Science

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Geminids set to light up winter sky in year's best meteor shower

From 13 to 15 December, skywatchers across the world will be looking up as the Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak, in potentially one of the best night sky events of the year.

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NASA Highlights Global Air Quality, Moon, El Nino at American Geophysical Union

NASA researchers will present new findings on a wide range of Earth and space science topics at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union Dec. 14-18 in San Francisco. NASA-related briefings will be carried live on the agency’s website.

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Heat radiates 10,000 times faster at the nanoscale

When heat travels between two objects that aren't touching, it flows differently at the smallest scales--distances on the order of the diameter of DNA, or 1/50,000 of a human hair.

While researchers have been aware of this for decades, they haven't understood the process. Heat flow often needs to be prevented or harnessed and the lack of an accurate way to predict it represents a bottleneck in nanotechnology development.

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The subtle dance of atoms influences enzyme activity: Certain infinitesimal fluctuations of distant atoms can control enzyme function even though they are not directly involved in enzyme catalysis

Infinitesimal fluctuations occurring on the milli- and even nano-second time scales within the three-dimensional structure of enzymes may be one of the keys to explaining protein function. Professor Nicolas Doucet's team at INRS has demonstrated that even when certain amino acids are far from the active site of an enzyme, a change in their flexibility and atomic fluctuations can significantly impact enzyme activity. This phenomenon, which has been underestimated up to now, could explain certain protein engineering failures and help improve the way synthetic functional enzymes are designed.

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Step towards Elimination of Humic Substances from Water under Sunlight

Iranian scientists produced nanocatalysts in a research which can eliminate organic pollutants from water in the presence of sunlight.

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Groundbreaking microscopy unlocks secrets of plant virus assembly

New research into how a plant virus assembles could lay the groundwork for future use to carry drugs into the human body.

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The structure of an empty Cowpea Mosaic Virus (CPMV) produced using cryo electron microscopy.

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Nanostructured Surfaces Increase Efficiency of Solar Thermal Systems

Iranian researchers from Isfahan University of Technology succeeded in the laboratorial production of light sorption surfaces that have application in solar thermal systems.

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Spin current on topological insulator detected electrically at room temperature

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have for the first time reported the electrical detection of spin current on topological insulator surfaces at room temperature by employing a ferromagnetic detector.

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This image shows the schematics of the spin current on a topological insulator surface, with the spin direction (S) perpendicular to the current direction (kx). The zoom in schematic shows the electronic band structure on the surface of the topological insulator. The spin polarization on topological insulator surface is electrically probed by a ferromagnetic tunnel contact (FM).

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Portable device can quickly determine the extent of an eye injury

An engineer and an ophthalmologist are working together to develop a portable sensor that can quickly and inexpensively determine whether an eye injury is mild or severe. The device, called OcuCheck, works by measuring levels of vitamin C in the fluids that coat or leak from the eye. The sensor could speed efforts to determine the extent of eye injuries at accident sites, in rural areas lacking ophthalmology specialists or on the battlefield, the researchers said.

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The new sensor can detect differences in vitamin C concentration in fluids that leak from the eye. Higher concentrations indicate a more severe injury, the researchers report.

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Stretchy hydrogel 'Band-Aid' senses, lights up, delivers medicine: Water-based 'Band-Aid' senses temperature, lights up, and delivers medicine to the skin

MIT engineers have designed what may be the Band-Aid of the future: a sticky, stretchy, gel-like material that can incorporate temperature sensors, LED lights, and other electronics, as well as tiny, drug-delivering reservoirs and channels. The "smart wound dressing" releases medicine in response to changes in skin temperature and can be designed to light up if, say, medicine is running low.

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A new stretchy hydrogel can be embedded with various electronics. Here, a sheet of hydrogel is bonded to a matrix of polymer islands (red) that can encapsulate electronic components such as semiconductor chips, LED lights, and temperature sensors.

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