficient and environmentally friendly solar cells are required for a transition to a fossil-free energy supply. Researchers at have now mapped how energy flows in organic solar cells, something that previously had been unknown. |
| Ultra-powerful brain scanners offer hope for treating cognitive symptoms in Parkinson's disease Posted: 16 May 2022 06:31 PM PDT Ultra-powerful 7T MRI scanners could be used to help identify those patients with Parkinson's disease and similar conditions most likely to benefit from new treatments for previously-untreatable symptoms, say scientists. |
| New theory promises to reshape how we think about polymer superstructures Posted: 16 May 2022 01:36 PM PDT Polymer scientists recently announced that they have solved a longstanding mystery surrounding a nanoscale structure, formed by collections of molecules, called a double-gyroid. This shape is one of the most desirable for materials scientists, and has a wide range of applications; but, until now, a predictable understanding of how these shapes form has eluded researchers. |
| Shaping the future of light through reconfigurable metasurfaces Posted: 16 May 2022 12:15 PM PDT Harnessing the power of 'phase-change' materials, researchers have demonstrated how reconfigurable metasurfaces -- artificial materials with extraordinary optical properties -- are crucial to the future of nanotechnology. |
| Assessing the impact of loss mechanisms in solar cell candidate Posted: 16 May 2022 09:40 AM PDT The superconductor antimony sulfide selenide is a potential candidate for solar materials, but this depends on understanding how to boost its efficiency. |
| Studying the pseudogap in superconducting cuprate materials Posted: 16 May 2022 09:40 AM PDT Despite being vital to the study of superconductivity in cuprate materials the physical origins of the pseudogap remain a mystery. |
| The way of water: Making advanced electronics with H2O Posted: 16 May 2022 09:40 AM PDT The market for expensive fabrication methods in electronics manufacturing could soon dry up after a high-performance material was created via solution processing. |
| New micro device injects a boost to IVF success Posted: 16 May 2022 09:40 AM PDT A research team has delivered a ground-breaking new micro-device to streamline the only fertility treatment procedure available for men with low sperm counts. |
| Seeing molecules inside a nanometer-sized 'sardine can' Posted: 16 May 2022 09:40 AM PDT Researchers have successfully developed a new technique allowing them to observe gas molecules packing into metal-organic frameworks (MOF) using infrared spectroscopy. Their innovation was to measure polarized light absorption of guest molecules in a MOF film to deduce molecule alignment using this common piece of lab equipment. This method is the first to show guest alignment and does so in real-time, while using an accessible and easily adoptable experimental setup. |
| Electronic skin: Physicist develops multisensory hybrid material Posted: 16 May 2022 09:40 AM PDT Recently developed 'smart skin' is very similar to human skin. It senses pressure, humidity and temperature simultaneously and produces electronic signals. More sensitive robots or more intelligent prostheses are thus conceivable. |
| Helping EVs keep their cool during the battery weight balancing act Posted: 16 May 2022 07:46 AM PDT Researchers are trying to help electric vehicle batteries keep their cool. A group recently published a design optimization system for incorporating blood vessel-like cooling networks into the packaging of carbon-fiber-based structural batteries used in electric vehicles. |
| Eavesdroppers can hack 6G frequency with DIY metasurface Posted: 16 May 2022 07:46 AM PDT Crafty hackers can make a tool to eavesdrop on some 6G wireless signals in as little as five minutes using office paper, an inkjet printer, a metallic foil transfer and a laminator. |
| Cutting air pollution emissions would save 50,000 US lives, $600 billion each year Posted: 16 May 2022 07:14 AM PDT Eliminating air pollution emissions from energy-related activities in the United States would prevent more than 50,000 premature deaths each year and provide more than $600 billion in benefits each year from avoided illness and death, according to a new study. |
| Posted: 16 May 2022 05:17 AM PDT Photoreduction of CO2 into transportable fuel like formic acid (HCOOH) is a great way of dealing with CO2's rising levels in the atmosphere. To aid in this mission, a research team chose an easily available iron-based mineral and loaded it onto an alumina support to develop a catalyst that can efficiently convert CO2 into HCOOH with ~90% selectivity! |
| Smart pacifier developed to monitor infant health in the hospital Posted: 16 May 2022 05:17 AM PDT A wireless, bioelectronic pacifier could eliminate the need for invasive, twice-daily blood draws to monitor babies' electrolytes in Newborn Intensive Care Units or NICUs. This smart pacifier can also provide more continuous monitoring of sodium and potassium ion levels. These electrolytes help alert caregivers if babies are dehydrated, a danger for infants, especially those born prematurely or with other health issues. Researchers tested the smart pacifier on a selection of infants in a hospital, and the results were comparable to data gained from their normal blood draws. |
| Robotic surgery is safer and improves patient recovery time Posted: 15 May 2022 08:32 AM PDT Robot-assisted surgery used to perform bladder cancer removal and reconstruction enables patients to recover far more quickly and spend significantly (20 per cent) less time in hospital, concludes a new clinical trial. |
| Posted: 13 May 2022 07:35 AM PDT Mercury pollution is a global problem in water, air and soil near goldmines, cement and other heavy industries burning fossil fuels -- with removal too expensive or difficult in some of the poorest countries in the world. Now experts have expanded testing of a sustainable extraction material capable of absorbing almost all mercury in polluted water in minutes -- itself made entirely from low-cost waste from the petroleum, citrus and agricultural production. |
| Skipping tiny stones into a quantum whirlpool Posted: 12 May 2022 09:19 AM PDT Researchers confirmed silicon nanoparticles are attracted to vortices in superfluid helium. Their simulations allowed them to visualize the process of vortex line recombination. The work may lead to improvements in quantum computing and optical spectroscopy. |
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