The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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Exploring the mysteries of copper, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered yet another use for this "new oil" of the clean energy future – converting carbon dioxide and water into fuels and chemicals. But to witness this discovery, the scientists had to design an entirely new nanoimaging technology. The idea of water-powered engines has been waiting for its moment to jump from the pages of science fiction into the world of science reality. A...
First-ever space habitat tech, experiment gives more than researchers expected. Not too dissimilar from Man's first Moon landing with a computer that by today's standards TI-83 calculators could overpower, when the first astronauts land on Mars, they will most likely equivocate today's microwave oven-sized device for the air they breathe and the rocket propellant that gets them home as some clunky technology future generations will be amazed could accomplish what it did. But...
Joint development agreement for research into quantum dots for solar modules. Looking to evolve its already impressive proprietary cadmium-telluride thin-film solar technology, First Solar Inc. has partnered with UbiQD Inc., a New Mexico-based nanotechnology company, to explore the possibilities of incorporating quantum dot technology into a next-gen solar system. In its simplest form, a quantum dot is a man-made nanoscale crystal that can conduct electricity, consisting of a...
Common cement and carbon black pave the way for a foundational tech for efficient future energy storage. Channeling the power of the ancients, a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced they have developed a supercapacitor from two of humanity's most ubiquitous historical materials – cement and carbon black. Possibly the foundation of a novel, low-cost energy storage system, according to a new study, this technology could facilitate the use of renewable e...
Possible Nobel Prize-winning invention has the wider science community in a frenzy; initial claims shrouded with skepticism. If you follow any kind of cutting-edge, pioneering, and borderline science fiction-level technology news, you may have come across LK-99. What had started as a likely dubious claim by more doubtful researchers has become a veritable online race for a room-temperature superconductor that, by the apparent furious attempts to replicate the claims, lends...
Flexible technologies are emerging, from foldable smartphones to freeform public information displays, and Chinese researchers have made a discovery that could elevate this technology to the next level. The high electrical conductivity and flexibility of liquid metals are the keys to this technology, with potential applications in wearable sensors, actuators, smart switches, printable circuitry for robotics, and technologies that not only move but stretch, such as...
In an effort to curb global warming, Purdue University researchers developed a cool solution – paint. But not just any paint, with what they believe to be the closest opposite of the blackest black, this ultra-white paint can not only repel heat but cool down the interior of the surface it is painted on. In September 2021, the Purdue team created an ultra-white paint that earned the Guinness World Record for an unintended side effect to reducing global warming, creating the w...
Taking inspiration from one of nature's most adaptive creatures, researchers from ACS Nano have explored the transformative qualities of squid skin to create a soft film that can regulate its transparency across a large range of wavelengths – visible, infrared, and microwave – all at the same time. The skin of squid and other cephalopods have unique cells that can reversibly change their shape and appearance to mimic their surroundings, giving them an almost imperceptible ext...
A team led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers has discovered how subtle structural changes in strontium titanate, a metal oxide semiconductor, can alter the material's electrical resistance and affect its superconducting properties. An oxide of strontium and titanium, strontium titanate or fabulite, has been on the radar of scientists for the past 60 years, mostly because it displays unusual properties. For one, it can become a superconductor at low...
2-year-old discovery offers breakthrough in thermoelectric sustainability. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and collaboration with the University of Colorado, have created a novel method using gallium nitride that could drastically increase the conversion of heat into electricity. If perfected, this technology could help recoup some of the roughly $100 billion of heat energy lost in the U.S. each year, according to NIST. The new...
Inspired by the wide variety of brilliant colors adorning the wings of butterflies, University of Central Florida researcher Debashis Chanda has created the world's lightest paint using two materials that do not have any color of their own – aluminum and aluminum oxide. The plasmonic paint developed by Chanda is so lightweight it would only take about three pounds to coat an entire Boeing 747 aircraft, which is orders of magnitude less than the 1,000 lb of traditional p...
Engineers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a soft polymer impregnated with gallium-indium liquid metal and silver micro-flakes to create a conductive material with self-healing properties. This marks a big step in the advancement of new materials for robotics, electronics, medicine, and the lesser-known field of "softbotics." This study, published in Nature Electronics, showcases the first material of its kind to maintain enough electrical adhesion to support...
Researchers out of China and Singapore have discovered that zinc oxide nanoparticles may be the secret to finally achieving high-resolution 3D holograms that are often promised in science fiction but yet to be delivered in reality. Although rudimentary 3D light shows that play off particles in the air, reflections to trick the eye, spinning lights, or projectors to present an illusion of depth have become more prevalent in recent years, a true-blue 3D hologram has seemingly...
Throwing a curveball at the scientific community, an international team of researchers headed by the University of Geneva, Switzerland, has designed a quantum material that allows the control of electrons within its structure by essentially curving the fabric of space in which they occupy. Expanding into the fields of information and communication technologies presents scientists and industry with new hurdles to overcome, especially if they want to breach into the cutting...
National Ignition Facility achieves landmark fusion energy breakeven. For the first time in history, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility have achieved one of the most significant milestones in energy research by attaining scientific energy breakeven through nuclear fusion. What this means is that for the first time ever, the output energy from the fusion reaction was more than the energy used to ignite the reaction. "This is a...
Chinese scientists' success crosses threshold that has opened way for grabbing tech. Despite their influence on science fiction and even the occasional conspiracy theory, tractor beams, in reality, have not yet lived up to fantastical expectations. While it seems we are still far from capturing a spaceship that can do the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs, Earthlings have managed to use this light vacuum device to move about nano- and atomic-sized things – until now. Perhaps disreg...
Intricate, unique, and beautiful, snowflakes are a crystalline symbol of the wintery season that inspire wonder in children and inspiration for scientists in New Zealand that have managed to replicate these wonderous constructs of nature with gallium and zinc. A closer look at snowflakes reveals that each piece of pristine powder is a one-of-a-kind ice crystal that is awe inspiring in its beauty and symmetry. More scientifically, these natural forming ice crystals are a...
Swiss researchers have developed a transparent gold nanocoating that vanquishes the perennial nemesis of glasses wearers – fogging. Unlike traditional antifogging methods, which uses hydrophilic coatings that evenly spread condensation across the surface of the glass, the micro-thin gold layer developed by scientists at ETH Zurich harnesses sunlight to passively heat the lenses to prevent fog from forming in the first place. This works on the same principle as the heating e...
A major breakthrough in nuclear fusion has been confirmed by the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, little over a year since the lab successfully achieved 1.3 megajoules of energy for a fraction of a second. After a year of painstaking work, the NIF has published its work in three peer-review papers. Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the Sun and other stars. Heavy hydrogen atoms collide with enough force that they fuse...
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management announced $6 million in funding toward research and development projects that will repurpose domestic coal resources for products that can be employed in clean energy technologies such as batteries and advanced manufacturing. Projects selected for this funding will support FECM's Carbon Ore Processing Program, which focuses on converting coal and coal wastes into products such as graphite, carbon...
MIT scientists find that brewer's yeast absorbs heavy metal. While drinking an ice-cold pint of beer may not flush lead from your system – there is not a libation strong enough for that task – the yeast used to brew your favorite ale may prevent the heavy metal from getting into your body in the first place. And like they say, "16 ounces of prevention is better than a pound of cure" – or something like that. Researchers at the esteemed Massachusetts Institute of Techn...
Columbia University chemists and physicists recently found a link between tunable electronic magnetic properties in a 2D semiconductor that could potentially be applied to quantum computing, spintronics, and other fundamental research. Created in the lab of chemist Xavier Roy, chromium-sulfide-bromide (CrSBr) is chemistry that is called a van der Waals crystal, which can be peeled into stackable, 2D layers that are just a few atoms thin. It is due to the unique nature of van...
A company that specializes in jewelry has teamed up with researchers to create a mind-blowing storage breakthrough – the collaboration resulting in the manufacture of a two-inch diamond wafer intended for quantum applications and is the largest diamond storage ever created, capable of holding up to 25 exabytes of information at room temperature. "A 2-inch diamond wafer theoretically enables enough quantum memory to record 1 billion Blu-ray discs," said Adamant Namiki P...
The Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management March 18 announced US$2.2 million in funding for research into new, clean uses for coal waste – primarily, to continue the efforts by X-MAT Carbon Core Composites LLC in completely building a home out of coal. Over the past year, X-MAT has developed bricks, blocks, facades, panels, and roof tiles that comprise all the components needed to construct a building. As a result, X-MAT has been awarded a f...
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have created a nano-architected material that exhibits a property that was previously only theoretically possible – refract light backward, regardless of the angle at which the light strikes the material. This unique and previously theoretical property, known as negative refraction, could have major technological applications. "Negative refraction is crucial to the future of nanophotonics, which seeks to understand and m...
