Science

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To bridge LEDs' green gap, scientists think small... really small: Nanostructures half a DNA strand-wide show promise for efficient LEDs

Nanostructures half the breadth of a DNA strand could improve the efficiency of light emitting diodes (LEDs), especially in the "green gap," a portion of the spectrum where LED efficiency plunges, simulations at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) have shown.

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This simulation of a one-nanometer wide Indium Nitride wire shows the distribution of an electron around a positively charged 'hole.' Strong quantum confinement in these small nanostructures enables efficient light emission at visible wavelengths.

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Quantum Photon Properties Revealed in Another Particle—the Plasmon

For years, researchers have been interested in developing quantum computers—the theoretical next generation of technology that will outperform conventional computers. Instead of holding data in bits, the digital units used by computers today, quantum computers store information in units called "qubits." One approach for computing with qubits relies on the creation of two single photons that interfere with one another in a device called a waveguide. Results from a recent applied science study at Caltech support the idea that waveguides coupled with another quantum particle—the surface plasmon—could also become an important piece of the quantum computing puzzle.

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An artist's representation of a plasmonic waveguide.

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Europe lofts first Copernicus environmental satellite

The ability of European citizens, policymakers and service providers to access key environmental data on a routine basis will take a major step forward following the launch of ESA’s Sentinel-1A satellite.

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The sky is the limit? Europe’s aviation market takes off

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Flight movements across Europe.

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NASA's OCO-2 Brings Sharp Focus on Global Carbon

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This animation shows the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, the first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere.

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NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Scoping Out Next Study Area

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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover recorded this view of various rock types at waypoint called "the Kimberley" shortly after arriving at the location on April 2, 2014.

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Structural Insights into the Inner Workings of a Viral Nanomachine

Researchers at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute (VTCRI) are using new nanoscale imaging approaches to shed light on the dynamic activities of rotaviruses, important pathogens that cause life-threatening diarrhea in young children. Once a rotavirus enters a host cell, it sheds its outermost protein layer, leaving behind a double-layered particle (DLP). These DLPs are the form of the virus that produces messenger RNA molecules, which are critical for launching the infection.

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Captured rotavirus double-layered particles (DLPs) in the midst of producing RNA. The schematic represents an EM Affinity Grid (gray square) coated with adaptor molecules (red and dark blue) that anchor active rotavirus DLPs (yellow) to the Affi nity Grid. Cryo-Electron Microscopy (EM) image of actively transcribing DLPs re-veals RNA strands (gray strands) emerging from the virus capsid. Three-dimensional image reconstructions of DLPs (light blue) that actively produce RNA reveal strong density within the viral core. Diameter of each reconstruction is ~80 nm.

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Tiny Biomolecular Tweezers Facilitate Study of Mechanical Force Effects on Cells and Proteins

A new type of biomolecular tweezers could help researchers study how mechanical forces affect the biochemical activity of cells and proteins. The devices - too small to see without a micro-scope - use opposing magnetic and electrophoretic forces to precisely stretch the cells and molecules, holding them in position so that the activity of receptors and other biochemical activ-ity can be studied. Arrays of the tweezers could be combined to study multiple molecules and cells simultaneously, providing a high throughput capability for assessing the effects of mechani-cal forces on a broad scale.

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Conceptual design of MAP-nDEP tweezers. a) Schematic of chip layout: Circu-lar magnetic nickel pads (blue) were flanked by interdigitated gold electrodes (red). b) Paramagnetic beads were introduced to chip surface by microfluidics and loaded onto the magnetic pads by magnetic manipulation, facilitating the formation of bead-surface tethers via antibody-antigen interactions. c) Interac-tions probed by application of sufficient nDEP force to displace non-specifically bound beads, but not specifi cally bound beads. d) Microfabrication process.

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Nanosheets and nanowires

Researchers in China, [J. Appl. Cryst. (2014). 47, 527-531] have found a convenient way to selectively prepare germanium sulfide nanostructures, including nanosheets and nanowires, that are more active than their bulk counterparts and could open the way to lower cost and safer optoelectronics, solar energy conversion and faster computer circuitry.

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This is a typical TEM image of as-prepared GeS nanowires with the inset showing a selected area electron diffraction pattern taken from GeS nanowires.

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Carbon nanotubes grow in combustion flames

Professor Stephan Irle of the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM) at Nagoya University and co-workers at Kyoto University, Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), and Chinese research institutions have revealed through theoretical simulations that the molecular mechanism of carbon nanotube (CNT) growth and hydrocarbon combustion actually share many similarities. In studies using acetylene molecules (ethyne; C2H2, a molecule containing a triple bond between two carbon atoms) as feedstock, the ethynyl radical (C2H), a highly reactive molecular intermediate was found to play an important role in both processes forming CNTs and soot, which are two distinctively different structures.

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This is a carbon nanotube growth.

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