Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of September 13, 2024
01. Researchers make sound waves travel in one direction only, with implications for electromagnetic wave technology
02. Atoms on the edge
03. Dozens of viruses detected in Chinese fur farm animals
04. Composite plastic degrades easily with bacteria, offers environmental benefits
05. Extreme weather to strengthen rapidly over next two decades, research suggests
06. Molecular simulations and supercomputing shed light on energy-saving biomaterials
07. Sweeping global study charts a path forward for climate-resilient agriculture
08. New quantum error correction method uses ‘many-hypercube codes’ while exhibiting beautiful geometry
09. Scientists uncover hidden source of snow melt: Dark brown carbon
10. Optoelectronic diamond device reveals an unexpected phenomenon reminiscent of lightning in slow motion
And others
Novel glass-forming liquid electrolyte shows glass transition across broad range
The case for adding iron to the ocean for carbon dioxide removal
Electrically modulated light antenna points the way to faster computer chips
Moderna mRNA mpox vaccine shows promise in animal study
New filter removes chemical contaminants from water even at very low concentrations
Atoms on the edge
MIT News September 6, 2024
The chiral edge modes lie at the heart of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects, and their robustness against noise and disorder reflects the quantization of Hall conductivity in these systems. Despite their importance, the controllable injection of edge modes, and direct imaging of their propagation, structure and dynamics, remains challenging. Researchers at MIT demonstrated the distillation of chiral edge modes in a rapidly rotating bosonic superfluid confined by an optical boundary. By tuning the wall sharpness they revealed the smooth crossover between soft wall behaviour in which the propagation speed was proportional to wall steepness and the hard wall regime that exhibited chiral free particles. From the skipping motion of atoms along the boundary they inferred the energy gap between the ground and first excited edge bands, and revealed its evolution from the bulk Landau level splitting for a soft boundary to the hard wall limit. They also demonstrated the robustness of edge propagation against disorder… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
The case for adding iron to the ocean for carbon dioxide removal
Phys.org September 9, 2024
An international team of researcher (US – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, UCLA, University of Maine, University of Hawaii, University of Southern California, American University, UC Santa Barbara, San José State University, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, UC Santa Cruz, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Columbia University, Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea) developed a set of activities, and a unit called centennial tonne (1,000 kg) to measure ocean iron fertilization (OIF). The conducted Field studies in the Northeast Pacific; Improved modeling for field studies, Data assimilation; Predictions at larger scales; Improvements in Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) for C, and MRV for tracking ecological and environmental impacts; and developing new iron sources and their delivery, to increase efficiencies and reduce costs. According to the researchers OIF has the potential to be low cost, scalable, and rapidly deployable… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Composite plastic degrades easily with bacteria, offers environmental benefits
Phys.org September 5, 2024
Researchers in Israel fabricated a biodegradable composite material based on hydroxyethyl cellulose polymer and tyrosine nanocrystals, which demonstrated enhanced strength and ductility superior to most biodegradable plastics. This emergent behavior resulted from an assembly pattern that led to a uniform nanoscale morphology and strong interactions between the components. Water-resistant biodegradable composites encapsulated with hydrophobic polycaprolactone as a protection layer were also fabricated. According to the researchers self-assembly of robust sustainable plastics with emergent properties by using readily available building blocks provides a valuable toolbox for creating sustainable materials… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Dozens of viruses detected in Chinese fur farm animals
Phys.org September 4, 2024
An international team of researchers (China, Belgium, Sweden, Australia, USA – UCLA) performed single-sample metatranscriptomic sequencing of internal tissues from 461 individual fur animals that were found dead due to disease. They characterized 125 virus species, including 36 that were novel and 39 at potentially high risk of cross-species transmission, including zoonotic spillover. They identified seven species of coronaviruses, and documented the cross-species transmission of a novel canine respiratory coronavirus to raccoon dogs and bat coronaviruses to mink, present at a high abundance in lung tissues. Three subtypes of influenza A virus—H1N2, H5N6 and H6N2—were detected in the lungs of guinea pig, mink and muskrat. Multiple known zoonotic viruses were detected in guinea pigs. These data also reveal potential virus transmission between farm animals and wild animals, and from humans to farm animals, indicating that fur farming represents an important transmission hub for viral zoonoses… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Electrically modulated light antenna points the way to faster computer chips
Phys.org September 9, 2024
Because of the quantum nature of electrons, real interfaces have finite thickness, leading to nonclassical surface effects that influence light scattering in small particles. Electrical gating offers a promising route to control and study these effects, as static screening charges reside at the boundary. An international team of researchers (Germany, Denmark) investigated the modulation of the surface response upon direct electrical charging of single plasmonic nanoresonators. By analyzing measured changes in light scattering within the framework of surface response functions, they found the resonance shift well accounted for by modulation of the classical in-plane surface current. Change in the resonance width, indicated reduced losses for negatively charged resonators. This effect was attributed to a nonclassical out-of-plane surface response, extending beyond pure spill-out effects. According to the researchers their experiments paved the way for electrically driven plasmonic modulators and metasurfaces, leveraging control over nonclassical surface effects… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Extreme weather to strengthen rapidly over next two decades, research suggests
Phys.org September 2024
While the magnitude of changes in mean and extreme climate are broadly studied, regional rates of change, a key driver of climate risk, have received less attention. Using large ensembles of climate model simulations an international team of researchers (Norway, UK) showed that nearly three quarters of the global population can expect strong and rapid changes in extreme temperatures and rainfall in the next 20 years unless greenhouse gas emissions are cut dramatically. Their research showed that 20% of the population could face extreme weather risks if emissions are cut enough to reach the aims of the Paris Agreement, compared to 70% if limited action is taken. However, internal variability is high for 20 year trends. They found that rapid clean-up of aerosol emissions, mostly over Asia, leads to accelerated co-located increases in warm extremes and influences the Asian summer monsoons… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Moderna mRNA mpox vaccine shows promise in animal study
Phys.org September 4, 2024
In 2022, mpox virus (MPXV) spread worldwide, causing 99,581 mpox cases in 121 countries. Modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine use reduced disease in at-risk populations but failed to deliver complete protection. Lag in manufacturing and distribution of MVA resulted in additional MPXV spread, and an additional outbreak in Central Africa of clade I virus. A team of researchers in the US (United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, industry, NIH, Boston University) tested mRNA-1769, an mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) vaccine expressing MPXV surface proteins, in a lethal MPXV primate model. Similar to MVA, mRNA-1769 conferred protection against challenge and further mitigated symptoms and disease duration. mRNA-1769 enhanced viral control and disease attenuation compared with MVA, highlighting the potential for mRNA vaccines to mitigate future pandemic threats… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Molecular simulations and supercomputing shed light on energy-saving biomaterials
Phys.org September 6, 2024
Nanocellulose from biomass is promising for manufacturing sustainable composite biomaterials and bioplastics. However, obtaining nanocellulose at pilot scale requires energy-intensive fibrillation to shear cellulose fibers apart into nano-dimensional forms in water. To reduce the energy consumption in fibrillation a team of researchers in the US (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Maine) found that aqueous NaOH:urea (0.007:0.012 wt.%) reduced the fibrillation energy by ~21% on average relative to water alone. The NaOH and urea acted synergistically on CNFs to aid fibrillation but at different length scales. According to the researchers their work suggested a general mechanism in which an aqueous medium that contains a strong base and a small organic molecule acting as a hydrogen-bond acceptor and/or donor may be effectively employed in materials processes where dispersion of deprotonable polymers was required… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
New filter removes chemical contaminants from water even at very low concentrations
Phys.org September 5, 2024
The wide presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in water is a major pollution concern even at the part per billion level. Current research emphasizes the use of microporous materials as adsorbents for pollutant removal but demonstrates the performance at a higher concentration than realistic environmental water due to the absence of efficient detection methods that can be coupled with the removal process. An international team of researchers (Japan, USA – University of Notre Dame) developed a pore-networked membrane (PNM) that could simultaneously remove and detect targeted trace-level PPCPs. The PNMs were designed by interconnecting adsorbents within polymer matrices, forming continuous, tunable porous networks that were accessible for PPCPs, thereby offering high selectivity and adsorption capacity. Evaluations across water samples containing 13 pollutants demonstrated the capability of PNMs to selectively adsorb PPCPs for removal and subsequently release them into analysis solution for detection. According to the researchers their design could be used in water treatment workflow… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE