ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

Researchers have designed new metasurfaces using nanoscale techniques inspired by kirigami that could offer a new chip-based way to achieve nanoscale control of light, which could lead to better optical displays, information encoding and digital light processing.

Scientists have found a new chemical process to turn a stinky, toxic gas into a clean-burning fuel.

Using a groundbreaking new technique, researchers has revealed previously unrecognized properties of technologically crucial silicon crystals and uncovered new information about an important subatomic particle and a long-theorized fifth force of nature.

Researchers working on complicated problems in agriculture, ecology and medicine have developed a mathematical model to enable faster solutions.

Researchers succeed in the direct bonding of diamond and gallium nitride (GaN) at room temperature and demonstrate that the bond can withstand heat treatments of 1,000 degrees Celsius, making it ideal for the high temperature fabrication process of GaN-based devices. GaN-on-diamond semiconductor material will allow for the next generation of high power, high frequency devices.

Fuel-powered auxiliary heaters can be significant sources of particulate emissions from vehicles, a new study shows.

Astronomers have obtained the sharpest and most detailed images yet of the asteroid Kleopatra. The observations have allowed the team to constrain the 3D shape and mass of this peculiar asteroid, which resembles a dog bone, to a higher accuracy than ever before. Their research provides clues as to how this asteroid and the two moons that orbit it formed.

Engineers have created a solar-powered electrochemical reaction that not only uses wastewater to make ammonia -- the second most-produced chemical in the world -- but also achieves a solar-to-fuel efficiency that is 10 times better than any other comparable technology.

Chemists have discovered an efficient and sustainable way to produce iron-based metal organic framework (MOF) materials directly using renewable electricity at room temperature. Previously, MOFs -- which have applications as catalysts, sensors and for gas storage -- were typically produced using processes that required high heat and high pressure.

Researchers induced substantial motion of oxide ions within perovskite crystals by using pulses of ultraviolet light. Such motion provides a means to store energy in the crystals. This development will help researchers improve the functionality of solid-state electrolytes in batteries and fuel cells.

Researchers have developed a stretchable anisotropic conductive film (S-ACF) for electrical interfacing in high-resolution stretchable circuits.

Without the prospect of herd immunity on the immediate horizon, speedy detection for COVID-19 remains imperative for helping to curb the pandemic. Point-of-care testing that can provide immediate results is an urgent need. Researchers investigated the opportunities and challenges in developing rapid COVID-19 sensing techniques and discuss the prospects of optical biosensors for point-of-care COVID-19 testing.

Innovations to improve mask efficacy, with increasing focus on nanofiber manufacturing, have resulted in higher filtration efficiency, greater comfort, and easier breathing capacity. However, the effects of microwater droplets on the integrity of nanofibers are relatively unclear. Researchers examine these ambiguities through a visualization of nanofibers interacting with water aerosol exposure. They used high-speed microscopic videos to systematically visualize the evolution of nanofibers with different contact angles, diameters, and mesh sizes under water aerosol exposure.