EurekAlert April 2, 2020 Using the product of data-rate and distance as a general index of transmission capacity, researchers in Japan achieved 351 petabit/s x km, more than doubling the current world record in standard outer diameter optical fibers employing space-division multiplexing. The coupled-core multi-core fiber requires signal processing on the receiving side after transmission, but the signal processing load is less compared to more commonly investigated few-mode fibers. The fiber has the same outer diameter as standard optical fibers which allows converting such a fiber into a cable with existing technologies and equipment, simplifying a timely adoption of coupled-core […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of March 27, 2020
01. An MIT team hopes to publish open-source designs for a low-cost ventilator 02. Graphene underpins a new platform to selectively ID deadly strains of bacteria 03. Solitonics in molecular wires could benefit electronics 04. Creating stretchable thermoelectric generators 05. Novel MOF is potential next-gen semiconductor 06. Special blend of circuits and memristive devices created for brain-mimicking processing systems 07. Here’s a Blueprint for a Practical Quantum Computer 08. Scientists Find Yet Another Way to Get Qubits Working at Room Temperature 09. Study unveils dependence of spin memory loss in a variety of interfaces 10. Towards an unhackable quantum internet […]
ACM launches industry-focused journal on digital threats
EurekAlert March 26, 2020 ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today announced the launch of Digital Threats: Research and Practice (DTRAP), a new peer-reviewed open access journal that targets the prevention, identification, mitigation and elimination of digital threats. As DTRAP seeks to bridge the gap between academic research and industry practice, the new journal is aimed at concrete, rather than theoretical, threats…read more.
Buildings grown by bacteria: New research to turn cells into mini-factories for materials
Phys.org March 24, 2020 Researchers at the university of Colorado have demonstrated that the morphology and nanomechanical properties of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) can be tailored by modulating the precipitation kinetics of ureolytic microorganisms through genetic engineering. They hypothesized that microorganisms genetically engineered for low urease activity would achieve larger calcite crystals with higher moduli. They compared precipitation kinetics, morphology, and nanomechanical properties for biogenic CaCO3 produced by two Escherichia coli (E. coli). Both calcite crystal size and nanoindentation moduli were also significantly higher for the low-urease activity E. coli compared with the high-urease activity E. coli. The relative resistance to […]
COVID-19 needs a Manhattan Project
Science Magazine March 23, 2020 According to the head of GAVI http://www.gavi.org/ there is a strong track record for publicly funded, large-scale scientific endeavors that bring together global expertise and resources toward a common goal. The Manhattan Project brought about nuclear weapons quickly (although with terrible implications for humanity) through an approach that led to countless changes in how scientists from many countries work together. The Human Genome Project and CERN engaged scientists from around the world to drive basic research from their home labs through local and virtual teamwork. Taking this big, coordinated approach to developing a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine […]
Creating stretchable thermoelectric generators
Science Daily March 24, 2020 An international team of researchers (Sweden, USA – California Polytechnic University, New Zealand, Belgium) combined three materials: the conducting polymer PEDOT:PSS, a water-soluble polyurethane rubber, and an ionic liquid resulting in a composite with unique properties. The PEDOT:PSS gives it thermoelectric properties – the rubber provides elasticity, and the ionic liquid ensures softness. The material is 100 times softer and 100 times more stretchable than PEDOT:PSS. It can be printed onto various surfaces. When the surface flexes or folds, the composite follows the motion. The process to manufacture the composite is cheap and environmentally friendly. […]
Forecasting COVID-19’s Trajectory
American Physical Society March 23, 2020 As COVID-19 spreads like wildfire across the globe, politicians must weigh difficult options to mitigate its impact. These decisions are guided by infectious-disease modelers, and physicists are an influential part of the mix. Harnessing today’s computing power, they solve models that capture the probabilistic nature of viral transmission and the dynamics of social behavior, delivering quantitative predictions with ever-increasing accuracy. Network theorists can integrate massive amounts of real data into their models, using publicly available databases on air travel and ground mobility. While it’s impossible to divert an extreme weather event epidemiological tools can […]
Graphene underpins a new platform to selectively ID deadly strains of bacteria
Technology.org March 24, 2020 Point-of-care diagnostics that can reduce and/or prevent unneeded antibiotic prescriptions require highly specific probes with sensitive and accurate transducers that can be miniaturized and multiplexed, and that are easy to operate and cheap. Researchers at Boston College present several advances in the use of graphene field effect transistors (G-FET) including the first use of peptide probes to electrically detect antibiotic resistant bacteria in a highly specific manner. They have reduced the needed concentration for detection by employing dielectrophoresis which allows monitoring changes in the Dirac point due to individual bacterial cells. Rapid binding of bacterial cells […]
Here’s a Blueprint for a Practical Quantum Computer
IEEE Spectrum March 24, 2020 Researchers in the Netherlands have found that the functions needed for a quantum computer can naturally be divided into five such groups, conceptually represented by five layers of control. They are: Application layer, a key part of the overall system; Directly below the application layer is the classical-processing layer, which has three basic functions; Underneath the classical layer are the digital-, analog-, and quantum-processing layers, which together make up a quantum processing unit (QPU). To prepare for these developments, chip designers, chip-fabrication-process engineers, cryogenic-control specialists, experts in mass data handling, quantum-algorithm developers, and others will […]
Novel MOF is potential next-gen semiconductor
Phys.org March 23, 2020 Researchers at Clemson University constructed a novel double-helical MOF (dhMOF) by introducing a new butterfly-shaped electron-rich π-extended tetrathiafulvalene ligand equipped with four benzoate groups (ExTTFTB). To create a charge transport pathway capable of conducting electricity, they diffused iodine vapor into the porous MOF, causing one strand to become electron deficient while the other remained electron rich. Electrical conductivity surged from 10–8 S/m up to 10–4 S/m range after iodine treatment. Thus, the introduction of the electron-rich ExTTFTB ligand afforded a novel double-helical MOF architecture featuring ovoid cavities and unique charge-delocalization pathways and delivered a new tool […]