New insights into element synthesis in the universe. How are chemical elements produced in our Universe? Where do heavy elements like gold and uranium come from? Using computer simulations, a research team from the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, together with colleagues from Belgium and Japan, shows that the synthesis of heavy elements is typical for certain black holes with orbiting matter accumulations, so-called accretion disks. The predicted abundance of the formed elements provides insight into which heavy elements…
Forming planets are one possible explanation for the rings and gaps observed in disks of gas and dust around young stars. But this theory has trouble explaining why it is rare to find planets associated with rings. New supercomputer simulations show that after creating a ring, a planet can move away and leave the ring behind. Not only does this bolster the planet theory for ring formation, the simulations show that a migrating planet can produce a variety of patterns…
Virtual and augmented reality headsets are designed to place wearers directly into other environments, worlds and experiences. While the technology is already popular among consumers for its immersive quality, there could be a future where the holographic displays look even more like real life. In their own pursuit of these better displays, the Stanford Computational Imaging Lab has combined their expertise in optics and artificial intelligence. Their most recent advances in this area are detailed in a paper published Nov. 12 in Science…
Experts have developed a unique method for retrieving high resolution images of fingermarks from curved objects like bullet casings that offers greater detail and accuracy than traditional forensic methods. Scientists from the University of Nottingham developed a rotation stage to allow researchers and forensic practitioners to perform highly sensitive, non-destructive Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS) measurements and develop high resolution fingerprint images on surfaces that conventional fingerprint imaging fails to pick up at all. The rotation stage that they have developed opens up new…
To produce a cost-effective redox flow battery, researchers based at the South China University of Technology have synthesized a molecular compound that serves as a low-cost electrolyte, enabling a stable flow battery that retains 99.98% capacity per cycle. They published their approach on August 14 in the Energy Material Advances. Comprising two tanks of opposing liquid electrolytes, the battery pumps the positive and negative liquids along a membrane separator sandwiched between electrodes, facilitating ion exchanges to produce energy. Significant work…
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory designed a novel polymer to bind and strengthen silica sand for binder jet additive manufacturing, a 3D-printing method used by industries for prototyping and part production. The printable polymer enables sand structures with intricate geometries and exceptional strength – and is also water soluble. The study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrates a 3D-printed sand bridge that at 6.5 centimeters can hold 300 times its own weight, a feat analogous to 12 Empire State…
How gentle nuclear reactions with fragile nuclei could help us better understand the universe and fight cancer. It’s strange to think that there are nuclear reactions that physicists classify as gentle. After all, the particle accelerators that let scientists study these reactions are nicknamed “atom smashers,” not “atom coddlers.” But gentle nuclear reactions represent more than a strange-sounding curiosity. These reactions let researchers stress-test certain scientific models that account for how the universe’s fundamental rules work, said Kaitlin Cook of the Facility for…
The UK Space Agency has awarded almost £650,000 to Northumbria University to continue world-leading work to develop the first commercially available laser-based inter-satellite communications system. Currently satellites use radio frequency to transmit data, but this is limited in terms of speed, capacity and data security. However, researchers at Northumbria University are working to develop a new laser-based communications system for small satellites, known as CubeSats, which has the potential to transform the satellite communications industry. By using lasers instead of…
By implementing artificial intelligence techniques similar to those used in autonomous cars, a team from the UNIGE and the UniBE, in partnership with the company Disaitek, has discovered a new method for detecting exoplanets. The majority of exoplanets discovered to date have been discovered using the transit method. This technique is based on a mini eclipse caused when a planet passes in front of its star. The decrease in luminosity observed makes it possible to deduce the existence of a…
Novel optical resonator can track the movement of nanoparticles in space. Conventional microscopes produce enlarged images of small structures or objects with the help of light. Nanoparticles, however, are so small that they hardly absorb or scatter light and, hence, remain invisible. Optical resonators increase the interaction between light and nanoparticles: They capture light in smallest space by reflecting it thousands of times between two mirrors. In case a nanoparticle is located in the captured light field, it interacts thousands…
New approach expands the application of powerful, ultrafast laser pulses. Quick bursts of laser light, lasting less than a trillionth of a second, are used in a range of applications today. These ultrashort laser pulses have allowed scientists to observe chemical reactions in real-time, image delicate biological samples, build precise nanostructures, and send long-distance, high-bitrate optical communications. But any application of ultrashort laser pulses in the visible spectrum must overcome a fundamental difficulty — red light travels faster than blue…
Engineering quantum states of molecules on surfaces. Scaling down information devices to the atomic scale has brought the interest of using individual spins as a basic unit for data storage. This requires precise detection and control of spin states and a better understanding of spin-spin interactions. For the first time ever, scientists at the IBS Center for Quantum Nanoscience at Ewha Womans University (QNS) have imaged the spin of an individual molecule using electron spin resonance in a scanning tunneling…
Vibrationally excited molecular hydrogen is an essential species for determining the chemical composition in the interstellar medium. Vibrational excited interstellar H2 has been detected in shock-heated gas and in photodissociation regions (PDRs) near hot stars, which was formed by collisions and fluorescence excitation in PDRs. Recently, a research group led by Prof. YUAN Kaijun and Prof. YANG Xueming from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) demonstrated vibrationally excited H2 production from water photochemistry using the Dalian Coherent Light…
New observations of the atomic structure of iron reveal it undergoes “twinning” under extreme stress and pressure. Far below you lies a sphere of solid iron and nickel about as wide as the broadest part of Texas: the Earth’s inner core. The metal at the inner core is under pressure about 360 million times higher than we experience in our everyday lives and temperatures approximately as hot as the Sun’s surface. Earth’s planetary core is thankfully intact. But in space,…
Until now, observing subatomic structures was beyond the resolution capabilities of direct imaging methods, and this seemed unlikely to change. Czech scientists, however, have presented a method with which they became the first in the world to observe an inhomogeneous electron charge distribution around a halogen atom, thus confirming the existence of a phenomenon that had been theoretically predicted but never directly observed. Comparable to the first observation of a black hole, the breakthrough will facilitate understanding of interactions between…
Nanoscale machinery has many uses, including drug delivery, single-atom transistor technology, or memory storage. However, the machinery must be assembled at the nanoscale which is a considerable challenge for researchers. For nanotechnology engineers the ultimate goal is to be able to assemble functional machinery part-by-part at the nanoscale. In the macroscopic world, we can simply grab items to assemble them. It is not impossible to “grab” single molecules anymore, but their quantum nature makes their response to manipulation unpredictable, limiting the…
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