Phys.com January 25, 2022 A team of researchers in the US (industry, UC San Diego, Rice University, Harvard University) has developed a molecular electronics platform which consists of a programmable semiconductor chip with a scalable sensor array architecture. Each array element consists of an electrical current meter that monitors the current flowing through a precision-engineered molecular wire, assembled to span nanoelectrodes that couple it directly into the circuit. The sensor is programmed by attaching the desired probe molecule to the molecular wire, via a central, engineered conjugation site. The observed current provides a direct, real-time electronic readout of molecular interactions […]
Author Archives: Hema Viswanath
Tonga Volcanic Explosion Was Strong Enough to Send Gravitational Waves to the Atmosphere
Nature World News January 22, 2022 Tonga’s population has suffered a huge disaster due to a volcanic eruption and following tsunami on the South Pacific Island country. On January 15, 2022, the volcano that had been erupting since December 2021 burst spectacularly. The shock wave from the blast was so powerful that it was detected as far away as Antarctica according to Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna, Austria, which oversees an international network of remote monitoring stations. Even days after the eruption the network can still detect the faint echo of the shock wave as it orbits Earth’s atmosphere. […]
Twin-field quantum key distribution (QKD) across an 830-km fibre
Phys.org January 24, 2022 As the photons carrying signals cannot be amplified or relayed via classical optical techniques to maintain quantum security, the transmission loss of the channel limits its achievable distance. An international team of researchers (Spain, Japan, Canada, China, Russia) has designed an experimental QKD system that could tolerate a channel loss beyond 140 dB and obtain a secure distance of 833.8 km. Furthermore, the optimized four-phase twin-field protocol and set-up make its secure key rate more than two orders of magnitude greater than previous records over similar distances… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE 1 , Open Access 2
US unveils changes to attract foreign science, tech students
Phys.org January 21, 2022 The Biden administration announced policy changes to attract international students specializing in science, technology, engineering, and math—part of the broader effort to make the U.S. economy more competitive. The State Department will let eligible visiting students in STEM fields complete up to 36 months of academic training. There will also be an initiative to connect these students with U.S. businesses. Homeland Security will add 22 new fields of study—including cloud computing, data visualization and data science. Government data shows that international students are increasingly the lifeblood of academic research. However, U.S. Tech Workers, an advocacy group […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of January 21, 2022
01. Superabsorption unlocks key to next-generation quantum batteries 02. Unexpected energy storage capability where water meets metal surfaces 03. A well-known iron-based magnet is also a potential quantum information material 04. When graphene speaks, scientists can now listen 05. Impossible material made possible inside a graphene sandwich 06. Light could boost performance of fuel cells, lithium batteries and other devices 07. Mini electricity generator made from quantum dots 08. The perfect trap: a new way to control the polarization of light 09. ‘Rivers’ in the sky likely to drench East Asia under climate change 10. Self-organization of complex structures: a […]
Bone growth inspired ‘microrobots’ that can create their own bone
Science Daily January 17, 2022 Combining materials which together resemble the natural process of bone development an international team of researchers (Sweden, Japan) constructed a microrobot which can assume different shapes and change stiffness. They started with a gel material called alginate. On one side of the gel, they grew an electroactive polymer which changes its volume when a low voltage is applied, causing the microrobot to bend in a specified direction. On the other side of the gel, they attached biomolecules, that are important for bone development which allowed the soft gel material to harden. They demonstrated that the […]
Boxing up molecular machines
Nanowerk January 18, 2022 The confinement of molecular machines into nanostructured cages and controlling their functions by external stimuli holds great potential for the creation of smart functional materials that imitate the embodied intelligence of biological processes. An international team of researchers (Germany, South Korea) constructed a remotely controllable supramolecular rotor inside a hollow cube-shaped zinc(II)-metallated porphyrinic cage (Zn-PB) molecule with a linear axle. The addition of a chemical stimulant initiates both rotary motion (rotation of the rotor arm around the axle) and tumbling motion (rotation of the axle) with rotation speeds of 4000 Hz and 1 Hz, respectively. By […]
Dimming The Sun Is a Dangerous Gamble And Should Be Banned, Scientists Warn
Science Alert January 18, 2022 In an open letter more than 60 policy experts and scientists warned that planetary-scale engineering schemes designed to cool Earth’s surface and lessen the impact of global heating are potentially dangerous and should be blocked by governments. According to the signatories there are several reasons to reject such a course of action – artificially dimming the Sun’s radiative force is likely to disrupt monsoon rains in South Asia and western Africa, ravage the rain-fed crops upon which hundreds of millions depend for nourishment, if SRM were terminated for any reason, there is high confidence that surface […]
Earth BioGenome Project begins genome sequencing in earnest
Science Daily January 17, 2022 The Earth BioGenome Project, or EBP was launched in November 2018 to provide a complete DNA sequence catalog of all 1.8 million named species of plants, animals, and fungi as well as eukaryotes. The project functions as an international network of networks, coordinating numerous group-specific, regional, and national-scale efforts. The first two years of the EBP represented the startup phase. The goal for phase 1, through 2023, is to produce reference genomes representing about 9,400 taxonomic families. In addition to the International Scientific Committee, which develops standards for the project, the EBP has also formed […]
Impossible material made possible inside a graphene sandwich
Nanowerk January 20, 2022 So far, only a few dozen 2D crystals have been extracted from materials that exhibit a layered phase in ambient conditions, omitting entirely the large number of layered materials that may exist at other temperatures and pressures. An international team of researchers (Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Belgium, France) synthesized 2D cuprous iodide that was stabilized in a graphene sandwich, as the first example of a material that does not otherwise exist in normal laboratory conditions. It normally only occurs in layered form at elevated temperatures between 645 and 675 K. The synthesis utilizes the large interlayer spacing […]