Science

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Do Black Holes Come in Size Medium?

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The magenta spots in this image show two black holes in the spiral galaxy called NGC 1313, or the Topsy Turvy galaxy. Both black holes belong to a class called ultraluminous X-ray sources, or ULXs. The magenta X-ray data come from NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescopic Array, and are overlaid on a visible image from the Digitized Sky Survey.

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Diamond 'flaws' pave way for nanoscale MRI

By exploiting flaws in miniscule diamond fragments, researchers say they have achieved enough coherence of the magnetic moment inherent in these defects to harness their potential for precise quantum sensors in a material that is 'biocompatible'.

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This image shows nanodiamonds.

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Decay used to construct quantum information

Usually, when researchers work with quantum information, they do everything they can to prevent the information from decaying. Now researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, among others, have flipped things around and are exploiting the decay to create the so-called entanglement of atomic systems, which is the foundation for quantum information processing.

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This is an artist's impression of the experiment. Four ions are trapped on a line. The outer Magnesium ions (green) cools the system by emitting light. Lasers are used to prepare the inner Beryllium ions (red) in an entangled state where one can not understand the state of the particles individually but have to consider the two ions as a whole. As opposed to previous experiments also the latter process happens by the emission of light.

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Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Help Investigation of Cognitive Diseases

Iranian researchers from Islamic Azad University, Tehran Branch, in association with researchers from Institute of Biochemistry & Biophysics (IBB) of University of Tehran carried out in vitro an investigation into the changes in the structure of proteins inside brain cells and the interactions of the proteins using iron oxide nanoparticles.

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Copper promises cheaper, sturdier fuel cells: Copper nanowires offer an efficient, inexpensive approach to solar energy harvesting

Copper adorns the Statue of Liberty, makes sturdy, affordable wiring, and helps our bodies absorb iron. Now, researchers at Duke University would like to use copper to transform sunlight and water into a chemical fuel.

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The copper nanowires, seen here with a nickel coating, can split water molecules under the power of sunlight.

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Power boosting self-cleaning solar panels

High-power, self-cleaning solar panels might be coming soon to a roof near you. There are two obvious problems with photovoltaic cells, solar panels. First, they are very shiny and so a lot of the incident sunlight is simply reflected back into the sky rather than being converted into electricity. Secondly, they get dirty with dust and debris caught on the wind and residues left behind by rain and birds. Now, research published in the International Journal of Nanomanufacturing suggests that it might be possible to add a nanoscopic relief pattern to the surface of solar cells that makes them non-reflective significantly boosting efficiency and at the same time making them highly non-stick and self-cleaning.

Zuobin Wang of Changchun University of Science and Technology (China), Jin Zhang of Xi'an Technological University (China) and colleagues at Cardiff University (UK), who are partners of the EU FP7 LaserNaMi project, have devised an approach to lithography, the process used to "print" microelectronic circuits, that allows them to add a pattern to the surface of a solar cell. The features of the pattern are so small that individual parts are shorter than the wavelength of light. This means that incident sunlight becomes trapped rather than reflected passing on more of its energy to electricity-generation process that takes place within the panel.

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UV-sensors from the oven: cientists at Kiel University revolutionize the nanostructure production process

Placed in fire detectors and water treatment units UV-sensors can save lives; also in many areas of industry and environment the demand for these devices is rising steadily. Scientists of Kiel University have been able to "bake" nanostructures within seconds, in order to fabricate very fast UV-sensors. This new technique totally diminishes the need to use sophisticated equipments and toxic chemicals. It will therefore be highly interesting for companies.

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Schematic represenation of zinc oxide nanostructures, which were produced by burner-flame transport synthesis, bridging two contacts.

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Solar-powered battery woven into fabric overcomes hurdle for 'wearable electronics'

Though some people already seem inseparable from their smartphones, even more convenient, wearable, solar-powered electronics could be on the way soon, woven into clothing fibers or incorporated into watchbands.

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Convenient, wearable, solar-powered electronics could be on the way soon, incorporated into watchbands (as above) or woven into clothing fibers.

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New milestone could help magnets end era of computer transistors

New work by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, could soon transform the building blocks of modern electronics by making nanomagnetic switches a viable replacement for the conventional transistors found in all computers.

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As current passes through a strip of tantalum, electrons with opposite spins separate. Researchers used the resulting polarization to create a nanomagnetic switch that could one day replace computer transistors.

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CRIXlabs promo presentation of NuSilico software created by Nanobotmodels: Nanobotmodels animation studio presents new CRIXlabs presentations about NuSilico software!

Pharmaceutical companies are investigating new methods of delivering drugs that spare healthy cells and focus only on killing cancer cells. They spend 135 billion dollars a year just on R and D. The slow progress is due to the time and effort it takes to get an answer. This mean that better cancer drug is decades away instead of a few years away.

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