Science

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A tunable, highly sensitive graphene-based molecule sensor: Researchers at EPFL and ICFO have developed a reconfigurable sensor made from graphene to detect nanomolecules such as proteins and drugs; the device exploits the unique electronic and optical pr

Many areas of fundamental research are interested in graphene owing to its exceptional characteristics. It is made of one layer of carbon atoms, which makes it light and sturdy, and it is an excellent thermal and electrical conductor. Its unique features make it potentially suitable for applications in a number of areas . Scientists at EPFL's Bionanophotonic Systems Laboratory (BIOS) together with researchers from ICFO- The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, have now harnessed graphene's unique optical and electronic properties to develop a reconfigurable highly sensitive molecule sensor. The results are described in an article appearing in the latest edition of the journal Science.

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Mid-infrared graphene molecule sensor

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NASA Missions Have Their Eyes Peeled on Pluto

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Artist conception of New Horizons Spacecraft.

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Surfing a wake of light: Researchers observe and control light wakes for the first time

When a duck paddles across a pond or a supersonic plane flies through the sky, it leaves a wake in its path. Wakes occur whenever something is traveling through a medium faster than the waves it creates -- in the duck's case water waves, in the plane's case shock waves, otherwise known as sonic booms.

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This is an artistic rendition of the superluminal running wave of charge that excites the surface plasmon wakes.

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Production of Zirconium Carbide Nanoparticles at Low Temperature without Thermal Operations

Iranian researchers used a new method for the production of a type of nanoparticles, which does not require high temperature and therefore, it decreases the production cost.

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Fundamental observation of spin-controlled electrical conduction in metals: Ultrafast terahertz spectroscopy yields direct insight into the building block of modern magnetic memories

Modern magnetic memories, such as hard drives installed in almost every computer, can store a very large amount of information thanks to very tiny, nanoscale magnetic sensors used for memory readout. The operation of these magnetic sensors, called the spin-valves, is based on the effect of giant magnetoresistance (GMR), for which its inventors Albert Fert and Peter Gruenberg were awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2007.

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Difference in conduction by electrons with opposite spins in ferromagnetic metals can be precisely resolved using terahertz waves.

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Clues to inner atomic life from subtle light-emission shifts: Hyperfine structure of light absorption by short-lived cadmium atom isotopes reveals characteristics of the nucleus that matter for high precision detection methods

Atoms absorb and emit light of various wavelengths. Physicists have long known that there are some tiny changes, or shifts, in the light that gets absorbed or emitted, due to the properties of the atomic nucleus. Now, a team of scientists has elucidated the so-called hyperfine structure of cadmium atoms. Relying on a method called laser spectroscopy, they have measured variations in the energy transition within cadmium atom - Cd in the periodic table. They studied a chain of isotopes with an odd number of neutrons ranging from 59 in 107Cd to 75 in 123Cd. From these high-precision measurements, they were able to identify the physical cause of the shift within the nucleus. These findings by Nadja Frömmgen from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, in Germany, and international colleagues have now been published in EPJ D.

Two main factors influence the cadmium atom's hyperfine structure. First, electrons orbiting the nucleus create a magnetic field resulting in a force affecting the nucleus, and splitting its absorption and emission line into a number of finer lines. Second, there are influences from the way the charge is distributed within the nucleus - a quantity known as the nuclear electric quadrupole moment, which only appears for non-spherical distributions. Some nuclei are shaped like a rugby ball, a frisbee or even a pear.

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Counting stars with Gaia

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Stellar density map

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Tracking Space Weather Before It Reaches Earth

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This image of the sun from January 7, 2014, combines a picture of the sun captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, with a model of the magnetic field lines using data that is also from SDO. A new model based on such data may one day help space weather forecasters better predict how eruptions from the sun will behave at Earth.

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Discovery of nanotubes offers new clues about cell-to-cell communication

When it comes to communicating with each other, some cells may be more "old school" than was previously thought.

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Discovery of nanotubes offers new clues about cell-to-cell communication.

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Nanospiked bacteria are the brightest hard X-ray emitters

In a step that overturns traditional assumptions and practice, researchers at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai and Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhi Nagar have fashioned bacteria to emit intense, hard x-ray radiation.

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This image shows a 10,000 fold enhanced X-ray emission from nanoparticle doped bacteria, from plasma generated by intense ultra short infrared pulses.

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