ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

A new device can detect SARS-CoV-2 from saliva in about an hour. Researchers report that the diagnostic is just as accurate as PCR tests and can identify COVID-19 variants.

Researchers have invented a cheaper, safer, and simpler technology that will allow a 'stubborn' group of metals, such as the Pt-group elements, to be transformed into thin films for various practical applications.

Researchers call for a shift in focus away from risks of 'super-volcanic' eruptions and towards likelier scenarios of smaller eruptions in key global 'pinch points' creating devastating domino effects.

Three dimensional (3D) nano-network promise a new era in modern solid state physics with numerous applications in photonics, bio-medicine, and spintronics. The realization of 3D magnetic nano-architectures could enable ultra-fast and low-energy data storage devices. Due to competing magnetic interactions in these systems magnetic charges or magnetic monopoles can emerge, which can be utilized as mobile, binary information carriers. Researchers have now designed the first 3D artificial spin ice lattice hosting unbound magnetic charges. The magnetic monopoles are stable at room temperature and can be steered on-demand by external magnetic fields.

Educational institutions have had to transition to remote learning and exam taking. This has led to an increase in the use of online proctoring services to curb student cheating. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers explored the security and privacy perceptions of students taking proctored exams.

A new scientific article outlines how to undertake the much-needed expansion and modernization of Africa's electricity sector. The article highlights the crucial role that international partnerships such as the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative have to play in achieving this goal.

Researchers have found that introducing a polymer coating onto a tin catalyst accelerated the conversion of a greenhouse gas (CO2) into an industrial fuel (formate). Computational and electrochemical investigations supported a mechanism wherein a complete polymer layer surrounding the porous tin catalysts effectively captured and shuttled CO2 molecules to the catalytically active metal surface. This simple catalyst design strategy can be applied to develop CO2-recycling systems.

Researchers have found that a machine learning algorithm can predict the location of actin-associated proteins in lamellipodia and other subcellular structures based solely on the location of actin itself. This approach could be useful for rapid analysis of microscopy images, and potentially as a substitute for using fluorescent stains to detect proteins within cells.

Engineers have been working to develop materials that can enable quantum information-based technologies for such applications as quantum computing, communications, sensing, and simulation.

If chemical reactions can be 'programmed' like other types of computing machines, they might be exploited for applications in many areas, including intelligent drug delivery, neural networks, or even artificial cells, experts suggest.