01. Camouflage made of quantum material could hide you from infrared cameras 02. Heat energy leaps through empty space, thanks to quantum weirdness 03. New photonics breakthrough 04. Scientists harvest energy from light using bio-inspired artificial cells 05. A self-cleaning surface that repels even the deadliest superbugs 06. New system transmits high-speed unrepeated signal over 520 kilometers 07. A soft robotic insect that survives being flattened by a fly swatter 08. Finding a killer electron hot spot in Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts 09. Updated World Magnetic Model shows magnetic north pole continuing to push toward Siberia 10. Fukushima: Lessons […]
An engine for game-changing innovation
MIT News December 13, 2019 In 2016, MIT launched The Engine as a new way to fund and support Boston-area entrepreneurs who are using transformative technologies to address the world’s most pressing problems. A core tenet of The Engine’s mission is to turn technical pioneers into leaders. Its emphasis on community and networking is also reflected in the Tough Tech Summit it hosts each year. The Engine provides “patient” funding, mentoring, work and lab space, specialized equipment, and an extensive network to entrepreneurs working on transformative technologies. In the three years since its inception, The Engine has invested in 20 […]
Camouflage made of quantum material could hide you from infrared cameras
Phys.org December 17, 2019 For most solids, the thermally emitted power increases monotonically with temperature in a one-to-one relationship that enables applications such as infrared imaging and noncontact thermometry. A team of researchers in the US (University of Wisconsin, Harvard University, Purdue University, MIT, Brookhaven National Laboratory) has shown that ultrathin samarium nickel oxide undergoes a fully reversible, temperature-driven solid-state phase transition. Its smooth transition enabled them to engineer the temperature dependence of emissivity to precisely cancel out the intrinsic blackbody profile for both heating and cooling. The design results in temperature-independent thermally emitted power within the long-wave atmospheric transparency […]
Finding a killer electron hot spot in Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts
Science Daily December 13, 2019 Scientists have known that electrons in Van Allen radiation belts that interact with ultralow frequency plasma waves accelerate to reach the speed of light. However, it has not been clear when or where these killer electrons start to accelerate. To gain more insight about the electrons an international team of researchers (Japan, USA – industry, University of Iowa, Russia) analyzed data generated on March 30, 2017, by the Arase satellite and Van Allen Probe. On one side of the Earth, the Van Allen Probe identified characteristic signs of an interaction between ultralow frequency waves and […]
Heat energy leaps through empty space, thanks to quantum weirdness
Phys.org December 11, 2019 Recent theory has predicted that quantum fluctuations of electromagnetic fields could induce phonon coupling across a vacuum and thereby facilitate heat transfer. Researchers at UC Berkeley experimentally demonstrated heat transfer induced by quantum fluctuations between two objects separated by a vacuum gap. They used nanomechanical systems to realize strong phonon coupling through vacuum fluctuations and observed the exchange of thermal energy between individual phonon modes. The experimental observation agrees well with their theoretical calculations and is unambiguously distinguished from other effects such as near-field radiation and electrostatic interaction…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Fukushima: Lessons learned from an extraordinary case of soil decontamination
Science Daily December 12, 2019 After the Japanese authorities completed decontaminating of most of the affected area an international team of researchers (France, Canada, Japan) provided an overview of the decontamination strategies used and their effectiveness from approximately sixty scientific publications, with a focus on radiocesium. Radioactive cesium has a half-life of 30 years, it constitutes the highest risk to the local population in the medium and long term, as it can be estimated that in the absence of decontamination it will remain in the environment for around three centuries. In cultivated areas within the special decontamination zone, residential areas […]
IBM Reveals “Staggering” New Battery Tech, Withholds Technical Details
IEEE Spectrum December 19, 2019 IBM has developed a new battery for EVs, consumer devices, and electric grid storage that it says could be built from minerals and compounds found in seawater. The battery is also touted as being non-flammable and in initial lab tests, the battery demonstrated hundreds to thousands of cycles with 80 percent retention of its original capacity. According to the researchers they could develop a commercial product for limited applications (e.g. portable power tools) within one to two years. They believe the electrolyte chemistry can be tweaked enough to make it competitive as a grid energy […]
Mathematicians propose new design for wireless nanosensory networks
Phys.org December 17, 2019 An international team of researchers (Finland, Russia) has developed a new method for collecting data from passive wireless nanosensors using devices which can measure the parameters of objects and convert them into a signal. They use microscopic nanoelements and do not have an integral battery pack. They do not require any maintenance, have a long service life and low cost. Mathematicians have modeled an experiment with gateways, which are made on the basis of unmanned aircraft. THz frequency range is used for the wireless energy transfer to nanodevices as well as for communication with them. The […]
Mind the gap – new wide-bandgap topological insulator
Nanowerk December 17, 2019 To construct electronic devices with low-energy consumption the low-dissipation surface states of topological insulators (TIs) are widely employed. But practical applications of TIs have been severely limited by the small electronic bandgaps in most known materials. To achieve stability researchers in Australia used a scheme based on co-substitution of sulphur balanced by a small amount of larger vanadium and tin ions resulting the complex material Vx:Bi1.08-xSn0.02Sb0.9Te2S. They demonstrated that the surface dominant transport behavior can survive above 50 K. The robust surface states in V doped single crystal systems provide an ideal platform to study the Dirac […]
New photonics breakthrough
Science Daily December 13, 2019 An international team of researchers (USA – City College of New York, Russia) has shown that long-range interactions in the metamaterial changes the common behavior of light waves forcing them to localize in space. The study shows that by controlling the degree of such interactions one can switch between trapped and extended (propagating) character of optical waves. The new approach to trap light allows the design of new types of optical resonators, which may have significant impact on antennas in smartphones and Wi-Fi routers, and optical chips in optoelectronics used for transferring data over the […]