Oct 20, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Scientists at DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials have come one step closer to the objective of producing functional synthetic cells. The research group is probing the necessary ingredients for the design and development of materials with the ability to communicate and function with...
Confining classical and quantum waves with crystals
Oct 20, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Manipulating elusive waves like light, sound or electrons, in periodic structures or crystals, has something mysterious. We already know that confining waves is possible by deliberately introducing tailored deviations from perfect periodicity into the crystal. But how exactly are the waves locked up? Are they...
Four science advances coming in the exascale era
Oct 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) One of the United States' first exascale supercomputers is being installed at Argonne National Laboratory. Named Aurora, its high computing speed and artificial intelligence capabilities will enable discoveries that are impossible today across a range of scientific domains, from climate and materials science to energy...
Algae could be instrumental in making human exploration of Mars possible
Oct 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) While the world is marveling over the first images and data now coming from NASA’s Perseverance rover mission seeking signs of ancient microscopic life on Mars, a team of UNLV scientists is already hard at work on the next step: What if we could one...
The most precise accounting yet of dark energy and dark matter
Oct 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Astrophysicists have performed a powerful new analysis that places the most precise limits yet on the composition and evolution of the universe. With this analysis, dubbed Pantheon+, cosmologists find themselves at a crossroads. Pantheon+ convincingly finds that the cosmos is composed of about two-thirds dark...
Engineers design AI material that learns behaviors and adapts to changing conditions
Oct 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Just like a pianist who learns to play their instrument without looking at the keys or a basketball player who puts in countless hours to throw a seemingly effortless jump shot, UCLA mechanical engineers have designed a new class of material that can learn behaviors...
novel process extends life cycle of valuable catalysts
Oct 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Imagine a typical recycling plant. Now imagine that the plant is a chemistry lab, and the crushed soda cans and waist-high stacks of junk mail have been replaced by microscopic structures worth tens of thousands of dollars per gram. A team of researchers from the...
Discovering the atomic configuration of two-atomic-layer-thick paraelectric materials
Oct 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A team of reserchers including scientists from the University of Arkansas' Department Physics have discovered the atomic configuration of two-atom-thick paraelectric materials. "Ferroelectric materials are all around us, most commonly within capacitors in our cellphones, televisions and any other electronic device," said Salvador Barraza-Lopez, associate...
Methane-eating ‘borgs’ have been assimilating earth’s microbes
Oct 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) In Star Trek, the Borg are a ruthless, hive-minded collective that assimilate other beings with the intent of taking over the galaxy. Here on nonfictional planet Earth, Borgs are DNA packages that could help humans fight climate change. Last year, a team led by Jill...
MXene composite could eliminate electromagnetic interference by absorbing it
Oct 19, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A recent discovery by materials science researchers in Drexel University’s College of Engineering might one day prevent electronic devices and components from going haywire when they’re too close to one another. A special coating that they developed, using a type of two-dimensional material called MXene,...