Laboratory rats have been shown to have genetic consistency and similar responses to drugs with humans, and thus become ideal animal models for research and testing of new drugs. However, due to individual difference, it is still a challenging task to find a method of unified behavior control and evaluation. Actually, bioinspired robots can take advantage of their programmability and reconfigurability to replace rats, so as to effectively solve these problems. It has been verified that robots can influence or…

Creating and studying radioactive molecules advances nuclear structure and fundamental symmetry studies. The Science An international team performed the world’s first measurement of how the size of the radium nucleus modifies the structure of molecules containing different radium isotopes. The research used a combination of lasers and ion traps at the Isotope mass Separator On-Line (ISOLDE) Radioactive Ion Beam Facility at CERN. The team studied the quantum structure of radium monofluoride (RaF) molecules. Quantum structure dictates the energy levels and how…

This study on Gadolinium is completing a series of experiments on Nickel, Iron-Nickel Alloys. The results are useful for developing ultrafast data storage devices. New materials should make information processing more efficient, for example, through ultrafast spintronic devices that store data with less energy input. But to date, the microscopic mechanisms of ultrafast demagnetization are not fully understood. Typically, the process of demagnetization is studied by sending an ultrashort laser pulse to the sample, thereby heating it up, and then…

Services from all hyper-scale cloud providers like Microsoft are powered by massive datacenters that employ hundreds of thousands of servers, whose performance depends heavily on the quality of the network between them. Current datacenter networks include multiple layers of electrical packet switches interconnected through optical fibers. These systems require electrical-to-optical conversion, which increases cost and power overhead. To make things worse, growing data rates due to applications like AI and data analytics could concur with the slowdown of Moore’s law…

Probing the structures and properties of superionic ice. A layer of “hot,” electrically conductive ice could be responsible for generating the magnetic fields of ice giant planets like Uranus and Neptune. New work from Carnegie and the University of Chicago’s Center for Advanced Radiation Sources reveals the conditions under which two such superionic ices form. Their findings are published in Nature Physics. As all school children learn, water molecules are made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom—H20….

A plenoptic high-speed camera designed by Fraunhofer researchers. Researchers at Fraunhofer IZM have joined forces with TecVenture, Optrontec Inc., and KAIST to create a high-speed camera fitted with a unique multi-lens array that can capture images with a far greater depth of field than its conventional counterparts. The miniaturized electronics make the system a good choice for efficient damage analytics in industrial use or for many research activities. To prepare the camera for reliable work in the tough reality of…

PHENIX data validate approach for future studies of proton spin and structure. Scientists seeking to explore the teeming microcosm of quarks and gluons inside protons and neutrons report new data delivered by particles of light. The light particles, or photons, come directly from interactions of a quark in one proton colliding with a gluon in another at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). By tracking these “direct photons,” members of RHIC’s PHENIX Collaboration say they are getting a glimpse—albeit a blurry one—of gluons’ transverse…

Giant gas planet orbiting a dead star gives glimpse into the predicted aftermath of our sun’s demise. Astronomers have discovered the very first confirmed planetary system that resembles the expected fate of our solar system, when the Sun reaches the end of its life in about five billion years. The researchers detected the system using W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaiʻi; it consists of a Jupiter-like planet with a Jupiter-like orbit revolving around a white dwarf star located…

Holey metalens! Metasurfaces are nanoscale structures that interact with light. Today, most metasurfaces use monolith-like nanopillars to focus, shape and control light. The taller the nanopillar, the more time it takes for light to pass through the nanostructure, giving the metasurface more versatile control of each color of light. But very tall pillars tend to fall or cling together. What if, instead of building tall structures, you went the other way? In a recent paper, researchers at the Harvard John…

Jefferson Lab and Fermilab experiments present new results on nucleon structure. Two independent studies have illuminated unexpected substructures in the fundamental components of all matter. Preliminary results using a novel tagging method could explain the origin of the longstanding nuclear paradox known as the EMC effect. Meanwhile, authors will share next steps after the recent observation of asymmetrical antimatter in the proton. Both groups will discuss their experiments at DOE’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility and Fermilab during the 2021…

EPFL scientists have developed a topology-based method that forces microwave photons to travel along on way path, despite unprecedented levels of disorder and obstacles on their way. Topological insulators are materials whose structure forces photons and electrons to move only along the material’s boundary and only in one direction. These particles experience very little resistance and travel freely past obstacles such as impurities, fabrication defects, a change of signal’s trajectory within a circuit, or objects placed intentionally in the particles’…

An international research team led by Prof. LI Di and Dr. WANG Pei from National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) caught an extreme episode of cosmic explosions from Fast Radio Burst (FRB) 121102, using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). A total of 1,652 independent bursts were detected within 47 days starting Aug. 29, 2019 (UT). It is the largest set of FRB events so far, more than the number reported in all other publications combined….

When designing a light source, one typically restricts their aim to certain correlation properties. For example, in a single-mode laser, correlations can be found across the entire wavefront. However, optical cavities that support only a single mode are usually relatively difficult to manufacture. A cavity that supports multiple modes is easier to fabricate, but in such a laser the correlations vanish, depending on the number of modes present. “Both of these source types have their uses and in the past…

Research team including Göttingen University observes charged particles 70 percent faster than uncharged. Solar prominences hover above the visible solar disk like giant clouds, held there by a supporting framework of magnetic forces, originating from layers deep within the Sun. The magnetic lines of force are moved by ever-present gas currents – and when the supporting framework moves, so does the prominence cloud. A research team from the University of Göttingen and the astrophysics institutes at Paris, Potsdam and Locarno…

First results from a precision measurement of the neutron skin in a calcium nucleus to be announced at 2021 Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics. A new high-precision measurement of the neutron skin in doubly magic calcium-48 may help shed light on proton-neutron interactions inside nuclei. This is the first highly robust electroweak measurement of the neutron skin in a medium-weight nucleus. The results from this new measurement, made by the 48Ca Radius EXperiment (CREX) collaboration at…

Unlikely, new study shows… New calculations show that a black hole slurping down a star may not have generated enough energy to launch a neutrino. In October 2019, a high-energy neutrino slammed into Antarctica. The neutrino, which was remarkably hard to detect, peaked astronomers’ interest: what could generate such a powerful particle? Researchers traced the neutrino back to a supermassive black hole that had just ripped apart and swallowed a star. Known as a tidal disruption event (TDE), AT2019dsg occurred just…