Global biodefense May 24, 2018 BioWatch currently maintains operational laboratories in approximately 30 jurisdictions across the country. The program must ensure each location is able to perform daily sample collection and analysis in a timely manner and be flexible enough to provide additional coverage for large special security or other high-risk events. The mission of the BioWatch program is to provide and maintain a continuous bio-terrorism air monitoring system in large metropolitan areas and coordinate with state and local public health communities to prepare for and respond to a bioterrorist event… read more. Solicitation
Environmental noise paradoxically preserves the coherence of a quantum system
Phys.org May 30, 2018 Normally dephasing causes decoherence in quantum systems. An international team of researchers (Japan, Germany, USA – University of Buffalo, University of Michigan) shows a scheme of entanglement engineering where pure dephasing assists the generation of quantum entanglement at distant sites in a chain of electron spins confined in semiconductor quantum dots. One party of an entangled spin pair, prepared at a single site, is transferred to the next site and then adiabatically swapped with a third spin using a transition across a multi-level avoided crossing. This process is accelerated by the noise-induced dephasing… read more. Open […]
How can you tell if a quantum memory is really quantum?
Phys.org May 23, 2018 Often it is difficult to tell whether a memory is storing quantum or merely classical information. The new test developed by an international team of researchers (Taiwan, Switzerland, Japan, Canada) uses a semiquantum framework that is very similar to that used in some tests of entanglement. By comparing the relative frequencies of the sent and received signals it is possible to estimate the time-like entanglement and therefore certify that a quantum memory can store quantum information. They showed that the new test is robust against noise and losses, and they expect that it should be possible […]
Inorganic material database ‘AtomWork-Adv’ made available to the public
Nanowerk May 23, 2018 National Institute of Materials Science inorganic materials database, AtomWork-Adv will be provided as a fee-based service starting Monday, May 28, 2018. The database compiles crystal structure data (approx. 274,000 datasets), X-ray diffraction data (approx. 496,000 datasets), material properties data (approx. 298,000 datasets) and phase diagram data (approx. 40,000 datasets) collected from literature published up to 2014. Data will be continuously added to and updated in the fee-based AtomWork-Adv database… read more. The free of charge version data is not updated and functionality is limited.
Magnetic Cloak Without Superconductors
American Physical Society Synopsys May 29, 2018 Magnetic cloaks typically use superconducting materials, which must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures. An international team of researchers (China, Sweden) has built a room-temperature cloak that does not employ superconductors. Such a cloak could be useful in shielding sensitive devices from external magnetic fields. Their cloak consists of a hollow cylinder made of several foils of a high-magnetic-permeability material with copper wires running along the cylinder’s length. When currents pass through the wires shields the interior of the cylinder from external magnetic fields. Experiments demonstrated that the device works at room temperature for […]
Methodology for discovering common principles governing complex systems
Phys.org May 30, 2018 Traditional theories have been used to tackle macroscale or microscale problems, thus dividing scientists into the two camps of holism and reductionism. No matter how much they know about the details of the systems they study and how familiar they are with the behavior of these systems, they know little about the complex structures usually present at the scale between the whole system and its elements. Researchers in China have developed the concept of “mesoscience”—a methodology for discovering common principles governing all such complexity. Over 30 top scientists in various disciples, from the USA, UK, Australia, […]
Moisture-powered electronics
Nanowerk May 24, 2018 An international team of researchers (China, Canada) has developed a moisture energy harvesting device based on strongly hydrophilic TiO2 nanowire networks (TDNNs) containing 3D nanochannels. Electricity is generated from the diffusion of water molecules through the many 3D nanochannels in the TDNN. They have demonstrated that the device can yield an output power density of up to 4 µW cm−2 when exposed to a highly moist environment. The new type of device is successfully used as self‐powered wearable human‐breathing monitors and touch pads… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Scientists discover new magnetic element
Phys.org May 24, s018 A team of researchers in the US (University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, industry) has demonstrated single element ferromagnetism in ruthenium. They observed a saturation magnetization of 148 and 160 emu cm−3 at room temperature and 10 K, respectively. Increasing thickness results in strain relaxation, and thus diluting the magnetization. Anomalous Hall measurements are used to confirm its ferromagnetic behavior. The discovery could be used to improve sensors, devices in the computer memory and logic industry, or other devices using magnetic materials… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Switching with molecules for pioneering electro-optical devices
Science Daily May 24, 2018 An international team of researchers (Germany, Switzerland) developed a method that allowed them to create precise electrical contacts with molecules in strong optical fields and to control them using an applied voltage. At a potential difference of around one volt, the molecule becomes flat, conductive and scatters light. The molecules were arranged on a metal surface and contacted using the corner of a glass fragment with a very thin metal coating as a tip which serves as an electrical contact, light source and light collector, all in one. The researchers used the fragment to direct […]
This Has Got to Be One of The Most Beautiful And Powerful Climate Change Visuals We’ve Ever Seen
Science Alert May 25, 2018 Climate scientist Ed Hawkins has been developing unique ways to make climate change easier for the public to imagine. And his newest project has got to be one of the most beautiful and powerful climate change visuals we’ve ever seen. Starting with dark blue and ending in dark red, Hawkins creates a clear and terrifying translation of global warming using the UK’s Met Office data from 1850 to 2017… read more.