Science Daily April 14, 2022 Topological qubits are considered to be particularly robust and largely immune to external sources of decoherence and appear to enable fast switching times comparable to those achieved by the conventional superconducting qubits used in current quantum processors. However, it is not yet clear whether we will ever succeed in producing topological qubits as a suitable material basis is still lacking to experimentally generate the special quasiparticles required for this without any doubt. An international team of researchers (Germany, UK, Denmark, the Netherlands) implemented superconducting transmon qubits with (Bi0.06Sb0.94)2Te3 topological insulator. According to the team microwave […]
Light amplification accelerates chemical reactions in aerosols
Science Daily April 14, 2022 Researchers in Switzerland reported that optical confinement could create spatial structuring of the light intensity inside the particle and thereby cause corresponding variations of photochemical rates. They probed single iron(III)–citrate particles using the iron oxidation state as a photochemical marker. Based on the results, they predicted an overall acceleration of photochemical reactions by a factor of two to three for most classes of atmospheric aerosol particles. Rotation of free aerosol particles and intraparticle molecular transport generally accelerate the photochemistry. According to the researchers, given the prevalence of optical confinement effects, their influence on aerosol particle […]
Lasers trigger magnetism in atomically thin quantum materials
Science Daily April 20, 2022 Recently two-dimensional moiré superlattices have emerged as a promising platform for quantum engineering. The power of the moiré system lies in the high tunability of its physical parameters by adjusting the layer twist angle, electrical field, moiré carrier filling and interlayer coupling. An international team of researchers (USA – University of Washington, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Hong Kong, Japan) found that optical excitation can highly tune the spin–spin interactions between moiré-trapped carriers, resulting in ferromagnetic order in WS2 /WSe2 moiré superlattices. Near the filling factor of −1/3, as the excitation power […]
Machine learning identifies antibiotic resistant bacteria that can spread between animals, humans and environment
Phys.org April 20, 2022 An international team of researchers (China, UK) studied antimicrobial resistance gene overlap between E. coli isolates collected from humans, livestock and their shared environments in a large-scale Chinese poultry farm and associated slaughterhouse. By using a computational approach that integrates machine learning, whole-genome sequencing, gene sharing network and mobile genetic elements analysis they characterized the E. coli community structure, antimicrobial resistance phenotypes and the genetic relatedness of non-pathogenic and pathogenic E. coli strains. They uncovered the network of genes, associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR), shared across host species (animals and workers) and environments (farm and slaughterhouse). […]
New method for detecting pre-eruption warning signals at Whakaari White Island and other active volcanoes
Phys.org April 20, 2022 Even with real-time geophysical monitoring, forecasting sudden eruptions is difficult, because their precursors are hard to recognize and can vary between volcanoes. An international team of researchers (New Zealand, Belgium) has described a general seismic precursor signal for gas-driven eruptions, identified through correlation analysis of 18 well-recorded eruptions in New Zealand, Alaska, and Kamchatka. The precursor manifested in the displacement seismic amplitude ratio between medium (4.5–8 Hz) and high (8–16 Hz) frequency tremor bands, exhibited a characteristic rise in the days prior to eruptions. They interpreted this as formation of a hydrothermal seal that enables rapid pressurization of […]
Open sharing of biotechnology research: Transparency versus security
Science Daily April 14, 2022 A team of researchers in the UK examines how open science practices and the risks of misuse interface and proposes solutions to the problems identified. They argue that in the context of viral engineering, open code, data, and materials may increase the risk of the release of enhanced pathogens. Openly available machine learning models could reduce the amount of time needed in the laboratory and make pathogen engineering easier. To prevent the misuse of computational tools, controlling access to software and data may be necessary. They highlight that research preregistration, a practice promoted by the […]
Solar cell also generates electricity from raindrops on rainy days
Nanowerk March 24, 2022 The low efficiency of raindrop energy harvesting is a dominating barrier to the raindrop solar cells in practical applications. An international team of researchers (China, Egypt) has developed a MoO3/top electrode-based triboelectric nanogenerator (MT-TENG) with high rain droplet energy conversion efficiency, integrated with a perovskite solar cell through shared electrodes. The interface electrons between the triboelectric layer and electrode were blocked by the MoO3 layer with high permittivity and wide bandgap, and the MoO3-based TENG (M-TENG) increased the surface charge density. The top electrode structure in the solid–liquid interface increased the output charge by 101.1 times […]
Tonga Islands: A seismic algorithm reveals the magnitude of the January 2022 eruption
Phys.org April 20, 2022 By analyzing the seismic waves researchers in France were able to design an algorithm that can detect and locate a volcanic eruption in near real-time and, using equations that describe explosive eruptions, assess its size. Until now, such an assessment required field work and took several weeks or months, since it was necessary to estimate the volume of ash and lava produced. The authors show that the Hunga Tonga eruption ejected a volume of around 10 km3, making it the largest explosive eruption of the twenty-first century, equivalent in strength to that of the devastating eruption […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of April 15, 2022
01. Scientists find ‘knob’ to control magnetic behavior in quantum material 02. Converting solar energy to electricity on demand 03. A new heat engine with no moving parts is as efficient as a steam turbine 04. In race to build quantum computing hardware, silicon begins to shine 05. Discovery of matter-wave polaritons sheds new light on photonic quantum technologies 06. Intense laser light modifies the pairing of electrons 07. Light-powered microbes are super-producing chemical factories 08. Achieving higher performance with potassium ion battery 09. Quantum teleportation: The express lane for quantum data traffic 10. Researchers create a magnet made of […]
Achieving higher performance with potassium ion battery
Phys.org April 14, 2022 Low temperature aqueous batteries (LT-ABs) have attracted extensive attention in recent years. However, they suffer from electrolyte freezing, slow ionic diffusion and sluggish interfacial redox kinetics at low temperature. In a review article researchers in China discussed the physicochemical properties of aqueous electrolytes in terms of phase diagram, ion diffusion and interfacial redox kinetics to guide the design of low temperature aqueous electrolytes (LT-AEs). They introduced the characteristics of equilibrium and non-equilibrium phase diagrams to analyze the antifreezing mechanisms and propose design strategies for LT-AEs. To understand and regulate the ion diffusion kinetics they reviewed the […]