Like a pebble in a whirlpool

May 04, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Scientists from the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University have shown how silicon nanoparticles can become trapped inside the vortices that form inside superfluid helium (Science Advances, "Visualization of quantized vortex reconnection enabled by laser ablation"). This work opens up new possibilities in...

New machine learning maps the potentials of proteins

May 04, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The biotech industry is constantly searching for the perfect mutation, where properties from different proteins are synthetically combined to achieve a desired effect. It may be necessary to develop new medicaments or enzymes that prolong the shelf-life of yogurt, break down plastics in the wild,...

Direct printing of nanodiamonds at the quantum level

May 04, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Diamond is more than just a pretty gem, and furthermore, the imperfections in it are more attractive to physicists. Diamond nanocrystals, namely nanodiamonds, hosting point defects such as nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers, have been emerging as one of the most promising quantum materials. A central requirement...

Robot chef learns to ‘taste as you go’ (w/video)

May 04, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A robot ‘chef’ has been trained to taste food at different stages of the chewing process to assess whether it’s sufficiently seasoned. Working in collaboration with domestic appliances manufacturer Beko, researchers from the University of Cambridge trained their robot chef to assess the saltiness of...