Phys.org June 14, 2021 Researchers in Australia have demonstrated that the zero thermal expansion material made of scandium, aluminum, tungsten, and oxygen did not change in volume from 4 to 1400 Kelvin (-269 to 1126 °Celsius). They confirmed the structural stability of Sc1.5Al0.5W3O12 with only minute changes to the bonds, position of oxygen atoms and rotations of the atom arrangements which appear to be undertaken cooperatively. The crystallographic data from the diffraction experiments reflects the combination of subtle but observable distortions of the polyhedral units, bond lengths, angles and oxygen atoms that allow the material to absorb temperature changes. It […]
Predicting the evolution of a pandemic
Phys.org June 15, 2021 An international team of researchers (Kuwait, USA – NIST, Saudi Arabia) has developed a susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered model (SEIR) with a vaccination compartment proposed to simulate theCOVID-19 spread in Saudi Arabia. The model considers seven stages of infection: susceptible (S), exposed (E), infectious (I), quarantined (Q), recovered (R), deaths (D), and vaccinated (V). As numerical models can be subject to various sources of uncertainties, they used the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) to constrain the model outputs and its parameters with available data. They conducted joint state-parameters estimation experiments assimilating daily data into the proposed model using the EnKF […]
Researchers uncover unique properties of a promising new superconductor
Science Daily June 16, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Minnesota, Pennsylvania State University, Cornell University, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, China, Switzerland) found that Niobium diselenide (NbSe2) in 2D form is a more resilient superconductor because it has a two-fold symmetry, which is very different from thicker samples of the same material. Despite the six-fold structure, it only showed two-fold behavior in the experiment. They attributed the newly discovered two-fold rotational symmetry of the superconducting state in NbSe2 to the mixing between two closely competing types of superconductivity, namely the conventional s-wave type — typical of […]
Scientists demonstrate perfect light absorption by single nanoparticle
Nanowerk June 15, 2021 Previously researchers succeeded in demonstrating the phenomenon of perfect absorption in large bodies of matter that were several times the size of a light beam. But the question remained unsolved was – whether the same was possible for miniature objects. An international team of researchers (Russia, Sweden) calculated the properties of a small object that could completely absorb all incidental light. They succeeded in reducing this complex analytical task to a simpler one – a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. Having solved it, they found the ideal combination of particle and light properties that […]
Scientists make highly maneuverable miniature robots controlled by magnetic fields
EurekAlert June 14, 2021 Researchers in Singapore created miniature robots by embedding magnetic microparticles into biocompatible polymers which are ‘programmed’ to execute their desired functionalities when magnetic fields are applied. They discovered the third and final principal vector of the magnetic fields, which is critical for controlling such machines. The robots have six degrees of freedom, rotate 43 times faster and they can be made with ‘soft’ materials hence replicate important mechanical qualities, ability to grip and precisely pick and place miniature objects. Other features include the remote control, ability to swim through barriers, and assemble structures, precise orientation control, […]
UNESCO report calls for investments in science in the face of growing crises
Phys.org June 11, 2021 Spending on science worldwide increased (+19 percent) between 2014 and 2018, as did the number of scientists (+13.7 percent). This trend has been further boosted by the COVID crisis, according to UNESCO’s new science report, UNESCO Science Report – The Race against Time for Smarter Development. But these figures hide significant disparities: Just two countries, the United States and China, account for nearly two-thirds of this increase (63 percent) while 4 out of 5 countries lag far behind, investing less than 1 percent of their GDP in scientific research. The scientific landscape thus remains largely a […]
Using ‘smart rust’ to mark objects unambiguously and tackle counterfeiting
Nanowerk June 16, 2021 An object can be recycled responsibly only if all raw materials and intermediate products used for manufacturing it is marked unambiguously using a tamper-proof method. Inspired by the variation of a musical ensemble yielding distinguishable overtones, researchers in Germany have developed a magnetic particle-based toolbox that provides more than 77 billion different magnetic codes, adjustable in one single particle, that can be read out unambiguously, easily, and quickly. The variation of the supraparticle composition alters their magnetic overtones. By minimizing magnetic interactions, customizable signals are spectrally decoded by the simple method of magnetic particle spectroscopy. The […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of June 11, 2021
01. Quantum holds the key to secure conference calls 02. A quantum step to a heat switch with no moving parts 03. Novel materials: Sound waves traveling backwards 04. Researchers create quantum microscope that can see the impossible 05. Researchers realize unconventional coherent control of solid-state spin qubits 06. Ultra-high-density hard drives made with graphene ‘overcoats’ store ten times more data 07. Scientists develop the ‘evotype’ to unlock power of evolution for better engineering biology 08. Researchers create intelligent electronic microsystems from ‘green’ material 09. Lead halide perovskites – a horse of a different color 10. Online ‘library of properties’ […]
Agreement brings Soldiers, academia together to solve military challenges
EurekAlert June 8, 2021 Under a new Congressional initiative called the Catalyst-Pathfinder program the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command partners with the XVIII Airborne Corps to create close working relationships between Soldiers and universities to solve military challenges. The goal is to harness the creativity and technical skills of academic institutions and help the Army to quickly create better solutions to real problems. Catalyst frames Soldier problems in a manner suitable for academia to identify research and emerging technologies to solve them. Pathfinder executes pilot programs, rapidly accelerating the delivery of technologies to address complex Army problems. Universities in […]
Bacteria-sized robots take on microplastics and win by breaking them down
EurekAlert June 9, 2021 Currently sunlight-driven photocatalysis is the most energy-efficient strategy for plastic degradation; however, attaining efficient photocatalyst–plastic interaction and thus an effective charge transfer in the micro/nanoscale is very difficult. As a proof of concept a team of researchers in the Czech Republic introduced an active photocatalytic degradation procedure based on intelligent visible-light-driven microrobots with the capability of capturing and degrading microplastics “on-the-fly” in a complex multichannel maze. The robots with hybrid powers carry built-in photocatalytic (BiVO4) and magnetic (Fe3O4) materials allowing a self-propelled motion under sunlight with the possibility of precise actuation under a magnetic field inside […]