Science

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The moiré patterns of three layers change the electronic properties of graphene

Combining an atomically thin graphene and a boron nitride layer at a slightly rotated angle changes their electrical properties. Physicists at the University of Basel have now shown for the first time the combination with a third layer can result in new material properties also in a three-layer sandwich of carbon and boron nitride.

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A graphene layer (black) of hexagonally arranged carbon atoms is placed between two layers of boron nitride atoms, which are also arranged hexagonally with a slightly different size. The overlap creates honeycomb patterns in various sizes.

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New optical imaging system could be deployed to find tiny tumors: Near-infrared technology pinpoints fluorescent probes deep within living tissue; may be used to detect cancer earlier

Many types of cancer could be more easily treated if they were detected at an earlier stage. MIT researchers have now developed an imaging system, named "DOLPHIN," which could enable them to find tiny tumors, as small as a couple of hundred cells, deep within the body.

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MIT researchers have devised a way to simultaneously image in multiple wavelengths of near-infrared light, allowing them to determine the depth of particles emitting different wavelengths.

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Why Do Some Galactic Unions Lead to Doom?

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Why Do Some Galactic Unions Lead to Doom?
This image shows the merger of two galaxies, known as NGC 7752 (larger) and NGC 7753 (smaller), also collectively called Arp86. In these images, different colors correspond to different wavelengths of infrared light. Blue and green are wavelengths both strongly emitted by stars. Red is a wavelength mostly emitted by dust

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First evidence of planet-wide groundwater system on Mars

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Can a flowing liquid-like material maintain its structural order like crystals?

Scientists at Tokyo Tech discovered a chiral compound, which can spontaneously form a molecular assembly with an extremely large single domain structure beyond a size regime incapable of realizing with usual molecular self-assembly. The chiral compound, when heated and left to cool on a solid substrate, gives a droplet featuring a single-crystal-like structure. When the substrate is set up vertically, the droplet exhibits sliding and rotating motion controlled by the chirality while preserving the single-crystalline structural order. The scientists investigated the origin of the very unique structuring and macroscopic rotational sliding behavior. These findings will extend our understanding of the formation and motility of soft matter with a higher-order structure.

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CEA-Leti Breakthrough Opens Path to New Vaccine for HIV: Lipidots Platform Strengthens Immune Response to Protein That Is Key to HIV Vaccine; Results Presented in Nature Publishing Group’s npj Vaccines

Leti, a research institute of CEA Tech, in collaboration with CEA’s Fundamental Research Division and INSERM, has developed a new vaccine approach for HIV based on engineered lipid nanoparticles that deliver p24 – a viral protein that is key to an HIV vaccine – and optimize the CpG adjuvant’s effect.

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Signs of ancient flowing water on Mars

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Perspective view of ancient river valley network on Mars

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After a Reset, Curiosity Is Operating Normally

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NASA's Curiosity Mars took this image with its Mastcam on Feb. 10, 2019 (Sol 2316). The rover is currently exploring a region of Mount Sharp nicknamed "Glen Torridon" that has lots of clay minerals

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A quantum magnet with a topological twist: Materials with a kagome lattice pattern exhibit 'negative magnetism' and long-sought 'flat-band' electrons

Taking their name from an intricate Japanese basket pattern, kagome magnets are thought to have electronic properties that could be valuable for future quantum devices and applications. Theories predict that some electrons in these materials have exotic, so-called topological behaviors and others behave somewhat like graphene, another material prized for its potential for new types of electronics.

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esearchers explored a material that has an internal structure, shown in 3D in left panel, that consists of triangles and hexagons arranged in a pattern similar to that of a Japanese kagome basket.

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Avoiding the Crack of Doom: New imaging technique reveals how mechanical damage begins at the molecular scale

Just as a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, the deformations and fractures that cause catastrophic failure in materials begin with a few molecules torn out of place. This in turn leads to a cascade of damage at increasingly larger scales, culminating in total mechanical breakdown. That process is of urgent interest to researchers studying how to build high-strength composite materials for critical components ranging from airplane wings and wind-turbine blades to artificial knee joints.

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The researchers compared calculated images of single molecules in different orientations (left) with experimental ones (right) to determine the 3D alignment of the fluorescent molecules in a sample. 1 µm is one micrometer, about 1/100th the width of a human hair.