01. Human-machine interfaces work underwater, generate their own power 02. Microbatteries much smaller than a grain of rice for a smart dust future 03. New chip-based beam steering device lays groundwork for smaller, cheaper lidar 04. Protective coating material self-heals in 30 minutes when exposed to sunlight 05. New technology can help combat climate crisis 06. Record-Breaking Experiment Could Solve a Huge Challenge in Quantum Computing 07. Researcher is studying materials whose traits resemble those of the human brain 08. Researchers create the first artificial vision system for both land and water 09. A simple, cheap material for carbon capture, […]
Extinct Pathogens Ushered The Fall of Ancient Civilizations, Scientists Say
Science Alert August 6, 2022 The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis, which was involved in some of the most destructive historical pandemics circulated across Eurasia at least from the onset of the 3rd millennium BCE but the challenging preservation of ancient DNA in warmer climates has restricted evidence from culturally prominent regions such as the Eastern Mediterranean is currently lacking. An international team of researchers (Germany, Greece, USA – Temple University) presented genetic evidence for the presence of Y. pestis and Salmonella enterica, the causative agent of typhoid/enteric fever, from this period of transformation in Crete, detected at the cave site […]
Human-machine interfaces work underwater, generate their own power
Nanowerk August 9, 2022 Skin-integrated electronics that directly interact with machines are transforming our ways of life toward the emerging trend of the metaverse. Researcher at UCLA have developed a stretchable, inexpensive, and waterproof magnetoelastic sensor array as a secondary skin for self-powered human–machine interaction. The sensor array has the giant magnetomechanical coupling layer made up of nanomagnets and a porous silicone rubber matrix, and the magnetic induction layer, which are coils patterned by liquid metal. With programmable functionalities the sensor array can supply different commands by producing bespoke electric signals from human finger touch with an optimal signal-to-noise ratio […]
It’s Literally Raining ‘Forever Chemicals’, And The Storm Could Last For Decades
Science Alert August 5, 2022 An international team of researchers (Sweden, Switzerland) hypothesized that environmental contamination by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) defines a separate planetary boundary and that this boundary has been exceeded. They tested the hypothesis by comparing the levels of four selected perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in various global environmental media (i.e., rainwater, soils, and surface waters) with recently proposed guideline levels. On the basis of the test, the researchers concluded that (1) levels of PFOA and PFOS in rainwater often greatly exceed US EPA Lifetime Drinking Water Health Advisory levels and the sum of the four PFAAs […]
Microbatteries much smaller than a grain of rice for a smart dust future
Nanowerk August 5, 2022 Researchers in Germany have developed an on-chip Swiss-roll current collector made via the micro-origami process and infused it with a MnO2 slurry comprising a zincophilic binder. The zincophilic binder layer enhances zinc ion transportability and suppresses MnO2 dissolution. The MnO2 Swiss-roll microelectrode is used to create an on-chip microbattery with a small electrode footprint area which shows a footprint capacity up to 3.3 mAh cm–2 and has a capacity of more than 1 mAh cm–2 for 150 cycles. According to the researchers the battery stability can be improved to over 600 cycles at a 50% depth […]
New chip-based beam steering device lays groundwork for smaller, cheaper lidar
Phys.org August 4, 2022 A conventional optical phased arrays (OPA) based on a waveguide grating array suffers from strong cross talk between adjacent waveguides when the pitch is a half-wavelength or less. Researchers in Denmark theoretically described and experimentally demonstrated a two-dimensional aliasing-free beam steering regime for an integrated OPA with the entire 180° field of view (FOV). They achieved this by using a half-wavelength-pitch waveguide array combined with a trapezoidal slab grating as a single emitter. The OPA had a low sidelobe level of <−19dB while the beam was steered from −40∘ to +40∘, breaking the trade-off between FOV […]
New drug screening tool to fight the next pandemic
EurekAlert August 9, 2022 Broad-spectrum antivirals, (BSAs) and BSA-containing drug combinations (BCCs) are deemed as immediate therapeutic options that fill the void between virus identification and vaccine development. An international team of researchers (Norway, Estonia) has developed DrugVirus.info 2.0 (https://drugvirus.info), an integrative interactive portal for exploration and analysis of BSAs and BCCs, that greatly expands the database and functionality of DrugVirus.info 1.0 webserver. Through the data portal that now expands the spectrum of BSAs and provides information on BCCs, they developed two modules for (i) interactive analysis of users’ own antiviral drug and combination screening data and their comparison with […]
New information on ‘gigantic jet’ lightning bursts that reach toward space
Phys.org August 8, 2022 Occasionally, lightning will exit the top of a thunderstorm and connect to the lower edge of space, forming a gigantic jet. An international team of researchers (USA – Georgia Institute of Technology, research org., Texas Tech University, University of New Hampshire, Duke University, University of Oklahoma, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Spain) reports on observations of a negative gigantic jet that transferred an extraordinary amount of charge between the troposphere and ionosphere (∼300 C). It occurred in unusual circumstances, emerging from an area of weak convection. As the discharge ascended from the cloud top, tens of very […]
Protective coating material self-heals in 30 minutes when exposed to sunlight
Phys.org August 8, 2022 Previous studies using photothermal dyes were mainly based on inorganic materials that are difficult to apply industrially as the coating material should be transparent. In addition, inorganic materials require a large amount of light energy to produce a photothermal effect. Researchers in South Korea developed a new material by adding a dynamic chemical bond that can repeat the decomposition and recombination of the polymer structure and mixed it with a transparent photothermal dye that can absorb near-infrared light which accounts for less than 10% of midday sunlight. This circumvents excessive increase of the vehicle surface temperature. […]
New technology can help combat climate crisis
Science Daily August 3, 2022 Researchers in the UK developed a chemical process that converts sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into acetate and oxygen to produce high-value fuels and chemicals powered by renewable energy. As part of the process, they grew CO2-fixing acetogenic bacterium Sporomusa ovata on a scalable and cost-effective photocatalyst sheet consisting of a pair of particulate semiconductors. The system effectively produces acetate and oxygen using only sunlight, CO2 and H2O, achieving a solar-to-acetate conversion efficiency of 0.7% at ambient conditions (298 K, 1 atm). The photocatalyst sheet oxidizes water to O2 and provides electrons and hydrogen to S. ovata […]