Nanowerk November 22, 2022 Using a toolkit consisting of numerical models and four microscopy techniques, researchers in Canada evaluated the optical response of frustules belonging to the species Nitzschia filiformis. Localized regions of the frustule exhibited functionalities including diffraction, lensing, waveguiding, circulation, filtering, resonances, and dispersion control. They showed that these functionalities are complementary to each other in contributing to the solar energy harvesting mechanisms of capture, redistribution, and retention. In this context, frustule performance was enhanced by perturbations to its sub-wavelength structure. According to the researchers their finding provides quantitative support to the hypothesis that the frustule enhances photosynthesis […]
Tag Archives: S&T Canada
Penguin feathers may be secret to effective anti-icing technology
Phys.org October 24, 2022 The body feathers of perpetually ice-free penguins are very good natural examples of anti-icing surfaces, which use two different mitigation strategies for the two disparate problems – water adhesion and ice adhesion. Researchers in Canada constructed the form of the feather’s wire-like structure and decorated it with superimposed nanogrooves by laser micromachining fine woven wire cloths. Post-processing techniques also allowed them to isolate the role of surface chemistry by creating both hydrophilic and hydrophobic versions of the synthetic anti-icing surfaces. Their results showed that water-shedding and ice-shedding characteristics are indeed derived from different physical functions of […]
Producing hydrogen from seawater
Phys.org September 13, 2022 The direct electrolysis of seawater is greatly inhibited by the oxidation of Cl– to free chlorine, an undesirable, corrosive byproduct. To suppress the interference of Cl– and any other ion, researchers in Canada developed a freestanding, electrically conducting, 3D macroporous reduced graphene oxide (rGO) scaffold with cobalt oxide particles selectively deposited on the internal walls of its closed pores. The pore walls act as membranes composed of stacked rGO flakes; the nanochannels between rGO layers are permeable to water and gases while preventing the diffusion of dissolved ions such as Cl–. Due to this, the catalytic […]
Researchers find the missing photonic link to enable an all-silicon quantum internet
Phys.org July 13, 2022 The global quantum internet will require long-lived, telecommunications-band photon–matter interfaces manufactured at scale. Preliminary quantum networks based on photon–matter interfaces that meet a subset of these demands are encouraging efforts to identify new high-performance alternatives. Silicon is an ideal host for commercial-scale solid-state quantum technologies. It is already an advanced platform within the global integrated photonics and microelectronics industries, as well as host to record-setting long-lived spin qubits. Despite the overwhelming potential of the silicon quantum platform, the optical detection of individually addressable photon–spin interfaces in silicon have remained elusive. In their work researchers in Canada […]
Review suggests current global efforts are insufficient to limit warming to 1.5°C
Phys.org June 24, 2022 According to researchers in Canada human activities have caused global temperatures to increase by 1.25°C, and the current emissions trajectory suggests that we will exceed 1.5°C in less than 10 years. Though the growth rate of global carbon dioxide emissions has slowed, and many countries have strengthened their emissions targets, current midcentury net zero goals are insufficient to limit global warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial temperatures. The primary barriers to the achievement of a 1.5°C-compatible pathway are not geophysical but rather reflect inertia in our political and technological systems. Both political and corporate leadership are needed […]
Riding a laser to Mars
Phys.org February 8, 2022 Responding a NASA solicitation to send a sagecraft to Mars using laser, researchers in Canada are exploring laser-thermal propulsion. An Earth-based laser array of 10 m diameter and power 100 MW would be able to deliver laser power to spacecraft in cislunar space, where the incident laser is focused into a hydrogen heating chamber via an inflatable reflector. The hydrogen propellant is then exhausted through a nozzle to realize specific impulses of 3000 s. The architecture is shown to be immediately reusable via a burn-back maneuver to return the propulsion unit while still within range of […]
Chemists use DNA to build the world’s tiniest antenna
Nanowerk January 10, 2022 Understanding the relationship between protein structural dynamics and function is crucial for both basic research and biotechnology. However, methods for studying the fast dynamics of structural changes are limited. Researchers in Canada have developed fluorescent nanoantennas as a spectroscopic technique to sense and report protein conformational changes through noncovalent dye-protein interactions. Using experiments and molecular simulations, they detected and characterized five distinct conformational states of intestinal alkaline phosphatase, including the transient enzyme–substrate complex. They explored the universality of the nanoantenna strategy with another model protein, Protein G and its interaction with antibodies, and demonstrated a rapid […]
Nature’s strongest glue now works in both wet and salty environments
Phys.org October 27, 2021 An aquatic bacterium called Caulobacter crescentus produces an extremely powerful glue called “holdfast,” which adheres to its surrounding wet surfaces, such as pipes and fresh water. To improve holdfast adhesion in high salinity environments researchers in Canada compared Caulobacter crescentus with a marine relative called Hirschia baltica. They found both had the same genes to synthesize holdfast indicating they used the same type of glue. Hirschia baltica holdfast also appeared to perform very well in a saline environment, which is its natural environment. By manipulating the level of expression of a particular gene whose function is […]
Researchers discover unique ‘spider web’ mechanism that traps, kills viruses
Phys.org June 29, 2021 Injectable vaccines are designed to bolster antibodies in the blood, but those antibodies are not as prevalent at the sites where infection begins. Researchers in Canada found that neutrophils, the most abundant white blood cells in the human body, explode when they bind to pathogens coated in antibodies and release DNA outside of the cell, creating a sticky tangle which acts as a trap. Mechanisms that can stop the infection at the site where it enters our body can prevent the spread and serious complications. According to the researchers we should be thinking carefully about next […]
Automated next generation sequencing platform can accurately screen thousands for COVID-19
EurekAlert March 3, 2021 Researchers in Canada have developed a multiplexed, scalable, readily automated platform “Systematic Parallel Analysis of RNA coupled to Sequencing for Covid-19 screening” (C19-SPAR-Seq), for SARS-CoV-2 detection that can analyze tens of thousands of patient samples in a single run. To address strict requirements for control of assay parameters and output demanded by clinical diagnostics, they employed a control-based Precision-Recall and Receiver Operator Characteristics (coPR) analysis to assign run-specific quality control metrics. C19-SPAR-Seq coupled to coPR on a trial cohort of several hundred patients performed with a specificity of 100% and sensitivity of 91% on samples with […]