Science

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Galaxy Goes Green in Burning Stellar Fuel

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The tiny red spot in this image is one of the most efficient star-making galaxies ever observed, converting gas into stars at the maximum possible rate. The galaxy is shown here in an image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), which first spotted the rare galaxy in infrared light.

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Scientists provide 'new spin' on emerging quantum technologies

An international team of scientists has shed new light on a fundamental area of physics which could have important implications for future electronic devices and the transfer of information at the quantum level.

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Images illustrate how collective spin excitations behave under the effect of the spin-orbit field, with and without external magnetic field.

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New material approach should increase solar cell efficiency

"When designing next generation solar energy conversion systems, we must first develop ways to more efficiently utilize the solar spectrum," explained Lane Martin, whose research group has done just that.

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The correlated electron metal SrRuO3 exhibits strong visible slight absorption. Overlaid here on the AM1.5G solar spectrum, it can be seen that SrRuO3 absorbs more than 75 times more light than TiO2. The structural, chemical, and electronic compatibility of TiO2 and SrRuO3 further enables the fabrication of heterojunctions with exciting photovoltaic and photocatalytic response driven by hot-carrier injection.

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NASA's HyspIRI Sees the Forest for the Trees and More

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The HyspIRI airborne campaign overflew California's San Andreas Fault on March 29, 2013. The three-color (red, green, blue) composite image of the fault (left), composed from AVIRIS data, is similar to what a snapshot from a consumer camera would show. The entirety of data from AVIRIS, however, spans the visible to the short-wavelength infrared part of the spectrum. Temperature information (right) was collected simultaneously by the MASTER instrument. Red areas are composed of minerals with high silica, such as urban areas, while darker and cooler areas are composed of water and heavy vegetation.

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Three Years of SDO Images

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This image is a composite of 25 separate images spanning the period of April 16, 2012, to April 15, 2013. It uses the SDO AIA wavelength of 171 angstroms and reveals the zones on the sun where active regions are most common during this part of the solar cycle.

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Physicists find right (and left) solution for on-chip optics

A Harvard-led team of researchers has created a new type of nanoscale device that converts an optical signal into waves that travel along a metal surface. Significantly, the device can recognize specific kinds of polarized light and accordingly send the signal in one direction or another.

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Two different devices based on the herringbone pattern were presented in the Science paper: a rectangular array and a ring-shaped array (both interpreted in this illustration). Circularly polarized light with waves that wind in opposite directions gets split by both devices, with its waves routed in opposite directions. For a ring-shaped coupler, this means that plasmons are channeled either toward or away from the center of the structure. Intensity at the center of the ring can therefore be switched on and off by manipulating the polarization of the incoming light.

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Zinc Oxide, Hydroxide Nanoparticles Utilized in Detecting Drugs

Researchers at Payam-e-Noor University of Tehran in collaboration with experts from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences found a simple synthesis method for zinc oxide (and hydroxide) and their application in modified carbon paste electrodes for determination of sympathomimetic drugs at micro-molar scales.

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Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Used in Producing DNA Biosensors

Iranian researchers from Alzahra University produced an electrochemical DNA biosensor by studying interactions between antimicrobial drug and double stranded DNA on the surface of glassy carbon electrode modified with multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT-DNA-GCE).

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Ultrafast technique unlocks design principles of quantum biology

University of Chicago researchers have created a synthetic compound that mimics the complex quantum dynamics observed in photosynthesis and may enable fundamentally new routes to creating solar-energy technologies. Engineering quantum effects into synthetic light-harvesting devices is not only possible, but also easier than anyone expected, the researchers report in the April 18 edition of Science Express.

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University of Chicago researchers have created a synthetic compound that mimics the complex quantum dynamics observed in photosynthesis. The compound may enable fundamentally new routes to creative solar light harvesting technologies.

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Revolutionary new device joins world of smart electronics: Unique properties of graphene and graph Exeter combine to create a new flexible, transparent, photosensitive device

Smart electronics are taking the world by storm. From techno-textiles to transparent electronic displays, the world of intelligent technology is growing fast and a revolutionary new device has just been added to its ranks. Researchers at the University of Exeter have developed a new photoelectric device that is both flexible and transparent. The device, described in a paper in the journal ACS Nano, converts light into electrical signals by exploiting the unique properties of the recently discovered materials graphene and graphExeter. GraphExeter is the best known room temperature transparent conductor and graphene is the thinnest conductive material.

At just a few atoms thick, the newly developed photoelectric device is ultra-lightweight. This, along with the flexibility of its constituent graphene materials, makes it perfect for incorporating into clothing. Such devices could be used to develop photovoltaic textiles enabling clothes to act as solar panels and charge mobile phones while they are being worn.