Jan 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) It took a global pandemic, but the critical role of messenger RNA in all of life’s functions has taken center stage in the past year with the successful rollout of mRNA vaccines to combat the SARS-Cov-2 virus. In two new papers, the lab of Yale’s...
Hubble finds a black hole igniting star formation In a dwarf galaxy
Jan 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Often portrayed as destructive monsters that hold light captive, black holes take on a less villainous role in the latest research from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. A black hole at the heart of the dwarf galaxy Henize 2-10 is creating stars rather than gobbling them...
Solving a crystal’s structure when you’ve only got powder
Jan 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Crystals reveal the hidden geometry of molecules to the naked eye. Scientists use crystals to figure out the atomic structure of new materials, but many can’t be grown large enough. Now, a team of researchers report a new technique in Nature that can discover the...
Scientists uncover evidence for an internal ocean in small Saturn moon
Jan 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A Southwest Research Institute scientist set out to prove that the tiny, innermost moon of Saturn was a frozen inert satellite and instead discovered compelling evidence that Mimas has a liquid internal ocean. In the waning days of NASA’s Cassini mission, the spacecraft identified a...
Large-scale synthesis of graphene and other 2D materials
Jan 19, 2022 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Since its first demonstration in 2004, the large-scale commercial production of graphene has proven difficult and costly ('large scale' usually defined as weights more than 200 mg or films larger than 200 cm2). For instance, at an estimated cost of $50 000 to $200 000...
Unexpected energy storage capability where water meets metal nanoparticle surfaces
Jan 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Researchers from the RESOLV Cluster of Excellence at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have used current and voltage measurements on individual nanoparticles to determine that the capacitively stored charge at platinum interfaces can be significantly higher than previously assumed. They attribute this to a special arrangement and...
New p-type near-infrared transparent conducting thin films developed with better performance
Jan 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A group of scientists at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed new p-type (positive hole) near infrared (NIR) transparent conducting (TC) films with ultra-high conductivity, unveiling a new transparent conducting material (Advanced Optical Materials, "p-Type Near-Infrared Transparent...
A potential solution to polyol upgrading in industry
Jan 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) bring tremendous opportunities for separation of liquid chemicals using membranes. However, due to the lack of highly compact and robust micro-architecture to cope with complicated and tough separation situations, MOF membranes available for liquid chemical upgrading through pervaporation are rare. Recently, a...
Blue LEDs light the way toward sustainable development
Jan 18, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are commonly used in the electronic displays in our TVs, smartphones, and other devices; now, researchers at the Institute of Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (ICReDD) at Hokkaido University have utilized blue LEDs to develop a more sustainable way to make key...
Researchers uncover model for extremely luminous and fast rising supernova
Jan 18, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Appearing ten to a hundred times brighter at its peak, and with a much faster rise toward the peak, stellar explosions AT 2018cow (nicknamed the COW) and SN 2018gep (nicknamed the GEP) represent a new type of supernova called Fast Blue Optical Transient (FBOT), reports...