Science Alert March 16, 2020 In 1896, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius explored whether Earth’s temperatures were influenced by the presence of heat-absorbing gases in the atmosphere. He calculated that if carbon dioxide concentrations doubled, global temperatures would rise by 5°C – even more at the poles. According to a team of researchers in Australia the world is on track to fulfilling Arrhenius’ prediction. If we continue the current trajectory, Earth will warm up to 4.8°C above pre-industrial times by 2100. They examine four fronts to battle the climate change: Plant a lot more trees, Turn carbon dioxide into rock, Make […]
Stretchable supercapacitors to power tomorrow’s wearable devices
Phys.org March 19, 2020 A team of researchers in the US (Duke University, Michigan State University, MIT) has demonstrated a robust and high-performance stretchable electrode based on biaxially crumpled Au-coated carbon nanotube forest. It has nearly identical electrochemical performance at different measured charge/discharge rates under different strain conditions and a maximum specific capacitance of ∼6 mF cm−2 at the current density of 40 mA cm−2 under large strains, exhibiting superior mechanical and electrochemical stability. The researchers envision the supercapacitor being part of a power-independent, stretchable, flexible electronic system for applications such as wearable electronics or biomedical devices…read more. Open Access […]
Study shows widely used machine learning methods don’t work as claimed
EurekAlert March 16, 2020 A widely used algorithmic technique for modeling complex networks is to construct a low-dimensional Euclidean embedding of the vertices of the network, where proximity of vertices is interpreted as the likelihood of an edge. A team of researchers in the US (UC Santa Cruz, Google, Stanford University) focused on low degree and large clustering coefficients, which have been widely established to be empirically true for real-world networks. They demonstrated mathematically that significant structural aspects of complex networks are lost in this embedding process and confirmed this result empirically by testing various embedding techniques on different kinds […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of March 13, 2020
01. Flight of the GermFalcon: How a Potential Coronavirus-Killing Airplane Sterilizer Was Born 02. DARPA Races To Create a “Firebreak” Treatment for the Coronavirus 03. ‘Rock-breathing’ bacteria are electron spin doctors, study shows 04. Introducing the light-operated hard drives of tomorrow 05. Super lightweight foam uses sunlight to harvest water from evaporation 06. Engineers crack 58-year-old puzzle on way to quantum breakthrough 07. New Antenna Will Boost UAV Communication with Satellites 08. ‘Spillway’ for electrons could keep lithium metal batteries from catching fire 09. Two-dimensional metals open pathways to new science 10. To make ultra-black materials that won’t weigh things […]
Two-dimensional metals open pathways to new science
Nanowerk March 9, 2020 To make 2D metals key ingredients in next-generation quantum and optoelectronic devices they must be stabilized against environmental degradation and integrated into heterostructure devices at the wafer scale. A team of researchers in the US (Pennsylvania State University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory) has demonstrated large-area, environmentally stable, single-crystal 2D gallium, indium and tin that are stabilized at the interface of epitaxial graphene and silicon carbide. The 2D metals are covalently bonded to SiC below but present a non-bonded interface to the graphene overlayer; that is, they are ‘half van der Waals’ metals […]
An Ambitious Goal: Reducing Biothreats and Making Bioweapons Obsolete
Global Biodefense March 9, 2020 A workshop brought together government, national laboratories, academia, industry, policy and entrepreneur communities to address the challenges of mitigating and eliminating the risks bioweapons present. The report highlights a wide range of considerations that must be addressed. It provides insights on Key technological trends; Raises questions of the data and information access required for rapidly characterizing and responding to biological attacks and outbreaks; Explores market and supply chain dynamics in depth; Points to significant U.S. government capacities that can be used and expanded, including its vast testing and evaluation infrastructure; Highlights the need for coordinated […]
Atomic fingerprint identifies emission sources of uranium
Science Daily March 9, 2020 Isotopic ratios of radioactive releases into the environment are useful signatures for contamination source assessment. A ratio of uranium trace isotopes may serve as a superior oceanographic tracer. An international team of researchers (Austria, Australia, Denmark, Japan, Germany) analysed ratio on the atomic 233U/236U ratio analyzed in representative environmental samples. The ratios detected in compartments of the environment affected by releases of nuclear power production or by weapons fallout differ by one order of magnitude. Significant amounts of 233U were only released in nuclear weapons fallout. This makes the 233U/236U ratio a promising new fingerprint […]
Big Data Helps Taiwan Fight Coronavirus
IEEE Spectrum March 12, 2020 According to an international team of researchers (USA – Stanford University, UCLA, Rand Corporation, Taiwan) Taiwan owes its success largely to the emergency implementation of big data analytics and new technologies. In late January, as the novel coronavirus began spreading through China, computer scientists modeling the outbreak ranked Taiwan the region with the second highest risk of importation of the virus. The island sits just 130 km off the coast of mainland China and shuttles thousands of passengers to and from the mainland daily. But so far Taiwan reports that it has largely mitigated the […]
DARPA Races To Create a “Firebreak” Treatment for the Coronavirus
IEEE Spectrum March 5, 2020 When DARPA launched its Pandemic Preparedness Platform (P3) program two years ago, the pandemic was theoretical. The P3 program’s plan was to start with a new pathogen and to “develop technology to deliver medical countermeasures in under 60 days. The participating teams have proven they can meet this ambitious timeline in previous trials using the influenza and Zika viruses. The DAPRA approach called for employing antibodies, the proteins that our bodies naturally use to fight infectious diseases, which remain in our bodies after an infection. They have built the tools that enable them to screen […]
Engineers crack 58-year-old puzzle on way to quantum breakthrough
Phys.org March 11, 2020 Nuclear spins are featured in early proposals for solid-state quantum computers and demonstrations of quantum search and factoring algorithms. Scaling up such concepts requires controlling individual nuclei which can be detected when coupled to an electron An international team of researchers (Australia, USA – Sandia National Laboratory, Japan) has demonstrated the coherent quantum control of a single 123Sb (spin-7/2) nucleus using localized electric fields produced within a silicon nanoelectronic device. The method exploits an idea proposed in 1961 but not previously realized experimentally with a single nucleus. Their results are quantitatively supported by a microscopic theoretical […]