Tech
Wearing a face mask can protect yourself and others from Covid-19, but the type of material and how many fabric layers used can significantly affect exposure risk, finds a study from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The study measured the filtration efficiency of submicron particles passing through a variety of different materials. For comparison, a human hair is about 50 microns in diameter while 1 millimeter is 1,000 microns in size.
BOSTON - New research led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) provides insights on why people with red hair exhibit altered sensitivity to certain kinds of pain. The findings are published in Science Advances.
Osaka, Japan - Most electronic devices aren't waterproof, much to your irritation if a sprinkler suddenly sprays you while you're talking outside on your cellphone. Some electronics can be made at least water-resistant by, for example, using special glues to fuse outer components together. Flexible electronics are another story. Their sealant materials must be able to bend, yet with current technology it's inevitable that eventually such a sealant will crack or separate from the device—and there goes your water-resistant coating.
Glassy materials play an integral role in the modern world, but inherent brittleness has long been the Achilles' heel that severely limits their usefulness. Due to the disordered amorphous structure of glassy materials, many mysteries remain. These include the fracture mechanisms of traditional glasses, such as silicate glasses, as well as the origin of the intriguing patterned fracture morphologies of metallic glasses.
A study by KAIST researchers revealed that an ionized gas jet blowing onto water, also known as a 'plasma jet', produces a more stable interaction with the water's surface compared to a neutral gas jet. This finding reported in the April 1 issue of Nature will help improve the scientific understanding of plasma-liquid interactions and their practical applications in a wide range of industrial fields in which fluid control technology is used, including biomedical engineering, chemical production, and agriculture and food engineering.
University of Warwick physicists set out to find Skyrmions, only to find near-identical object with distinctive qualities that they have named an incommensurate spin crystal
Scientists looked for the signs of the magnetic spin texture in ultra-thin materials only a few atoms thick
Physicists have great interest in the potential of Skyrmions frequently detected by their ambiguous, bulk electrical measurements.
This new discovery could point the way for a new basis for technologies in computer memory and storage
Grain boundaries (GBs) in PSCs have been found to be detrimental to the photovoltaic performance of the devices. Numerous papers reported that the defects in perovskite GBs should be passivated by suitable materials, such as quaternary ammonium halide, fullerene derivatives and CH3NH3I, to alleviate carrier recombination and consequently improve the device performance.
The research team led by Prof. GUO Guangcan and Dr. DONG Chunhua from the University of Science and Technology of China realized synthetic gauge fields in a single optomechanical resonator by controlling geometric phase with the multimode interaction in the micro-resonator.
By engineering a Hamiltonian, uncharged particles or bosonic excitations can acquire a path-dependent phase which realizes a synthetic magnetic field. Such synthetic gauge field can improve the precision of quantum many-body simulation and control over bosons.
DARIEN, IL - The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recently published an update on the use of telemedicine for the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders to reflect lessons learned from the transition to telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic and the benefits of continuing to utilize remote care when appropriate.
MADISON - Bipolar disorder affects millions of Americans, causing dramatic swings in mood and, in some people, additional effects such as memory problems.
While bipolar disorder is linked to many genes, each one making small contributions to the disease, scientists don't know just how those genes ultimately give rise to the disorder's effects.
Buildings are responsible for 40 percent of primary energy consumption and 36 percent of total CO2 emissions. And, as we know, CO2 emissions trigger global warming, sea level rise, and profound changes in ocean ecosystems. Substituting the inefficient glazing areas of buildings with energy efficient smart glazing windows has great potential to decrease energy consumption for lighting and temperature control.
A highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 variant was unknowingly spreading for months in the United States by October 2020, according to a new study from researchers with The University of Texas at Austin COVID-19 Modeling Consortium. Scientists first discovered it in early December in the United Kingdom, where the highly contagious and more lethal variant is thought to have originated.
We've all heard the adage, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," but new research from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh finds that it isn't all about repetition. Rather, internal states like engagement can also have an impact on learning.
In recent years, robots have gained artificial vision, touch, and even smell. "Researchers have been giving robots human-like perception," says MIT Associate Professor Fadel Adib. In a new paper, Adib's team is pushing the technology a step further. "We're trying to give robots superhuman perception," he says.
The recent power outages in Texas brought attention to its power grid being separated from the rest of the country. While it is not immediately clear whether integration with other parts of the national grid would have completely eliminated the need for rolling outages, the state's inability to import significant amounts of electricity was decisive in the blackout.
A larger power grid has perks, but also has perils that researchers at Northwestern University are hoping to address to expedite integration and improvements to the system.