Scientists can now identify the exact location of a single atom in a silicon crystal, a discovery that is key for greater accuracy in tomorrow's silicon based quantum computers.
It's now possible to track and see individual phosphorus atoms in a silicon crystal allowing confirmation of quantum computing capability, but which also has use in nano detection devices.
The unusual electronic properties of some superconducting materials permit lossless and dense electrical currents at very low temperatures, even in high magnetic fields. Conductors made of these materials are thus ideal for winding coils to generate very high magnetic fields, which are essential for a number of applications like magnetic medical imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the analysis of complex molecules or even accelerator magnets.
Sagrario Domínguez-Fernández, a Telecommunications engineer, has managed to increase light absorption in silicon by means of nanostructures etched onto photovoltaic cells. This increases the efficiency obtained in these electronic devices which are made of this element and which transform solar energy into electricity.
Sales of drones -- small flying machines equipped with cameras--are soaring. But new research by a Johns Hopkins computer security team has raised concerns about how easily hackers could cause these robotic devices to ignore their human controllers and land or, more drastically, crash.
Five graduate students and their professor discovered three different ways to send rogue commands from a computer laptop to interfere with an airborne hobby drone's normal operation and land it or send it plummeting.
Oxford, June 6, 2016 - Phosphorus is the biggest cause of water quality degradation worldwide, causing 'dead zones', toxic algal blooms, a loss of biodiversity and increased health risks for the plants, animals and humans that come in contact with polluted waters. This threatens the loss of economic and social benefits from freshwaters upon which society relies. In a series of studies published in a special issue of Water Research, leading scientists assess how geo-engineering in lakes can control phosphorus pollution.
Installing a microgrid within a regulated electricity market will sometimes, but not always, provide an economic benefit to customers, investors and utilities involved, according to new research led by Chiara Lo Prete, assistant professor of energy economics, Penn State.
A microgrid is a group of power generators and power consumers operating in a coordinated system, and some members of the energy community believe microgrids could smooth out kinks in existing electricity networks.
Philadelphia, PA, June 6, 2016 - Battling the childhood obesity epidemic is a priority for many researchers, as obesity during adolescence increases the risk of chronic diseases throughout life. Because obese children have lower quality of life and self-esteem, greater levels of depression and anxiety, and also face more teasing and bullying than normal-weight peers, including mental health in any intervention is necessary. To that end, researchers studied the self-perception of children participating in the Fit Families program.
LOGAN, UTAH - Finding water in the desert is a relatively easy task for a species of moss that seems to flourish in even the most arid regions. That's according to a new study by a team of scientists and engineers who wanted to understand how Syntrichia caninervis succeeds despite its limited and inconsistent water supplies.
The findings show for the first time how the highly evolved bryophyte survives in extremely arid environments thanks in part to its specialized water collection and transportation toolkit.
Operation IceBridge, NASA's airborne survey of polar ice, ended its eighth spring Arctic campaign on May 21. During their five weeks of operations, mission scientists carried out six research flights over sea ice and ten over land ice.
Scientists from the RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics (RAP) have, for the first time, successfully used a terahertz laser to induce permanent changes in the conformation of a polymer, giving it an increased pattern of crystallization. Conformational changes are very important for macromolecular science because they can change the characteristics of a material and, in the case of proteins, can make it either possible or impossible for them to perform a certain biological function. The work, done in collaboration with Osaka University, was published in Scientific Reports.
BOSTON, MA - June 2, 2016 - Exercise-associated muscle cramps are agonizing. Millions of athletes and fitness enthusiasts suffer from them - even the best trained and most nutritionally-savvy. They're painful, unpredictable and can rob an athlete of a killer performance and confidence. Existing "remedies" that target the muscle have limited scientific evidence that they work.
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 2, 2016 -- A group of scientists from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; the University of California, Santa Barbara; Sandia National Laboratories and Harvard University were able to fabricate tiny lasers directly on silicon -- a huge breakthrough for the semiconductor industry and well beyond.
For more than 30 years, the crystal lattice of silicon and of typical laser materials could not match up, making it impossible to integrate the two materials -- until now.
You need a new Chromebook computer, so you go online to Amazon and start your search. You click on an attractive item on the product page--an Acer 11.6-Inch, CB3-111-C670. Up pops the computer's price ($188.88, new, last Friday morning) and, to the right, the ubiquitous "buy box," beckoning "Add to Cart." You oblige.
Had you looked more closely, you might have done better.
A team of Cochrane authors based in the UK and led by an academic from Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, has carried out a review investigating the health benefit of contact with the natural environment.
The team found that, while the majority of quantitative studies reported no effect on health and well-being, there was limited evidence to suggest positive effects on self-reported health, quality of life and physical activity levels. Small numbers of participants reported increased mental fatigue and greater feelings of anxiety.
A new type of 3-D printing will make it possible for the first time to rapidly prototype and test polymer membranes that are patterned for improved performance, according to Penn State researchers.