Scientists have long tried to use graphene, which is composed of carbon, as a kind of sieve. But this material doesn’t have any pores. Now, a team has found an alternative material which comes with pores from the outset. Researchers from Bielefeld, Bochum and Yale have succeeded in producing a layer of two-dimensional (2D) silicon dioxide. This material contains natural pores and can therefore be used like a sieve for molecules and ions. Scientists have been looking for such materials…
Researchers at the University of Bremen are currently working successfully on the next generation of energy storage systems. Their goal is aqueous zinc-ion batteries that eliminate any risk of explosion or fire. Professor Fabio La Mantia and his team have now outlined the main challenges that need to be overcome in the further development of the novel battery technology in the renowned scientific journal Nature Communications. The environmentally friendly energy supply of the future is one of the most discussed…
A uniform charging field makes this new transmitter ideal for consumer devices. A new wireless charging system can charge devices placed anywhere within a ring around it. Existing systems transfer power in a specific direction or to a specific position. By providing a donut-shaped charging field, the new system offers a more convenient and reliable design for consumer use. The main challenge in creating an omnidirectional charger has been that the strength of the charging field changes with location. This…
Physicists use the Summit supercomputer to better understand a family of superconductors. The Science Over the last 35 years, scientists have investigated a special type of materials called superconductors. When cooled to the correct temperatures, these materials allow electricity to flow without resistance. One team is researching superconductors using the Summit supercomputer. The team found that negative particles in the superconductors interact strongly with the smallest units of light in the materials. This interaction leads to sudden changes in the…
An international study, published in ACS Nano, has demonstrated an unprecedented level of control of the optical properties of graphene. The work has promising applications in different technological fields ranging from photonics to telecommunications. Graphene is the thinnest material ever produced, with the thickness of a single atomic layer, thinner than a billionth of a meter, it is able to efficiently absorb light from the visible to the infrared through the photoexcitation of its charge carriers. After light absorption, its…
Qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers, can be made from many different technologies. One way to make a qubit is to trap a single neutral atom in place using a focused laser, a technique that won the Nobel Prize in 2018. But to make a quantum computer out of neutral atom qubits, many individual atoms must be trapped in place by many laser beams. So far, these arrays have only been constructed from atoms of a single element, out…
Biologists from ETH Zurich have discovered speargun-like molecular injection systems in two types of bacteria and have described their structure for the first time. The special nanomachines are used by the microbes for the interaction between cells and could one day be useful as tools in biomedicine. Many bacteria have sophisticated molecular injection devices that are used to do some amazing things. For example, a bacterium inoculates certain molecules into a worm larva via such a nanomachine composed of proteins,…
We know triple-pane windows conserve energy, reduce noise, and lower home energy bills; now they are getting more affordable. It’s time to make the switch to triple-pane windows. That’s the message from a series of studies led by the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in collaboration with a coalition of public and private partners. “Lower costs, greater availability, and the drive to reduce carbon emissions are pushing us toward a tipping point where triple-pane windows start making a…
Texas A&M researchers are working to show it is possible to mimic the unique mechanical and thermal sensations associated with different surface textures and shapes. High-fidelity touch has the potential to significantly expand the scope of what we expect from computing devices, making new remote sensory experiences possible. The research on these advancements, led by a pair of researchers from the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, could help touchscreens simulate virtual shapes. Dr….
Massive study of the relationships among grasses provides insight to the evolution of a type of photosynthesis involved in heat and drought tolerance. The evolutionary relationships among grasses—including important crop plants like wheat, rice, corn, and sugarcane—have been clarified in new molecular study of the grass family tree. Having a clear picture of the relationships among the grasses can help understanding of how important crop traits like seed size or disease resistance evolves and eventually could inform manipulation of these…
Green hydrogen and fuel technology are a new focus of the Export Initiative Environmental Technologies (EXI). The University of Bayreuth has recently become involved in this funding programme of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) with its “ECO-FCGen – decentralized power generator based on fuel cells” project. The aim of the project is to build two electricity generation prototypes based on green hydrogen in Germany and India. Research partners are CBC GmbH…
Pitt engineers create insect-inspired robots that can monitor hard-to-reach spots. These ancient creatures can squeeze through the tiniest cracks, fit snugly into tight spaces and survive in harsh environments: There aren’t many spaces that are off-limits to an insect. That’s why researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have created tiny bug-inspired robots that can carry out tasks in hard-to-reach spaces and inhospitable environments. “These robots could be used to access confined areas for imaging or environmental evaluation, take water samples,…
… worries scientists worldwide. International forest experts analyzed major tree and forest dieback events that occurred globally in the last decades in response to climate extremes. To their surprise many forests were strongly affected that were not considered threatened based on current scientific understanding. The study, led by the MPI-BGC and published in Annual Reviews in Plant Biology, underscores also that further tree and forest dieback is likely to occur. The experts highlight how improved data structures can contribute to…
Magnetic excitations for information transfer without heat loss. Just as electrons flow through an electrical conductor, magnetic excitations can travel through certain materials. Such excitations, known in physics as “magnons” in analogy to the electron, could transport information much more easily than electrical conductors. An international research team has now made an important discovery on the road to such components, which could be highly energy-efficient and considerably smaller. At present the transport and control of electrical charges forms the basis…
Many semiconducting materials are possible candidates for solar cells. In recent years, perovskite semiconductors in particular have attracted attention, as they are both inexpensive and easy to process and enable high efficiencies. Now a study with 15 participating research institutions shows how terahertz (TRTS) and microwave spectroscopy (TRMC) can be used to reliably determine the mobility and lifetime of the charge carriers in new semiconducting materials. Using these measurement data it is possible to predict the potential efficiency of the…
More than 20 years after the first release of the human genome, scientists at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany, have for the first time deciphered the highly complex genome of the potato. Their impressive technical feat, published in Nature Genetics, will accelerate efforts to breed superior varieties. Shopping for potatoes on a market today, it is well possible that the buyer will be going home with a variety that was…
Feedback
