Tech
Researchers in the Organic Photonics and Nano-optics goup at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics have developed optical nanoantennas made from a conducting polymer. The antennas can be switched on and off, and will make possible a completely new type of controllable nano-optical components.
In a new study published today in Nature Climate Change, scientists show how specific wave patterns in the jet stream strongly increase the chance of co-occurring heatwaves in major food producing regions of Northern America, Western Europe and Asia. Their research finds that these simultaneous heatwaves significantly reduce crop production across those regions, creating the risk of multiple harvest failures and other far-reaching societal consequences, including social unrest.
Bacteria and the viruses that infect them are engaged in a molecular arms race as ancient as life itself. Evolution has equipped bacteria with an arsenal of immune enzymes, including CRISPR-Cas systems, that target and destroy viral DNA. But bacteria-killing viruses, also known as phages, have devised their own tools to help them outmaneuver even the most formidable of these bacterial defenses.
A new study by scientists from The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the University of Bristol and flood analytics company Fathom, seeks to answer an important question related to flooding in the United States - pay now to protect undeveloped areas that are likely to flood in the future or allow developments to go ahead and pay for damage when it occurs.
A team of molecular and structural biologists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have found a potential new route to disabling respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (HMPV) after elucidating the structure of one of its key components.
RSV and HMPV are two closely related viruses causing severe and life-threatening respiratory diseases such as pneumonia and bronchiolitis in premature babies and infants, the elderly, and anyone with a weak immune system.
The motions of plasmas may be notoriously difficult to model, but they can be better understood by analysing what happens when protons are scattered by atoms of hydrogen. In itself, this property is characterised by the size of a particular area surrounding the atom, known as its 'cross section'. In new research published in EPJ D, Anthony Leung and Tom Kirchner at York University in Canada used new techniques to calculate the cross sections of atoms which have been excited to higher energy levels. They analysed the behaviour over a wide range of impact energies.
Researchers at Tohoku University have announced the demonstration of high-speed spin-orbit-torque (SOT) magnetoresistive random access memory cell compatible with 300 mm Si CMOS technology.
Microplastics are receiving a lot of attention lately due to its difficulty in removal from the environment. Sieves and filtrations are currently the predominant way to capture microplastics in water. However, this is impractical because filters clog easily and regularly need to be cleaned or replaced. Another issue is that it has been impossible to collect anything smaller than 0.3mm, the size of the mesh plankton net pore diameter. This is unfortunate because the majority of microplastics causing havoc are smaller than that, with unknown effects on the eco and biosystems.
Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the Institute of Solid State Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences have demonstrated the possibility of detecting Abrikosov vortices penetrating through a superconductor-ferromagnet interface. The device considered in their study, published in Scientific Reports, is a ferromagnetic nanowire with superconductive electrodes connected to it.
Smoking during pregnancy is one of the most significant risk factors for poor pregnancy outcomes. In the United States, 10.7% of all women smoke during their pregnancy or are exposed to second-hand smoke. In doing so, they place their babies at a higher risk for premature birth, low birth weight and developmental delays than do their non-smoking counterparts.
Laboratory experiments and a parabolic flight campaign have enabled an international team of researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) to gain new insights into water electrolysis, in which hydrogen is obtained from water by applying electric energy. Water electrolysis could play a key role in the energy transition if efficiency improvements can be achieved. The findings published recently in the journal Physical Review Letters offer a possible starting point for enhancing the environmental impact of hydrogen-based technologies.
The ability to investigate the dynamics of single particle at the nano-scale and femtosecond level remained an unfathomed dream for years. It was not until the dawn of the 21st century that nanotechnology and femtoscience gradually merged together and the first ultrafast microscopy of individual quantum dots (QDs) and molecules was accomplished. Ultrafast microscopy studies entirely rely on detecting nanoparticles or single molecules with luminescence techniques, which require efficient emitters to work.
Scientists may have figured out how dust particles can stick together to form planets, according to a Rutgers co-authored study that may also help to improve industrial processes.
In homes, adhesion on contact can cause fine particles to form dust bunnies. Similarly in outer space, adhesion causes dust particles to stick together. Large particles, however, can combine due to gravity - an essential process in forming asteroids and planets. But between these two extremes, how aggregates grow has largely been a mystery until now.
Stones do not float in water. This is a truism. But there is hardly a rule without exception. In fact, some volcanic eruptions produce a very porous type of rock with a density so low that it does float: Pumice. An unusually large amount of it is currently drifting in the Southwest Pacific towards Australia. When it was first sighted in the waters of the island state of Tonga at the beginning of August, it almost formed a coherent layer on the ocean's surface. The "pumice raft" made it into headlines all over the world.
Scientists from around the world have assessed the planet’s 78 mountain glacier-based water systems. For the first time, they ranked them in order of their importance to adjacent lowland communities while assessing their vulnerability to future environmental and socioeconomic changes. These systems, known as mountain water towers, store and transport water via glaciers, snow packs, lakes and streams, thereby supplying invaluable water resources to 1.9 billion people globally - roughly a quarter of the world’s population.