Federal funding will allow University of Rochester scientists and their European collaborators to study the feasibility of coherent light sources beyond x-rays. Since the laser was invented in the 1960s, scientists have been working to increase lasers’ peak power and to design machines producing coherent light at progressively shorter wavelengths that can improve image resolution and enable probing of quantum nuclear states. Progress has been made with regard to peak power, most notably with the invention of chirped pulse amplification…
– magnetrons show promise as radiofrequency source. The small but mighty gadget could help make massive research machines more efficient and enable future industrial applications. It has a pretty fascinating past, as well. A pocket-size gizmo that puts the “pop” in microwave popcorn could soon fuel particle accelerators of the future. The small but mighty device is a magnetron – a mashup of the words “magnetic” and “electron.” The term was coined in 1921, and the technology was once a…
Device developed by Utah engineers with Army funding harvests water from atmosphere, even in arid places. Earth’s atmosphere holds an ocean of water, enough liquid to fill Utah’s Great Salt Lake 800 times. Extracting some of that moisture is seen as a potential way to provide clean drinking water to billions of people globally who face chronic shortages. Existing technologies for atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) are saddled with numerous downsides associated with size, cost and efficiency. But new research from…
A new platform lets PME researchers combine atom array processors with photonic and semiconductor chips. Quantum information systems offer faster, more powerful computing methods than standard computers to help solve many of the world’s toughest problems. Yet fulfilling this ultimate promise will require bigger and more interconnected quantum computers than scientists have yet built. Scaling quantum systems up to larger sizes, and connecting multiple systems, has proved challenging. Now, researchers at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering…
Researchers at Berkeley Lab’s 88-Inch Cyclotron successfully made superheavy element 116 using a beam of titanium-50. That milestone sets the team up to attempt making the heaviest element yet: 120. Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) are credited in the discovery of 16 of the 118 known elements. Now they’ve completed the crucial first step to potentially create yet another: element 120. Today, an international team of researchers led by Berkeley Lab’s Heavy Element…
More than just loud bass! Loud or unpleasant driving noises can impair the enjoyment of music in the car. Some sound systems therefore dynamically adjust the volume and bass. However, individual sound preferences are not taken into account. A study from Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg has now investigated the influence of background noise on the personal sound experience while driving – and shows how an adjustment of individual sound preferences once could improve the sound in the vehicle (and beyond)….
An international collaboration seeks to innovate the future of how a mechanical man’s best friend interacts with its owner, using a combination of AI and edge computing called edge intelligence. The project is sponsored through a one-year seed grant from the Institute for Future Technologies (IFT), a partnership between New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). Assistant Professor Kasthuri Jayarajah in NJIT’s Ying Wu College of Computing is researching how to design a socially assistive model…
Working together, the University of Innsbruck and the spin-off AQT have integrated a quantum computer into a high-performance computing (HPC) environment for the first time in Austria. This hybrid infrastructure of supercomputer and quantum computer can now be used to solve complex problems in various fields such as chemistry, materials science or optimization. This approach will rely on a future, community-driven adaptation to address the growing understanding on how to best benefit from quantum computers. The respective interfaces are therefore…
LZH develops multi-laser beam welding process for maritime manufacturing. Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) is researching ways to make welding thick plates in shipbuilding more reliable. The scientists are developing a multi-laser beam welding process with customized beam shaping and a “Digital Twin”-based integrated quality assurance system. In the DIGIMAR project, researchers are combining three laser beam sources to create a root and a filler layer welding process with customized beam shaping. Photo: LZH Welding in the thick sheet metal…
One of the first major studies on non-exhaust emissions from rail vehicles shows that a lot of particulate matter contaminated with heavy metals is produced especially along railway lines. In addition to exhaust emissions, abrasion emissions from tyres and brakes have become increasingly important when assessing the environmental impact of traffic. However, the focus here was on road vehicles; rail was hardly considered. In a study commissioned by the German Centre for Rail Transport Research (DZSF), researchers from the Institute…
New study finds metallic minerals split water to generate ‘dark oxygen’. An international team of researchers, including a Northwestern University chemist, has discovered that metallic minerals on the deep-ocean floor produce oxygen — 13,000 feet below the surface. The surprising discovery challenges long-held assumptions that only photosynthetic organisms, such as plants and algae, generate Earth’s oxygen. But the new finding shows there might be another way. It appears oxygen also can be produced at the seafloor — where no light…
… with biodegradable luminescent polymers. The discovery has the potential to reduce electronic waste and develop new applications for luminescent polymers. From your car’s navigation display to the screen you are reading this on, luminescent polymers — a class of flexible materials that contain light-emitting molecules — are used in a variety of today’s electronics. Luminescent polymers stand out for their light-emitting capability, coupled with their remarkable flexibility and stretchability, showcasing vast potential across diverse fields of application. However, once these electronics…
A living passivator for perovskite solar cell stability has been developed by City University of Hong Kong researchers. The progress of solar energy technology took a step forward recently with the development of a groundbreaking living passivator at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) that can substantially enhance the stability and efficiency of perovskite solar cells. This newly developed passivator is a type of corrosion inhibitor that appreciably changes the potential of a metal. The CityUHK technology leverages dynamic covalent…
With partners from industry and research institutions, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is to make battery-powered trucks viable for long-distance cargo transport. Megawatt charging represents an important step towards this goal. The first prototypes were presented to the public on Friday at an event on the Plattling Technology Campus with the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger in attendance. With the new charging post and truck, it will now be possible for the first time to charge the…
A bitter taste is traditionally considered a warning sign of potentially toxic substances. But not all bitter substances are harmful. For example, some peptides and free amino acids taste bitter, even though they are non-toxic, nutritious and sometimes even vital for humans. A new study by the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich now offers the first explanation for this seemingly paradoxical phenomenon. In general, our sense of taste helps us to make food…
Large multicenter study identifies 34 new genetic diseases. The majority of rare diseases have a genetic cause. The underlying genetic alteration can be found more and more easily, for example by means of exome sequencing (ES), leading to a molecular genetic diagnosis. ES is an examination of all sections of our genetic material (DNA) that code for proteins. As part of a Germany-wide multicenter study, ES data was collected from 1,577 patients and systematically evaluated. This made it possible to…