ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

An international research team has investigated the chances of survival of kombucha cultures under Mars-like conditions. Kombucha is known as a drink, sometimes called tea fungus or mushroom tea, which is produced by fermenting sugared tea using kombucha cultures -- a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. Although the simulated Martian environment destroyed the microbial ecology of the kombucha cultures, surprisingly, a cellulose-producing bacterial species survived.

Photonics researchers have introduced a novel method to control a light beam with another beam through a unique plasmonic metasurface in a linear medium at ultra-low power. This simple linear switching method makes nanophotonic devices such as optical computing and communication systems more sustainable requiring low intensity of light.

A new study examines mathematical models designed to draw inferences about how evolution operates at the level of populations of organisms. The study concludes that such models must be constructed with the greatest care, avoiding unwarranted initial assumptions, weighing the quality of existing knowledge and remaining open to alternate explanations.

Materials theorists model a contoured surface overlaid with 2D materials and find it possible to control their electronic and magnetic properties. The discovery could simplify research into many-body effects, including quantum systems.

Researchers found they could filter carbon dioxide from air and gas mixtures at promising rates using a proposed new textile-based filter that combines cotton fabric and an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase -- one of nature's tools for speeding chemical reactions.

A chemistry team has engineered a cobalt complex to act as a noninvasive chemical thermometer. They've done so by making the cobalt complex's nuclear spin ­-- a workhorse, fundamental magnetic property ­­-- mimic the agile, but less stable sensitivity of an electron's spin.

Biomedical engineers have developed an edible silk tag with a QR code, which scanned by a smartphone can then confirm authenticity of the whiskey or other liquids, such as liquid medications.

Researchers have created time machine-like simulations recreate the full life cycle of some of the largest collections of galaxies observed in the distant universe 11 billion years ago.

Researchers have developed a computational model that can be used to determine the optimal places for locating electric vehicle charging facilities, as well as how powerful the charging stations can be without placing an undue burden on the local power grid.

X-rays make it possible to explore inside human bodies or peer inside objects. The technology used to illuminate the detail in microscopically small structures is the same as that used in familiar situations -- such as medical imaging at a clinic or luggage control at the airport. X-ray microscopy enables scientists to study the three-dimensional structure of materials, organisms or tissues without cutting and damaging the sample. Unfortunately, the performance of X-ray microscopy is limited by the difficulties in producing the perfect lens. A team has now shown that, despite the manufacturing limitations of lenses, a much higher image quality and sharpness than ever before can be achieved using a special experimental arrangement and numerical image reconstruction downstream: an algorithm compensates for the deficits of the lenses.

Researchers have used intersecting light beams to control chemical reactions in an advanced material, paving the way for future use in 3D printers that print entire layers, instead of single points, at a time.

In order to quickly detect the presence of the influenza A virus, researchers developed a fluorogenic probe that could bind to the promoter region. A fluorogenic probe uses tiny molecules called fluorophores that emit light when a specific target is present.

Researchers have observed structural chirality, a biological property important to photosynthesis, emerging in achiral conjugated polymers. Their discovery could help enhance flexible solar cell design and increase access to affordable renewable energy.

Engineers mimic atom-scale grain boundaries with magnetic particles to see how shear stress influences their movement.

Researchers created a model to connect what biologists have learned about COVID-19 superspreading with how such events have occurred in the real world. They used occupancy data to test several features ranging from viral loads to the occupancy and ventilation of social contact settings. They found that 80% of infections occurring at superspreading events arose from only 4% of those who were carrying the virus into the event. The top feature driving the wide variability in superspreading events was the number of viral particles found in index cases.