Tech
Researchers have designed a flexible pressure sensor that is expected to have a much wider applicability. A KAIST research team fabricated a piezoresistive pressure sensor of high uniformity with low hysteresis by chemically grafting a conductive polymer onto a porous elastomer template.
The team discovered that the uniformity of pore size and shape is directly related to the uniformity of the sensor. The team noted that by increasing pore size and shape variability, the variability of the sensor characteristics also increases.
Physicists from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Peking University (PKU) have successfully created the world's first 3D simulation of topological matter consisting of ultracold atoms. Previous attempts at topological matter simulations were limited to lower dimensions, due to challenges on how to characterize 3D band topology in atomic systems. This breakthrough paves an opening to further examining new topological matter that cannot be well realized in solids.
Many companies are working on materials that would be as light and resistant as plastic but at the same time fully biodegradable. What if they could be made from ..... rubbish? A modern, ecological (waste-free - the conversion of raw material to product reaches 100%) and economical (does not require high temperatures or expensive catalysts) method of obtaining organic monomers is coming into being at the IPC PAS.
A new QUT-led study has developed a statistical toolbox to help avoid seagrass loss which provides shelter, food and oxygen to fish and at-risk species like dugongs and green turtles.
The research has been published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution run by the British Ecological Society.
The paper describes key monitoring and management designs to maximise seagrass resilience to human activities, to better inform seagrass dredging operations and development of coastal areas.
Seagrasses are a critical habitat that have been declining rapidly globally[i].
The problem of access to safe drinking water in most parts of Bangladesh is a persistent challenge. Now, a team of scientists from Uppsala University, Sweden, and Dhaka University, Bangladesh, shows that a locally growing and previously unexploited green macroalgae species could be used to extract cellulose nanofibers, which can then be formed into paper sheets with tailored pore size that are utilized for point-of-use water treatment.
Researchers have developed a new voice assistant that allows people with visual impairments to get web content as quickly and as effortlessly as possible from smart speakers and similar devices.
A new study shows that tumor cells depleted of ARID1A -- a protein that acts as a cancer suppressor -- become highly sensitive to anticancer poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor drugs after radiation treatment. The research, led by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers, could advance efforts to treat many human cancers with loss of ARID1A that are resistant to current standard treatments, the study team suggests.
In the battle of the sexes, males appear to have the innovative edge--from a genetic standpoint, at least. Scientists are finding that the testes are more than mere factories for sperm; these organs also serve as hotspots for the emergence of new genes, the raw material for the evolution of species.
Excess heat given off by smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices can be annoying, but beyond that it contributes to malfunctions and, in extreme cases, can even cause lithium batteries to explode.
To guard against such ills, engineers often insert glass, plastic or even layers of air as insulation to prevent heat-generating components like microprocessors from causing damage or discomforting users.
As the microelectronic industry is now shifting toward wearable electronic gadgets and electronic (e-)textiles, the comprising electronic materials, such as ferroelectrics, should be integrated with our clothes. Nylons, a family of synthetic polymers, were first introduced in the 1920s' for women's stockings and are nowadays among the most widely used synthetic fibers in textiles. They consist of a long chain of repeated molecular units, i.e. polymers, where each repeat unit contains a specific arrangement of hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen with carbon atoms.
One of the greatest mysteries in condensed matter physics is the exact relationship between charge order and superconductivity in cuprate superconductors. In superconductors, electrons move freely through the material--there is zero resistance when it's cooled below its critical temperature. However, the cuprates simultaneously exhibit superconductivity and charge order in patterns of alternating stripes. This is paradoxical in that charge order describes areas of confined electrons. How can superconductivity and charge order coexist?
Nanometers are one billionth of a meter, a metric typically used to measure molecules and scientific building blocks not visible to the human eye. Materials of tens and/or several hundred nanometers in diameter have unique properties, and thus have been widely used in diagnosing and treating various human diseases. One major challenge to use these nano-sized materials is how to deliver them into cells and reach their sites of action.
Eating disorder researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have discovered a neurocircuit in mice that, when activated, increased their stress levels while decreasing their desire to eat. Findings appear in Nature Communications.
Machine learning algorithms can sometimes do a better job with a little help from human expertise, at least in the field of materials science.
In many specialized areas of science, engineering and medicine, researchers are turning to machine learning algorithms to analyze data sets that have grown much too large for humans to understand. In materials science, success with this effort could accelerate the design of next-generation advanced functional materials, where development now depends on old-fashioned trial-and-error.
The quantum Hall effect (QHE), which was previously known for two-dimensional (2D) systems, was predicted to be possible for three-dimensional (3D) systems by Bertrand Halperin in 1987, but the theory was not proven until recently by researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and their research collaborators from around the globe.