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Scientists teach machines to analyze simulations of exotic subatomic 'soup' The colored lines represent calculated particle tracks from particle collisions occurring within Brookhaven National Laboratory's STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, and an illustration of a digital brain. The yellow-red glow at center shows a hydrodynamic simulation of quark-gluon plasma created in particle collisions. Summary: Physicists have demonstrated that computers are ready to tackle the universe's greatest mysteries -- they used neural networks to perform a deep dive into data simulating the subatomic particle soup that may have existed just microseconds after the big bang. Computers can beat chess champions, simulate star explosions, and forecast global climate. We are even teaching them to be infallible problem-solvers and fast learners.

Engineers develop flexible, water-repellent graphene circuits for washable electronics Jonathan Claussen and his research group are printing and processing graphene ink to make functional materials. Summary: Nanoengineers are finding new ways to use graphene printing technology. A new research paper describes how they're treating printed graphene with lasers to create electronic circuits that repel water. That could lead to washable electronics and better biological sensors. New graphene printing technology can produce electronic circuits that are low-cost, flexible, highly conductive and water repellent. The nanotechnology "would lend enormous value to self-cleaning wearable/washable electronics that are resistant to stains, or ice and biofilm formation," according to a recent paper describing the discovery. "We're taking low-cost, inkjet-printed graphene and tuning it with a laser to make functional materials," said Jonathan Claussen, a...

Summary: Researchers have found a way to convert the spin information into a predictable light signal at room temperature. The discovery brings the worlds of spintronics and nanophotonics closer together and might lead to the development of an energy-efficient way of processing data, in data centers, for example. Spintronics in materials of just a few atoms thick is an emerging field in which the 'spin' of electrons is used to process data, rather than the charge. Unfortunately, the spin only lasts for a very short time, making it (as yet) difficult to exploit in electronics. Researchers from the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at TU Delft, working with the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research's AMOLF institute, have now found a way to convert the spin information into a predictable light signal at room temperature. The discovery brings the worlds of spintronics and nanophotonics closer together and might lead to the development of an energy-efficient way of ...

The supercapacitor functions well even when stretched. Summary: Scientists have created a customizable, fabric-like power source that can be cut, folded or stretched without losing its function. Being highly stretchable, these flexible power sources are promising next-generation 'fabric'    energy storage devices that could be integrated into wearable electronics. Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have created a customizable, fabric-like power source that can be cut, folded or stretched without losing its function. Led by Professor Chen Xiaodong, Associate Chair (Faculty) at the School of Materials Science & Engineering, the team reported in the journal  Advanced Materials  (print edition 8 January) how they have created the wearable power source, a supercapacitor, which works like a fast-charging battery and can be recharged many times.

New experiments demonstrate the potential for diamond as a material for spintronics Diamond plates undergoing surface termination treatment in a hydrogen plasma Summary: Recently, researchers have been exploring the potential for a new technology, called spintronics, that relies on detecting and controlling a particle's spin. This technology could lead to new types of more efficient and powerful devices. Researchers have now measured how strongly a charge carrier's spin interacts with a magnetic field in diamond. This crucial property shows diamond as a promising material for spintronic devices. Conventional electronics rely on controlling electric charge. Recently, researchers have been exploring the potential for a new technology, called spintronics, that relies on detecting and controlling a particle's spin. This technology could lead to new types of more efficient and powerful devices.

Retrospective test for quantum computers can build trust Improved scheme for checking quantum computations can safeguard both customers and companies This cartoon illustrates how a quantum computation performed over the cloud could be verified after completion with the help of a network of quantum computers. Researchers in Singapore and Japan have published in Physical Revi Tech companies are racing to make quantum computers available to customers. A new scheme from researchers in Singapore and Japan could help customers establish trust in what they get if they buy time on such machines -- and protect companies from dishonest customers.

Crystal structure of Mn2Au with antiferromagnetically ordered magnetic moments Summary: Within the emerging field of spin-based electronics, or spintronics, information is typically defined by the orientation of the magnetization of ferromagnets. Researchers have recently been also interested in the utilization of antiferromagnets, which are materials without macroscopic magnetization but with a staggered orientation of their microscopic magnetic moments.

Highly efficient organic solar cells based on amorphous electronic materials with potential for easy printing Summary: Researchers in Japan have built on their previous work to develop new advanced organic polymer. When applied in the solar cells, the polymers formed as amorphous films, which maintained high power conversion efficiency. Typical solar cells require special treatments to make the polymer films crystalline. These new devices could offer a way toward simpler and more cost-effective printing of solar cells. Humankind is in the midst of a massive drive to harness solar energy to power our homes, gadgets, and industry. Plastic solar cells, based on blends of conducting organic polymers, are of interest for making lightweight and cheap solar cells. The problem with these kinds of solar cells is that their solar power efficiencies are very closely related to the way the different types of materials mix and crystalize in thin films. This means complex and careful proces...

A discovery about the behavior of heat in electronic devices can improve their performance Comparison of the new model proposed by UAB researchers and the classic model to explain the behavior of heat in an electronic device. Summary: Researchers have shown that heat flow behaves similarly to a viscous fluid when studied at nanoscale. The discovery paves the way to a better thermal management in electronic devices. In a paper published last week in the journal  Nature Communications , researchers from the Department of Physics and the Department of Electronics Engineering at the UAB, and from the Birck Nanotechnology Center at Purdue University (USA), studied the heating of small current lines placed on top of a silicon substrate, simulating the behavior of current transistors.

The quantum computer of the future will be able to carry out computations far beyond the capacity of today's computers. Summary: Scientists have shown that the quantum information of an electron spin can be transported to a photon, in a silicon quantum chip. This is important in order to connect quantum bits across the chip and allowing to scale up to large numbers of qubits. The worldwide race to create more, better and reliable quantum processors is progressing fast, as a team of TU Delft scientists led by Professor Vandersypen has realised yet again. In a neck-and-neck race with their competitors, they showed that quantum information of an electron spin can be transported to a photon, in a silicon quantum chip. This is important in order to connect quantum bits across the chip and allowing to scale up to large numbers of qubits. Their work was published today in the journal  Science . The quantum computer of the future will be able to carry out computations far bey...

Schematic showing the sequences in the overall fabrication process. Summary: A team of researchers has succeeded in developing world's first stretchable aqueous Li-ion batteries that may power the next generation of wearable devices. The current development of stretchable battery materials that mimic the functions of nature has emerged as a highly interesting research area, necessary for the next wave of wearable electronics. A recent study, affiliated with UNIST has presented a bioinspired Jabuticaba-like hybrid carbon/polymer (HCP) composite that was developed into a stretchable current collector using a simple and cost-effective solution process. Using the HCP composite as a stretchable current collector, the research team has, for the first time, developed a highly stretchable rechargeable lithium-ion battery (ARLB) based on aqueous electrolytes.

Summary: In the nearly 60 years between the 1939 release of Hollywood's first animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and modern hits like Toy Story, Shrek and more, advances in animation technology have revolutionized not only animation techniques, but movie making as a whole. However, a new study found that employing the latest technology doesn't always ensure creative success for a film. In the nearly 60 years between the 1939 release of Hollywood's first animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and modern hits like Toy Story, Shrek and more, advances in animation technology have revolutionized not only animation techniques, but movie making as a whole. However, a new study in the INFORMS journal  Organization Science  found that employing the latest technology doesn't always ensure creative success for a film.

NSF Graduate Research Fellow Erik Anderson tests the conversion of blue light to electricity with a new higher efficiency rectenna design. SUMMARY: The research team that announced the first optical rectenna in 2015 is now reporting a two-fold efficiency improvement in the devices -- and a switch to air-stable diode materials. The improvements could allow the rectennas -- which convert electromagnetic fields at optical frequencies directly to electrical current -- to operate low-power devices such as temperature sensors. The research team that announced the first optical rectenna in 2015 is now reporting a two-fold efficiency improvement in the devices -- and a switch to air-stable diode materials. The improvements could allow the rectennas -- which convert electromagnetic fields at optical frequencies directly to electrical current -- to operate low-power devices such as temperature sensors.

Illustrations showing the basic operation of NIST’s artificial synapse, which could connect processors and store memories in future neuromorphic computers operating like the human brain. A synapse is a connection or switch between two brain cells. NIST’s artificial synapse is a tiny metal cylinder that processes incoming electrical spikes to customize spiking output signals based on a tunable internal design. Researchers apply current pulses to control the number of nanoclusters pointing in the same direction, as depicted in the “disordered” versus “ordered” illustrations. This design, in which different inputs alter the alignment and resulting output signals, is inspired by how the brain operates. Summary: Researchers have built a superconducting switch that 'learns' like a biological system and could connect processors and store memories in future computers operating like the human brain. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have b...

Scientists use a new platform, called MAESTRO, to see microscale details in monolayer material's electronic structure Summary: Researchers used MAESTRO, an X-ray platform, to zero in on signatures of exotic electronic behavior in a 2-D material. They found that the material may be highly tunable, with potential applications in spintronics and other emerging fields. This rendering shows the atomic structure of a 2-D material ("ball-and-stick" representation at bottom) and the signature (middle and top) of electronic properties that were observed using an X-ray technique at Berkeley Lab's MAESTRO beamline. To see what is driving the exotic behavior in some atomically thin -- or 2-D -- materials, and find out what happens when they are stacked like Lego bricks in different combinations with other ultrathin materials, scientists want to observe their properties at the smallest possible scales. Enter MAESTRO, a next-generation platform for X-ray exp...

Summary: Scientists have discovered a way of enhancing the capabilities of an emerging nanotechnology that could open the door to a new generation of electronics Memristor chips hold the key to the next generation of electronics. Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered a way of enhancing the capabilities of an emerging nanotechnology that could open the door to a new generation of electronics. In a study published in the journal  Scientific Reports , researchers show how they have pushed the memristor -- a simpler and smaller alternative to the transistor, with the capability of altering its resistance and storing multiple memory states -- to a new level of performance after experimenting with its component materials.

Summary: Researchers have identified a mechanism that triggers shape-memory phenomena in organic crystals used in plastic electronics. Shape-shifting structural materials are made with metal alloys, but the new generation of economical printable plastic electronics is poised to benefit from this phenomenon, too. Shape-memory materials science and plastic electronics technology, when merged, could open the door to advancements in low-power electronics, medical electronics devices and multifunctional shape-memory materials. Illinois chemistry and biomolecular engineering professor Ying Diao, right, and graduate student Hyunjoong Chung are part of a team that has identified a mechanism that triggers shape-memory in organic crystals used in plastic electronics. The findings are published in the journal  Nature Communications and confirm the shape-memory phenomenon in two organic semiconductors materials. Devices like the expandable stents that open and unblock clogged hu...

Better than a hologram: Research produces 3-D images floating in 'thin air' Nature study outlines method to make the images of science fiction Summary: In the original Star Wars film, R2D2 projects an image of Princess Leia in distress. The iconic scene includes the line still famous 40 years later: 'Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.' Electrical and computer engineering professor and holography experts have long had a goal to create the same type of 3-D image projection. Now, researchers detail a newly developed method to do so. Student Erich Nygaard is depicted as a 3-D volumetric image, mimicking the popular Princess Leia hologram. In the original Star Wars film, R2D2 projects an image of Princess Leia in distress. The iconic scene includes the line still famous 40 years later: "Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope." BYU electrical and computer engineering professor and holography expert Daniel Smalley ha...

Summary: Researchers have discovered a technology that enhances the efficiency of Quantum Dot LEDs. They succeeded in improving the efficiency of Quantum Dot (QD) Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) by designing metallic nanostructure substrates. This is a spectrum showing different fluorescence with and without metallic nanostructure KAIST researchers have discovered a technology that enhances the efficiency of Quantum Dot LEDs. Professor Yong-Hoon Cho from the Department of Physics and his team succeeded in improving the efficiency of Quantum Dot (QD) Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) by designing metallic nanostructure substrates. QD LEDs possess very small semiconductor light sources and are considered to be the new rising technology for high performance full-color display. However, it is expensive to manufacture displays with QD LED only.

Synthetic peptides could integrate seamlessly with host tissue Summary: A new discovery could underpin a new class of implantable devices that provide biological signals to surrounding tissue for better integration with the body and reduced risk of infection. The team has developed low-cost, practical techniques to guide and attach peptides to surfaces. Medicine increasingly relies on biomedical devices but their effectiveness is often limited because of unsuccessful integration with the host, necessitating replacement through revision surgery, or the development of untreatable infections. Control of peptide orientation by electric field. Charge separation on one end of the peptide creates a dipole moment (indicated by ellipses) that aligns with the electric field and rotates the entire molecule. When the peptide makes contact with the radical-functionalized surface it becomes irreversibly anchored in this orientation. A discovery by University of Sydney researchers co...

Summary: Researchers have demonstrated that sound waves can be used to produce ultraminiature optical diodes that are tiny enough to fit onto a computer chip. These devices, called optical isolators, may help solve major data capacity and system size challenges for photonic integrated circuits, the light-based equivalent of electronic circuits, which are used for computing and communications. Illinois mechanical science and engineering student and lead author of a new study Benjamin Sohn holds a device that uses sound waves to produce optical diodes tiny enough to fit onto a computer chip. Illinois researchers have demonstrated that sound waves can be used to produce ultraminiature optical diodes that are tiny enough to fit onto a computer chip. These devices, called optical isolators, may help solve major data capacity and system size challenges for photonic integrated circuits, the light-based equivalent of electronic circuits, which are used for computing and communicati...

Summary: Devices used to manage accounts using Bitcoin could be improved to provide better protection against hackers, according to new research. Devices used to manage accounts on the innovative payment system Bitcoin could be improved to provide better protection against hackers, research suggests. Computer scientists have identified security weak spots in gadgets that manage personal accounts using Bitcoin -- a form of digital currency that provides an alternative to conventional money. They also identified how these wallets -- which are popular among the Bitcoin community -- might be rectified. Their findings could help technology firms improve how the devices -- known as Bitcoin hardware wallets -- interact with our PCs.

'Programmable droplets' could enable high-volume biology experiments Using electric fields to manipulate droplets on a surface could enable high-volume, low-cost biology experiments. Summary: Researchers have developed hardware that uses electric fields to move droplets of chemical or biological solutions around a surface, mixing them in ways that could be used to test thousands of reactions in parallel MIT researchers have developed hardware that uses electric fields to move droplets of chemical or biological solutions around a surface, mixing them in ways that could be used to test thousands of reactions in parallel. MIT researchers have developed hardware that uses electric fields to move droplets of chemical or biological solutions around a surface, mixing them in ways that could be used to test thousands of reactions in parallel. MIT researchers have developed hardware that uses electric fields to move droplets of chemical or biological solutions aro...

Scientists study exotic material's properties, which could make possible a new form of data storage Summary: Scientists used spiraling X-rays to observe, for the first time, a property that gives left- or right-handedness to swirling electric patterns -- dubbed polar vortices -- in a layered material called a superlattice. This diagram shows the setup for the X-ray experiment that explored chirality, or handedness, in a layered material. The blue and red spirals at upper left show the X-ray light that was used to probe the material. The X-rays scattered off of the layers of the material (arrows at upper right and associated X-ray images at top), allowing researchers to measure chirality in swirling electrical vortices within the material. Scientists used spiraling X-rays at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to observe, for the first time, a property that gives handedness to swirling electric patterns -- dubbed p...

New material creates fuel cell catalysts at a hundredth of the cost Summary: Researchers now describe the development of an inexpensive, efficient catalyst material for a type of fuel cell called a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, which turns the chemical energy of hydrogen into electricity and is among the most promising fuel cell types to power cars and electronics. Engineered carbon fibers embedded with active nanoparticles (top) can be fabricated into structural materials that are lightweight and flexible (bottom). Fuel cells have the potential to be a clean and efficient way to run cars, computers, and power stations, but the cost of producing them is limiting their use. That's because a key component of the most common fuel cells is a catalyst made from the precious metal platinum. In a paper published today in  Small , researchers at the University of California, Riverside, describe the development of an inexpensive, efficient catalyst material f...

Summary: Researchers produce 2D sheets of tin atoms predicted to have exotic uses in electronics. Stanene, a cousin of graphene, formed on a physically and chemically controlled surface. High-resolution STM image of stanene prepared on a Ag2Sn surface alloy. The honeycomb stanene structure model is superimposed. Nagoya University-led researchers produce 2D sheets of tin atoms predicted to have exotic uses in electronics. Sometimes it pays to be two-dimensional. The merits of graphene, a 2D sheet of carbon atoms, are well established. In its wake have followed a host of "post-graphene materials" -- structural analogues of graphene made of other elements like silicon or germanium. Now, an international research team led by Nagoya University (Japan) involving Aix-Marseille University (France), the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg (Germany) and the University of the Basque country (Spain) has unveiled the first truly planar sample of stanene: single sheets of tin ...

A new one-pot approach of conjugated tetraenes from inexpensive reagents could have wide-ranging applications in material and pharmaceutical chemistry Summary: Conjugated tetraenes are important key substructures in electronic materials, natural products and pharmaceutical molecules. However, they are difficult to synthesize. Now, researchers in Japan have achieved a new synthetic route of conjugated tetraenes from inexpensive and easily available 1,3-butadiene and substituted acetylenes by a one-pot approach under mild conditions. A new one-pot approach of conjugated tetraenes from 1,3-butadiene and two substituted acetylenes catalyzed by a zero-valent ruthenium complex. Conjugated tetraenes are important key substructures in electronic materials, natural products and pharmaceutical molecules. However, they are difficult to synthesize. They are conventionally prepared by repetitions of the stoichiometric reactions using phosphorus reagents and subsequent reduction a...