Science

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A resonator for electrons

More than two thousand years ago the Greek inventor and philosopher Archimedes already came up with the idea of using a curved mirror to reflect light in such a way as to focus it into a point - legend has it that he used this technique to set fire to the ships of the Roman enemies. Today such curved or parabolic mirrors are used in a host of technical applications ranging from satellite dishes to laser resonators, where light waves are amplified between two mirrors. Modern quantum physics also makes use of resonators with curved mirrors. In order to study single atoms, for example, researchers use the light focused by the mirrors to enhance the interaction between the light waves and the atoms. A team of physicists at ETH Zurich, working within the framework of the National Centre of Competence in Research Quantum Science and Technology (NCCR QSIT), have now managed to build a resonator that focuses electrons rather than light waves. In the near future, such resonators could be used for constructing quantum computers and for investigating many-body effects in solids.

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Electron microscope image of the ETH Zurich experiment. Between the quantum dot (left) and the curved electrode (right) electronic standing waves arise, which interact with the electrons of the quantum dot.

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A better way to read the genome: If your genome was a library, some genes would be 'Choose Your Own Adventure' novels.

UConn researchers have sequenced the RNA of the most complicated gene known in nature, using a hand-held sequencer no bigger than a cell phone.

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As a strand of DNA moves through the MinION nanopore, the MinION 'sees' five nucleotides at a time. Every set of five nucleotides produces a characteristic current, allowing the MinION to read out the DNA code in a single, continuous stream.

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Banking X-Ray Data for the Future

Archives, in their many forms, save information from October 8 that people will want to access and study in the future. This is a critical function of all archives, but it is especially important when it comes to storing data from today’s modern telescopes.

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CubeSat to Demonstrate Miniature Laser Communications in Orbit

NASA and The Aerospace Corporation of El Segundo, California, have received confirmation the Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (OCSD) CubeSat spacecraft is in orbit and operational. OCSD launched aboard an Atlas V rocket Thursday from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

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Scientists pave way for diamonds to trace early cancers

Physicists from the University of Sydney have devised a way to use diamonds to identify cancerous tumours before they become life threatening.

Their findings, published on October 10 in Nature Communications, reveal how a nanoscale, synthetic version of the precious gem can light up early-stage cancers in non-toxic, non-invasive Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans.

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NASA Eyes on Earth Aid Response to Carolina Flooding

It was rain that wouldn't quit. A weather system fueled by warm moisture streaming in from the Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 3 and 4 relentlessly dumped between 1 and 2 feet (0.3 and 0.6 meters) of rain across most of South Carolina. The result was rivers topping their banks and dams bursting. Catastrophic flooding followed across most of the state, which has left residents in some areas without power or clean drinking water.

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NASA's Curiosity Rover Team Confirms Ancient Lakes on Mars

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A view from the "Kimberley" formation on Mars taken by NASA's Curiosity rover. The strata in the foreground dip towards the base of Mount Sharp, indicating flow of water toward a basin that existed before the larger bulk of the mountain formed.

The colors are adjusted so that rocks look approximately as they would if they were on Earth, to help geologists interpret the rocks. This "white balancing" to adjust for the lighting on Mars overly compensates for the absence of blue on Mars, making the sky appear light blue and sometimes giving dark, black rocks a blue cast.

This image was taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Curiosity on the 580th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Curiosity's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

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Revisiting the Veil Nebula

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The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope imaged three magnificent sections of the Veil Nebula in 1997. Now, a stunning new set of images from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 capture these scattered stellar remains in spectacular new detail and reveal its expansion over the last years.

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Brightness-equalized quantum dots improve biological imaging

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have introduced a new class of light-emitting quantum dots (QDs) with tunable and equalized fluorescence brightness across a broad range of colors. This results in more accurate measurements of molecules in diseased tissue and improved quantitative imaging capabilities.

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Left: Conventional fluorescent materials like quantum dots and dyes have mismatched brightness between different colors. When these materials are administered to a tumor (shown below) to measure molecular concentrations, the signals are dominated by the brighter fluorophores. Right: New brightness-equalized quantum dots that have equal fluorescence brightness for different colors. When these are administered to tumors, the signals are evenly matched, allowing measurement of many molecules at the same time.

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A necklace of fractional vortices

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have arrived at how what is known as time-reversal symmetry can break in one class of superconducting material.

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A route to a time-reversal symmetry-broken state for d-wave superconductors is shown to occur via the formation of a necklace of fractional vortices around the perimeter of the material, where neighboring vortices have opposite current circulation. This vortex pattern is a result of a spectral rearrangement of current-carrying states near the edges.