Science

Tags:

Newly Discovered World Is Most Like Jupiter

hs-2015-30-a-web_0.jpg
Discovery image of 51 Eri b with the Gemini Planet Imager taken in the near-infrared light on December 18, 2014. The bright central star has been mostly removed by a hardware and software mask to enable the detection of the exoplanet one million times fainter.

Tags:

NASA's Hubble Finds Supernovae in 'Wrong Place at Wrong Time'

hs-2015-28-a-web_print_0.jpg
These Hubble Space Telescope images show elliptical galaxies with dark, wispy dust lanes, the signature of a recent galaxy merger. The dust is the only relic of a smaller galaxy that was consumed by the larger elliptical galaxy.
The "X" in the images marks the location of supernova explosions that are associated with the galaxies. Each supernova may have been gravitationally kicked out of its host galaxy by a pair of central supermassive black holes. When two galaxies merge, so do their supermassive black holes. Astronomers suggest the supernovae were stars that were once part of double-star systems. These systems wandered too close to the binary black holes, which ejected them from their galaxies. Eventually, the stars in each system moved close enough together to trigger a supernova blast.

hs-2015-28-a-web_print.jpg
These Hubble Space Telescope images show elliptical galaxies with dark, wispy dust lanes, the signature of a recent galaxy merger. The dust is the only relic of a smaller galaxy that was consumed by the larger elliptical galaxy.
The "X" in the images marks the location of supernova explosions that are associated with the galaxies. Each supernova may have been gravitationally kicked out of its host galaxy by a pair of central supermassive black holes. When two galaxies merge, so do their supermassive black holes. Astronomers suggest the supernovae were stars that were once part of double-star systems. These systems wandered too close to the binary black holes, which ejected them from their galaxies. Eventually, the stars in each system moved close enough together to trigger a supernova blast.

Tags:

Discovery in growing graphene nanoribbons could enable faster, more efficient electronics

Graphene, an atom-thick material with extraordinary properties, is a promising candidate for the next generation of dramatically faster, more energy-efficient electronics. However, scientists have struggled to fabricate the material into ultra-narrow strips, called nanoribbons, that could enable the use of graphene in high-performance semiconductor electronics.

52077.jpg
Progressively zoomed-in images of graphene nanoribbons grown on germanium. The ribbons automatically align perpendicularly and naturally grow in what is known as the armchair edge configuration.

Tags:

Scientists Apply Semi-Conductive, Magnetic Photocatalysts to Purify Wastewater

Researchers from Iran University of Science and Technology produced nanoparticles at the laboratorial scale that can purify contaminated wastewater with high efficiency.

52065_0.jpg

Tags:

Conformal transfer of graphene for reproducible device fabrication

Conformal transfer of graphene on a prepatterned substrate is a viable technology for reproducible fabrication of graphene devices. Such is the conclusion of a recent study by a team of scientists from Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

52076.jpg
Reliable wafer scale production of graphene devices.

Tags:

Perseid meteors to light up summer skies

The evening of Wednesday 12 August into the morning of Thursday 13 August sees the annual maximum of the Perseid meteor shower. This year, a new moon makes prospects for watching this natural firework display particularly good.

Tags:

Charge density and optical properties of multicomponent crystals

Optical materials serve a major role in modern sciences and technology. Many of the devices we use feature technology resulting from material discoveries in this fast moving area of research. Nowadays, the need for more efficient devices and minimisation in optoelectronics requires a novel approach towards crystal engineering of functional solids. A solution can be multicomponent materials built from either organic or mixed organic and inorganic components selected in a specific way, to combine molecular and structural properties to form a 3D architecture. Optical properties of a crystal strongly depend on two factors, i.e. the spatial distribution of molecules in the crystal structure and the electronic properties of molecular building blocks. The latter are easy to predict whereas the former are not. Crystal symmetry is often a key to obtaining a desired property. Noncentrosymmetric crystal structure (chiral/polar) is a necessary (limiting) condition for such properties as nonlinear properties of even order and linear properties like optical activity, piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity and ferroelectricity. However, fulfilling symmetry rules does not guarantee the existence of a physical effect. The choice of building blocks is crucial; in ideal cases, push-pull molecules should be linked with constituents enabling synthon formation flexibility.

52063.jpg
APIs in the design of multi-component functional solids are shown.

Tags:

Copper clusters capture and convert carbon dioxide to make fuel

Capture and convert--this is the motto of carbon dioxide reduction, a process that stops the greenhouse gas before it escapes from chimneys and power plants into the atmosphere and instead turns it into a useful product.

52061.jpg
A copper tetramer catalyst created by researchers at Argonne National Laboratory may help capture and convert carbon dioxide in a way that ultimately saves energy. It consists of small clusters of four copper atoms each, supported on a thin film of aluminum oxide. These catalysts work by binding to carbon dioxide molecules, orienting them in a way that is ideal for chemical reactions. The structure of the copper tetramer is such that most of its binding sites are open, which means it can attach more strongly to carbon dioxide and can better accelerate the conversion.

Tags:

Flexible dielectric polymer can stand the heat

Easily manufactured, low cost, lightweight, flexible dielectric polymers that can operate at high temperatures may be the solution to energy storage and power conversion in electric vehicles and other high temperature applications, according to a team of Penn State engineers.

52058.jpg
Researcher holds flexible dielectric material. Pull out shows boron nitride nanosheets.

Tags:

World's quietest gas lets physicists hear faint quantum effects

Physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, have cooled a gas to the quietest state ever achieved, hoping to detect faint quantum effects lost in the din of colder but noisier fluids.

52043.gif
In most ultracold Bose-Einstein Condensates (BEC), the quantum gas (yellow peak) is accompanied by normal gas jiggling with thermal noise (the blue hump below the peak). As the noise or entropy is decreased, however, the jiggling disappears to leave an almost pure quantum gas. Ryan Olf graphic.