Latest science news in Physics & Chemistry
Ultra-thin sail could speed journey to other star systems
A tiny sail made of the thinnest material known—one carbon-atom-thick graphene—has passed initial tests designed to show that it could be a viable material to make solar sails for spacecraft.
Coronavirus is going to make film shoots more expensive. Here's how
New production standards for reducing COVID-19 risks may add as much as $1 million to a movie's budget, insiders say. And that's just the start.
Detecting individual nuclear spins in single rare-earth ions hosted in crystals
Rare-earth minerals are a class of materials with similar properties that are currently used to build a variety of devices, including LEDs, rechargeable batteries, magnets, lasers, and much more. These...
Superconductors with 'zeitgeist' -- When materials differentiate between past and future
Physicists have discovered spontaneous static magnetic fields with broken time-reversal symmetry in a class of iron-based superconductors. This exceptional property calls for new theoretical models and may become important in...
Research takes electrons for a spin in moving toward more efficient, higher density data storage
Researchers have demonstrated a new mechanism involving electron motion in magnetic materials that points to new ways to potentially enhance data storage.
Terahertz radiation: New material acts as an efficient frequency multiplier
Higher frequencies mean faster data transfer and more powerful processors. Technically, however, it is anything but easy to keep increasing clock rates and radio frequencies. New materials could solve the...
Researchers propose a perfect novel optical vortex with controllable impulse ring profile
An optical vortex is identified as a phase singularity encircled with helical wavefront, and thanks to its unique properties, including carried orbital angular momentum (OAM) associated with donut-shaped profiles, it...
Scientists lead development of novel acoustofluidic technology that isolates submicron particles
Acoustofluidics is the fusion of acoustics and fluid mechanics that provides a contact-free, rapid and effective manipulation of fluids and suspended particles. The applied acoustic wave can produce a non-zero...
Team in Germany observes Pauli crystals for the first time
A team of researchers at Heidelberg University has succeeded in building an apparatus that allowed them to observe Pauli crystals for the first time. They have written a paper describing...
New setup for high-throughput electrical measurements of quantum materials and devices
QuTech, a collaboration between TU Delft and TNO, has demonstrated a novel setup for fast turnaround testing and validation of quantum materials and devices. The setup uses ordinary electronic chip...
Electrons break rotational symmetry in exotic low-temp superconductor
Scientists have discovered that the transport of electronic charge in a metallic superconductor containing strontium, ruthenium, and oxygen breaks the rotational symmetry of the underlying crystal lattice. The strontium ruthenate...
Metal coordination enables high-temperature, creep-resistant polyimine vitrimer preparation
The Bio-based Polymers Group at the Ningbo Institute of Materials and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has developed polyimine vitrimers with significantly enhanced creep resistance and...
Efficient, 'green' quantum-dot solar cells exploit defects
Novel quantum dot solar cells match the efficiency of existing quantum-dot based devices, but without lead or other toxic elements that most solar cells of this type rely on.
President Emmanuel Macron loses absolute majority in French Assembly
French President Emmanuel Macron's ruling La Republique en Marche party lost is absolute majority in the National Assembly on Tuesday with the official creation of new left-wing grouping.
How animals sense Earth's magnetic field
The secrets behind magnetoreception—that is, the ability of some animals to sense Earth's magnetic field—are beginning to gradually unravel, thanks in part to a new study that demonstrates magnetic sensitivity...
Longstanding mystery of matter and antimatter may be solved
An element which could hold the key to the long-standing mystery around why there is much more matter than antimatter in our universe has been discovered in Physics research...
What's that noise? The 17-year cicadas are back
With warm daytime weather and mild nights upon us, you may find yourself opening a window to enjoy the cool spring air. But accompanying this breeze will be a cacophonous...
3-D printing methods enable manufactured nanofilms with multiple axes of alignment
Researchers at The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research at Osaka University introduced a new liquid-phase fabrication method for producing nanocellulose films with multiple axes of alignment. Using 3-D-printing methods...
Three-dimensional self-assembly using dipolar interaction
In materials science, interactions between dipolar forces of permanent magnets can lead to form one-dimensional chains and rings. In a new report on Science Advances, Leon Abelmann and a research...
Seeing the invisible: Polarizer adjustments increase visibility of transparent objects
In biological microscopy and X-ray imaging, many transparent objects or structures are difficult to observe. Due to their low absorption of light, the usual intensity measurements don't work. Instead, the...
A spreadable interlayer could make solid state batteries more stable
Solid-state batteries are of great interest to the electric vehicle industry. Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and Xi'an Jiaotong University, China have now presented a new way of...
Tiny crystals plug gaps and limit uptake of contaminants in rocks
Research published today by a UK-based team of scientists has shown for the first time that the mobility of potentially harmful contaminants in crystalline rocks over long periods of time...
Ultra-thin sail could speed journey to other star systems
A tiny sail made of the thinnest material known – one carbon-atom-thick graphene – has passed initial tests designed to show that it could be a viable material to make...
Scientists demonstrate the first chemically synthesized optical switch
Optical switches allow for transmitting information using light, which will be useful for the development of ultrafast optical memory cells in the future. Using a femtosecond laser usually used in...
Editorial: Speed over safety in the quest for a coronavirus vaccine is a recipe for disaster
Operation Warp Speed could expedite a coronavirus vaccine. But cutting corners is dangerous if it glosses over questions of safety and efficiency.
Physicists exploit a quantum rule to create a new kind of crystal
Physicists have harnessed the aloofness of quantum particles to create a new type of crystal. Some particles shun one another because they are forbidden to take on the same quantum state as their...
Scientists use pressure to make liquid magnetism breakthrough
It sounds like a riddle: What do you get if you take two small diamonds, put a small magnetic crystal between them and squeeze them together very slowly?
Pretty as a peacock: The gemstone for the next generation of smart sensors
Scientists have taken inspiration from the biomimicry of butterfly wings and peacock feathers to develop an innovative opal-like material that could be the cornerstone of next generation smart sensors.