Phys.org June 6, 2023 Various high-efficiency caloric cooling techniques meet the goal of developing zero–global warming potential refrigerants but scaling them up to technologically meaningful performance remains challenging. Caloric cooling is a different strategy that instead relies on moving solids through a phase transition. Researchers at the University of Maryland developed an elastocaloric cooling device that compresses fatigue-resistant bundles of nickel–titanium tubes to obtain an attractive cooling power and maximum temperature difference. Their cooling system has a maximum cooling power of 260 watts and a maximum temperature span of 22.5 kelvin. Its key feature is the compression of fatigue-resistant elastocaloric […]
EU council’s ‘no pay’ publishing model draws mixed response
Nature June 2, 2023 The Council of the European Union has recommended a ‘no pay’ academic-publishing model in which neither readers nor authors are billed for academic papers. The recommendations, part of a set of principles on scholarly publishing adopted by the council, are not legally binding and have been welcomed by some members of the academic community. Critics say that the plan could usher in a state-defined system that might stymie academic freedom and abolish an industry without considering who would pay for the alternative. Supporters, such as the German Research Federation, say the principles would lower the barriers […]
Examining morality and competition in science
Phys.org May 31, 2023 A potential source of ambivalent empirical results on the same hypothesis is design heterogeneity—variation in true effect sizes across various reasonable experimental research protocols. An international team of researchers led by Austria invited independent research teams to contribute experimental designs to a crowd-sourced project. In a large-scale online data collection, 18,123 experimental participants were randomly allocated to 45 randomly selected experimental designs out of 95 submitted designs. They found a small adverse effect of competition on moral behavior in a meta-analysis of the pooled data. The crowd-sourced design of their study allowed for a clean identification […]
Landmark study finds that the shape of the brain influences the way it works
Science Daily May 31, 2023 The classical and dominant paradigm in neuroscience is that neuronal dynamics are driven by interactions between discrete, functionally specialized cell populations connected by a complex array of axonal fibres. However, predictions from neural field theory, an established mathematical framework for modelling large-scale brain activity, suggest that the geometry of the brain may represent a more fundamental constraint on dynamics than complex interregional connectivity. An international team of researchers (Australia, the Netherlands) confirmed these theoretical predictions by analysing human magnetic resonance imaging data acquired under spontaneous and diverse task-evoked conditions. They showed that cortical and subcortical […]
Optical memristors review: Shining a light on neuromorphic computing
Phys.org June 5, 2023 In recent years, the ability to vary the conductance of a channel in electronics has enabled in-memory computing, thus leading to substantial interest in memristors. An international team of researchers (USA – University of Pittsburg, University of Maryland, Germany, UK) reviewed recent progress in this important and emerging aspect of photonic integrated circuits and provided an overview of the current state of the art. They shed light on the evolution of this technology—and the work that still needs to be done for it to reach its full potential. They have provided a comprehensive overview of recent […]
Researchers demonstrate secure information transfer using spatial correlations in quantum entangled beams of light
Phys.org June 5, 2023 The ability to use the temporal and spatial degrees of freedom of quantum states of light to encode and transmit information is crucial for a robust and efficient quantum network. However, the potential offered by the large dimensionality of the spatial degree of freedom remains unfulfilled, as the necessary level of control required to encode information remains elusive. Researchers at the University of Oklahoma encoded information in the distribution of the spatial correlations of entangled twin beams by taking advantage of their dependence on the angular spectrum of the pump needed for four-wave mixing. They showed […]
Researchers find a way to reduce the overheating of semiconductor devices
Science Daily June 1, 2023 Researchers in South Korea experimentally demonstrated boosted in-plane thermal conduction by surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating along a thin Ti film on a glass substrate. Due to the lossy nature of metal, SPPs could propagate over centimeter-scale distances even along a supported metal film, and the resulting ballistic heat conduction could be quantitatively validated. For a 100-nm-thick Ti film on a glass substrate, a significant enhancement of in-plane thermal conductivity compared to bulk value (∼25%) was experimentally shown. According to the researchers their work will provide a new avenue to employ SPPs for heat dissipation […]
Revolutionizing optical control with topological edge states
Phys.org June 6, 2023 It is highly desirable to be able to control topological edge states (TES) transport in photonic implementations. Enhancing the coupling between the TESs in a finite-size optical lattice can exchange light energy between the boundaries of a topological lattice, hence facilitating the flexible control of TES transport. However, existing strategies have paid little attention to enhancing the coupling effects between the TESs through the finite-size effect. Researchers in China established a bridge linking the interaction between the TESs in a finite-size optical lattice using the Landau–Zener model to provide an alternative way to modulate/control the transport […]
Six tips for better coding with ChatGPT
Nature (Nature feature article) June 5, 2023 Artificial intelligence chatbots, such as ChatGPT, have impressive abilities. Yet for all their apparent sentience, chatbots are not intelligent — and they must be used with caution. Researchers who have become adept with the tool offer advice for scientists on how to avoid the pitfalls – “treat this AI as a summer intern” — hard-working and eager to please, but also inexperienced and error-prone. In short, ChatGPT and related tools based on large language models (LLMs), which include Microsoft Bing and GitHub Copilot, are incredibly powerful programming aids, but must be used with […]
Unveiling the nanoscale frontier: Innovating with nanoporous model electrodes
Phys.org June 2, 2023 Researchers in Japan have fabricated the next-generation membrane electrodes for fundamental electrochemical research of amorphous-based porous carbon materials by the uniform carbon coating of anodic aluminum oxide formed on an Al substrate and free from a barrier layer. The conformally carbon-coated layer formed vertically aligned giant carbon nanotubes, and their walls comprised low-crystalline stacked graphene sheets. The diameter and the length of the nanopores could be tuned over a broad range of between 10 to 200 nm and 2 to 90 µm, respectively. Unlike composite electrodes made from other ordered nanoporous carbons, this model electrode exhibited […]