Phys.org April 9, 2019 In 2016 an international team of researchers (Spain, Poland, USA – Kansas State University, Germany) achieved the required spatial and temporal resolution to take snapshots of molecular dynamics without missing any events. Now the group has observed the structural bending and stretching of the triatomic molecular compound carbon disulphide, CS2. They reported that the ultrafast modifications in the molecular structure are driven by changes in the electronic structure of the molecule. This effect is key for important triatomic molecules such as CS2, since it can determine specific chemical reactions in the Earth’s atmosphere that could, for […]
A novel data-compression technique for faster computer programs
MIT News April 16, 2019 Researchers at MIT have developed a process to compress objects across the memory hierarchy. This reduces memory usage while improving performance and efficiency. Programmers could benefit from this technique when programming in any modern programming language — such as Java, Python, and Go — that stores and manages data in objects, without changing their code. Consumers would see computers that can run much faster or can run many more apps at the same speeds. Because each application consumes less memory, it runs faster, so a device can support more applications within its allotted memory. In […]
Newly devised static negative capacitor could improve computing
Science Daily April 8, 2019 Previously proposed designs for negative capacitors worked on a temporary, transient basis. An international team of researchers (France, Russia, USA Argonne National Laboratory) created a permanent static negative capacitor which works as a steady-state, reversible device. The prime component of the negative capacitor involves a filling made of a ferroelectric material. By splitting a nanoparticle into two equal ferroelectric domains of opposite polarization, separated by a boundary called a domain wall, they were able to minimize the effect of the total depolarizing electric field. They showed that the ferroelectric nanodot capacitor hosts a stable two-domain […]
A New ‘State’ of Matter Can Be Solid And Liquid at The Same Time
Science Alert April 9, 2019 Applying high pressures and temperatures to potassium creates a state in which most of the element’s atoms form a solid lattice structure. Researches in the UK used powerful computer simulations to observe this behaviour of around 20,000 potassium atoms under extreme conditions. When the pressure and temperature are high enough – around 2 to 4 Gigapascals – the potassium atoms arranged themselves in interlinked chains and lattices. The chemical interactions between the lattice atoms are strong, so they remain an ordered solid when a temperature between 400 and 800 Kelvin is applied. But meanwhile, the […]
Heads in the cloud: Scientists predict internet of thoughts ‘within decades’
Nanowerk April 12, 2019 An international team of researchers (USA – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Berkeley, industries, UC San Diego, University of Miami, Duke University, Purdue University, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Canada, Russia, Australia) predicts that exponential progress in nanotechnology, nanomedicine, AI, and computation will lead this century to the development of a “Human Brain/Cloud Interface” (B/CI), that connects neurons and synapses in the brain to vast cloud-computing networks in real time. According to the researchers the B/CI system mediated by neuralnanorobotics could empower individuals with instantaneous access to all cumulative human knowledge available in […]
Graphene coating could help prevent lithium battery fires
Science Daily April 9, 2019 A team of researchers in the US (University of Illinois, Texas A&M, Argonne National Laboratory) has shown that an atomically thin layer of reduced graphene oxide can suppress oxygen release from LixCoO2 particles and improve their structural stability. They showed that the reduction of Co species from the graphene‐coated samples is delayed when compared with bare cathodes, the rGO layers could suppress O2 formation more effectively due to the strong COcathode bond formation at the interface of rGO/LCO where low coordination oxygens exist. This investigation uncovers a reliable approach for hindering the oxygen release reaction […]
The cost of computation
Science Daily April 8, 2019 An international team of researchers (USA – Arizona State University, Santa Fe Institute, Austria) reviews some of the recent work on the ‘stochastic thermodynamics of computation. After reviewing the salient parts of information theory, computer science theory, and stochastic thermodynamics, they summarize what has been learned about the entropic costs of performing a broad range of computations, extending from bit erasure to loop-free circuits to logically reversible circuits to information ratchets to Turing machines. These results reveal new, challenging engineering problems for how to design computers to have minimal thermodynamic costs. They also allow us […]
Biosensor Could Scale New Sensitivity Heights
Optical Society of America News April 4, 2019 An international team of researchers (Switzerland, Australia) combined dielectric metasurfaces and hyperspectral imaging to develop an ultrasensitive label-free analytical platform for biosensing. The technique can acquire spatially resolved spectra from millions of image pixels and use smart data-processing tools to extract high-throughput digital sensing information at the unprecedented level of less than three molecules per μm2. Spectral data retrieval from a single image without using spectrometers enabled paving the way for portable diagnostic applications. This combination of nanophotonics and imaging optics extends the capabilities of dielectric metasurfaces to analyse biological entities and […]
Bionics: Electric view in murky waters
Science Daily April 9, 2019 African Elephantnose fish use two different types of electro-receptors for active electrolocation. One only measures the intensity of the signal, the other the waveform of the pulse. Researchers in Germany showed that the fish uses the ratio of the two readings to identify its prey. This creates “electric colors” analogous to visual colors perceived by the human eye, but through electrical signals instead of visible light. They introduced an image cue, called the ‘electric outline’, which provided information resembling a target’s optical contour. The results indicate that bio-inspired electric imaging principles provide promising cues for […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of April 12, 2019
01. Engineers develop novel techniques to trick object detection systems 02. High-capacity transmission over multi-core fiber link with 19-core optical amplifier 03. Researchers develop way to control speed of light, send it backward 04. Skyrmions could provide next generation data storage 05. A new type of airplane wing that adapts midflight could change air travel 06. Copper-based alternative for next-generation electronics 07. Toward novel computing and fraud detection technologies with on-demand polymers 08. The Transpolar Drift is faltering: Sea ice is now melting before it can leave the nursery 09. Low-bandwidth radar technology provides improved detection of objects 10. Mystery […]