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Lithium purple-bronze (LiPB) is a thermoelectric material comprised of aligned conducting, zig-zag chains of molybdenum and oxygen (left image, pink and white circles with green bonds). When an electric current was applied in a direction slightly misaligned with the chains (depicted as gray lines, right image), heat flowed perpendicular to the current, a phenomenon known as the transverse Peltier effect. The efficiency of this effect in LiPB was among the largest known for a single compound.

Magnetars are the bizarre super-dense remnants of supernova explosions. They are the strongest magnets known in the Universe — millions of times more powerful than the strongest magnets on Earth. A team of European astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) now believe they’ve found the partner star of a magnetar for the first time. This discovery helps to explain how magnetars form — a conundrum dating back 35 years — and why this particular star didn’t collapse into a black hole as astronomers would expect.

Thwaites Glacier.

The nanoparticle contains the cancer drug doxorubicin (green spheres) in its core. Erlotinib is embedded in the red outer shell. Attached to the surface are chains of polyethylene glycol (PEG), in yellow.

Disappearing stripes linked with free electron movement: Scientists used a precision microscope to simultaneously explore electrons' arrangements and movements as charge carriers called holes were added to transform a copper-oxide material from an insulator to a superconductor. With increasing hole density, the material first takes on a mysterious "pseudogap" phase that overlaps and competes with superconductivity. Region I: While still in the pseudogap phase, some electrons occupy static positions apparent as a striped pattern (top inset) while other electrons are free to move and carry current, but only in certain directions (arcs with gaps in lower inset). Region II: At a critical point of hole density, the static stripes disappear and all electrons can move freely in all directions. The point of maximal superconductivity (Max Tc) lies within this region. Finding ways to prevent the static electron arrangement may be one way to push the Max Tc to a higher temperature more suitable for real-world applications.

A GPS station in the mountains of Oregon.

The bright light on the left side of the sun shows an M5.2-class solar flare in progress on May 8, 2014.This image, captured by NASA's SDO, shows light with a 131 Angstrom wavelength, which highlights the extremely hot material in a solar flare and is typically colorized in teal.

Scheme: Activation of the “dormant sergeant” by an external stimulus.

For the first time, NASA scientists have used GPS to find the total weight of winter snowpack and soil moisture in California's Sierra Nevada. The new results complement other satellite measurements and could provide a reality check for computer models used to estimate the state's water and snowpack.