Feb 16, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Considering a “computer” as anything that processes information by taking an input and producing an output leads to the obvious questions, what kind of objects could perform computations? And how small can a computer be? As transistors approach the limit of miniaturisation, these questions are...
Electronic metadevices break barriers to ultra-fast communications
Feb 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Until now, the ability to make electronic devices faster has come down to a simple principle: scaling down transistors and other components. But this approach is reaching its limit, as the benefits of shrinking are counterbalanced by detrimental effects like resistance and decreased output power....
Scientists observe high-speed star formation
Feb 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Gas clouds in the Cygnus X Region, a region where stars form, are composed of a dense core of molecular hydrogen (H2) and an atomic shell. These ensembles of clouds interact with each other dynamically in order to quickly form new stars. That is the...
Space travel influences the way the brain works
Feb 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Scientists of the University of Antwerp and University of Liège have found how the human brain changes and adapts to weightlessness, after being in space for 6 months. Some of the changes turned out to be lasting – even after 8 months back on Earth....
Does ice in the Universe contain the molecules making up the building blocks of life in planetary systems?
Feb 16, 2023 (Nanowerk News) If you want to build a habitable planet, ice is a key ingredient. The ice can be found in enormous clouds in the Universe and it is the main carrier of the necessary elements such as carbon , hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur. These elements...
Nanoparticles drill holes at will in silicon
Feb 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A Hamburg-based research team has developed a new method for producing a network of large to very fine pores in silicon and glass. At DESY’s X-ray source PETRA III, scientists led by DESY researchers Stella Gries and Patrick Huber were able to analyse the porosity...
How a record-breaking copper nanocatalyst converts CO2 into liquid fuels
Feb 16, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Since the 1970s, scientists have known that copper has a special ability to transform carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals and fuels. But for many years, scientists have struggled to understand how this common metal works as an electrocatalyst, a mechanism that uses energy from electrons...
Perovskites, a cheap alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
Feb 16, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Silicon, the standard semiconducting material used in a host of applications – computer central processing units (CPUs), semiconductor chips, detectors, and solar cells – is an abundant, naturally occurring material. However, it is expensive to mine and to purify. Perovskites – a family of materials...
Engineered wood grows stronger while trapping carbon dioxide
Feb 16, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Rice University scientists have figured out a way to engineer wood to trap carbon dioxide through a potentially scalable, energy-efficient process that also makes the material stronger for use in construction. Structural materials like steel or cement come at a high cost both in dollars...
A more efficient method to pull carbon dioxide out of seawater
Feb 16, 2023 (Nanowerk News) As carbon dioxide continues to build up in the Earth’s atmosphere, research teams around the world have spent years seeking ways to remove the gas efficiently from the air. Meanwhile, the world’s number one “sink” for carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is the ocean, which...