Jul 10, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Using a two-dimensional material to electrically connect to high-power semiconductor transistors improves device performance. Computers, despite all their apparent complexity, are basically just a large number of electronic switches, flicking on and off in the right order to process digital information. Semiconductor technology has made...
A safe, easy, and affordable way to store and retrieve hydrogen
Jul 10, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) in Japan have discovered a compound that uses a chemical reaction to store ammonia, potentially offering a safer and easier way to store this important chemical. This discovery, published in the Journal of the American...
Magnetic robots walk, crawl, and swim
Jul 10, 2023 (Nanowerk News) MIT scientists have developed tiny, soft-bodied robots that can be controlled with a weak magnet. The robots, formed from rubbery magnetic spirals, can be programmed to walk, crawl, swim — all in response to a simple, easy-to-apply magnetic field. “This is the first time this...
Sign-reversal of Josephson diode effect
Jul 10, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Most transistors, including the building blocks of computer's CPUs, generate heat. This is, because most conductors are resistive, leading to Joule heating. Indeed, there are special transistors which do not generate heat, the so-called “Josephson junction field effect transistors”. They are based on the Josephson...
Light-activated molecular machines get cells ‘talking’
Jul 10, 2023 (Nanowerk News) One of the main ways cells “talk” to each other to coordinate essential biological activities such as muscle contraction, hormone release, neuronal firing, digestion and immune activation is through calcium signaling. Rice University scientists have used light-activated molecular machines to trigger intercellular calcium wave signals,...
Reporters broadcast live, on-the-scene, inside living cells
Jul 10, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Live, on-the-scene reporting is now available inside living cells. Synthetic biologists from Rice University and Princeton University have demonstrated “live reporter” technology that can reveal the workings of networks of signaling proteins in living cells with far greater precision than current methods. The first-of-its-kind reporting...
New biodegradable plastics are compostable in your backyard
Jul 10, 2023 (Nanowerk News) We use plastics in almost every aspect of our lives. These materials are cheap to make and incredibly stable. The problem comes when we're done using something plastic — it can persist in the environment for years. Over time, plastic will break down into smaller...
Mystery of microgels solved
Jul 10, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at PSI and the University of Barcelona have managed to explain the strange behaviour of microgels. Their measurements using neutron beams have pushed this measuring technique to its limits. The results open up opportunities for new applications in materials and pharmaceutical research. They flow...
Researchers create an innovative method to produce soft, conductive and recyclable fibres for smart textiles
Jul 10, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Smart textiles offer many potential wearable technology applications, from therapeutics to sensing to communication. For such intelligent textiles to function effectively, they need to be strong, stretchable, and electrically conductive. However, fabricating fibres that possess these three properties is challenging and requires complex conditions and...
Machine learning takes materials modeling into new era
Jul 10, 2023 (Nanowerk News) The arrangement of electrons in matter, known as the electronic structure, plays a crucial role in fundamental but also applied research such as drug design and energy storage. However, the lack of a simulation technique that offers both high fidelity and scalability across different time...