Using HPC and experiment, researchers continue to refine graphene production

Graphene may be among the most exciting scientific discoveries of the last century. While it is strikingly familiar to us — graphene is considered an allotrope of carbon, meaning that it essentially the same substance as graphite but in a different atomic structure — graphene also opened up a new world of possibilities for designing…

Control over water friction with 2D materials points to ‘smart membranes’: Dramatic decrease in friction when water is passed through nanoscale capillaries made of graphene

The speed of water flow is a limiting factor in many membrane-based industrial processes, including desalination, molecular separation and osmotic power generation. Researchers at The University of Manchester’s National Graphene Institute (NGI) have published a study in Nature Communications showing a dramatic decrease in friction when water is passed through nanoscale capillaries made of graphene,…

Graphene ‘camera’ captures real-time electrical activity of beating heart: Graphene sheet acts like video camera to record fleeting electrical signals of neurons, cardiac cells

Bay Area scientists have captured the real-time electrical activity of a beating heart, using a sheet of graphene to record an optical image — almost like a video camera — of the faint electric fields generated by the rhythmic firing of the heart’s muscle cells. The graphene camera represents a new type of sensor useful…

Is global plastic pollution nearing an irreversible tipping point?

Current rates of plastic emissions globally may trigger effects that we will not be able to reverse, argues a new study by researchers from Sweden, Norway and Germany published on July 2nd in Science. According to the authors, plastic pollution is a global threat, and actions to drastically reduce emissions of plastic to the environment…

Study ties milder COVID-19 symptoms to prior run-ins with other coronaviruses

A study by Stanford University School of Medicine investigators hints that people with COVID-19 may experience milder symptoms if certain cells of their immune systems “remember” previous encounters with seasonal coronaviruses — the ones that cause about a quarter of the common colds kids get. These immune cells are better equipped to mobilize quickly against…

Scientists take snapshots of ultrafast switching in a quantum electronic device: They discover a short-lived state that could lead to faster and more energy-efficient computing devices

Electronic circuits that compute and store information contain millions of tiny switches that control the flow of electric current. A deeper understanding of how these tiny switches work could help researchers push the frontiers of modern computing. Now scientists have made the first snapshots of atoms moving inside one of those switches as it turns…

Extraordinary carbon emissions from El Nino-induced biomass burning estimated

Equatorial Asia, which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and surrounding areas, experienced devastating biomass burning in 2015 due to the severe drought condition induced by the extreme El Niño and a positive anomaly of the Indian Ocean dipole. This biomass burning emitted a significant amount of carbon, mainly in the form of carbon dioxide…

‘Wonder material’ can be used to detect COVID-19 quickly, accurately: Researchers show a graphene-based sensor can detect SARS-CoV-2

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have successfully used graphene — one of the strongest, thinnest known materials — to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in laboratory experiments. The researchers say the discovery could be a breakthrough in coronavirus detection, with potential applications in the fight against COVID-19 and its variants. In experiments, researchers combined…

Accurate protein structure prediction now accessible to all: New artificial intelligence software can compute protein structures in 10 minutes

Scientists have waited months for access to highly accurate protein structure prediction since DeepMind presented remarkable progress in this area at the 2020 Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction, or CASP14, conference. The wait is now over. Researchers at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle have largely…

Researchers discover a new inorganic material with lowest thermal conductivity ever reported

A collaborative research team, led by the University of Liverpool, has discovered a new inorganic material with the lowest thermal conductivity ever reported. This discovery paves the way for the development of new thermoelectric materials that will be critical for a sustainable society. Reported in the journal Science, this discovery represents a breakthrough in the…

Visibly transparent radiative cooler under direct sunlight

Since the Paris Climate Agreement that took effect in 2016, 121 countries have pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050 as the world tries to reduce its fuel consumption. The Korean government also unveiled its 2050 Carbon Neutral Strategy on December 7, 2020 and declared Carbon Zero, making transition to new and renewable energy a…

Unconventional superconductor acts the part of a promising quantum computing platform: If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck

Scientists on the hunt for an unconventional kind of superconductor have produced the most compelling evidence to date that they’ve found one. In a pair of papers, researchers at the University of Maryland’s (UMD) Quantum Materials Center (QMC) and colleagues have shown that uranium ditelluride (or UTe2 for short) displays many of the hallmarks of…

Meringue-like material could make aircraft as quiet as a hairdryer: Extremely low-density graphene-based aerogel ‘meringue’ can improve passenger comfort and reduce noise up to 80%

An incredibly light new material that can reduce aircraft engine noise and improve passenger comfort has been developed at the University of Bath. The graphene oxide-polyvinyl alcohol aerogel weighs just 2.1kg per cubic metre, making it the lightest sound insulation ever manufactured. It could be used as insulation within aircraft engines to reduce noise by…

Chemical reactions break free from energy barriers using flyby trajectories

A new study shows that it is possible to use mechanical force to deliberately alter chemical reactions and increase chemical selectivity — a grand challenge of the field. The study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researcher Jeffrey Moore and Stanford University chemist Todd Martinezz demonstrates how external mechanical forces alter atomic motions to manipulate…

More filling? Tastes great? How flies, and maybe people, choose their food

Flies have discriminating taste. Like a gourmet perusing a menu, they spend much of their time seeking sweet nutritious calories and avoiding bitter, potentially toxic food. But what happens in their brains when they make these food choices? Yale researchers discovered an interesting way to find out. They tricked them. In a study that could…

Methane in plumes of Saturn’s moon Enceladus: Possible signs of life?

An unknown methane-producing process is likely at work in the hidden ocean beneath the icy shell of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, suggests a new study published in Nature Astronomy by scientists at the University of Arizona and Paris Sciences & Lettres University. Giant water plumes erupting from Enceladus have long fascinated scientists and the public alike,…

New clues to why there’s so little antimatter in the universe

Imagine a dust particle in a storm cloud, and you can get an idea of a neutron’s insignificance compared to the magnitude of the molecule it inhabits. But just as a dust mote might affect a cloud’s track, a neutron can influence the energy of its molecule despite being less than one-millionth its size. And…

Physicists discover simple propulsion mechanism for bodies in dense fluids

A team of researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the University of Liège and the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy have developed a microswimmer that appears to defy the laws of fluid dynamics: their model, consisting of two beads that are connected by a linear spring, is propelled by completely symmetrical oscillations. The Scallop theorem…

Galactic fireworks: New ESO images reveal stunning features of nearby galaxies

A team of astronomers has released new observations of nearby galaxies that resemble colourful cosmic fireworks. The images, obtained with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), show different components of the galaxies in distinct colours, allowing astronomers to pinpoint the locations of young stars and the gas they warm up around them.…

Atomic-scale tailoring of graphene approaches macroscopic world

Graphene consists of carbon atoms arranged in a chicken-wire like pattern. This one-atom-thick material is famous for its many extraordinary properties, such as extreme strength and remarkable capability to conduct electricity. Since its discovery, researchers have looked for ways to further tailor graphene through controlled manipulation of its atomic structure. However, until now, such modifications…

Future information technologies: Topological materials for ultrafast spintronics

The laws of quantum physics rule the microcosm. They determine, for example, how easily electrons move through a crystal and thus whether the material is a metal, a semiconductor or an insulator. Quantum physics may lead to exotic properties in certain materials: In so-called topological insulators, only the electrons that can occupy some specific quantum…

Team find brain mechanism that automatically links objects in our minds

When people see a toothbrush, a car, a tree — any individual object — their brain automatically associates it with other things it naturally occurs with, allowing humans to build context for their surroundings and set expectations for the world. By using machine-learning and brain imaging, researchers measured the extent of the “co-occurrence” phenomenon and…

Quantum dots keep atoms spaced to boost catalysis: Rice University engineers develop strategy for higher-loading single atom catalysts

Hold on there, graphene. Seriously, your grip could help make better catalysts. Rice University engineers have assembled what they say may transform chemical catalysis by greatly increasing the number of transition-metal single atoms that can be placed into a carbon carrier. The technique uses graphene quantum dots (GQD), 3-5-nanometer particles of the super-strong 2D carbon…

The paradox of a free-electron laser without the laser

A new way of producing coherent light in the ultra-violet spectral region, which points the way to developing brilliant table-top x-ray sources, has been produced in research led at the University of Strathclyde. The scientists have developed a type of ultra-short wavelength coherent light source that does not require laser action to produce coherence. Common…