X-ray method predicts anion behavior, opening path to longer-lasting batteries and AI-assisted chemistry
A new way of measuring how materials interact at the atomic level could help scientists develop better-performing, longer-lasting batteries.
Light beam 'swims' upstream through a quantum fluid by violating Newton's third law
Just as a leaf drifts along with a stream, objects in other moving fluids normally drift along with the flow. That is, unless they exert energy to move against it. Although it may…
Rice bran—source for antimicrobial, biodegradable food packaging film
Rice bran is a plentiful agricultural byproduct that is often underused, but research from the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station shows it could be a source of biodegradable…
Electrical control method tunes magnetic properties for next-generation spintronic memory
A research team led by Professor Jung-Il Hong of the Department of Physics and Chemistry at DGIST has successfully used current pulses to alter the spin configuration within a fer…
Microcrystal electron diffractometer brings hidden hydrogen into focus
Hydrogen—the lightest atom—does the heavy lifting when it comes to important chemical reactions. It can be stored and released as clean fuel, and its movements help catalysts buil…
Liquid crystal takes page from steel in surprising phase transition
A type of transformation best known for hardening steel and enabling shape-memory alloys may also occur in a much softer class of materials, according to new research from Rice Un…
Quantum protocol securely verifies a device's position using stations 2 km apart
Reliably verifying the location of a device connected to the internet or other networks is important for various real-world applications. For instance, it could be valuable for au…
Water-based process separates zirconium and hafnium with fivefold higher efficiency
Oregon State University scientists have patented a better, more environmentally friendly process for separating two metals that are critical in their pure forms for the semiconduc…
Iron complex breaks down stubborn pollutant using light-powered reaction
The molecular culprit behind harmful algal blooms and some groundwater contamination is the same thing that has kept civilization fed for millennia: a stable form of nitrogen call…
Plasma technology could help plant-based packaging replace plastic
A new study has found a sustainable and scalable way to improve the durability of plant-based packaging; it's a discovery that researchers say could help curb the environmental fo…
New ligand design balances radical generation and catalyst regeneration for challenging chemical reactions
Radicals, atoms or molecules that readily react with other substances to form new bonds, are useful tools for building complex substances such as pharmaceuticals. But even when a …
Nuclear-spin swap extends room-temperature entanglement lifetime up to 240-fold
Researchers in China have extended the lifetime of entanglement in a room-temperature, solid-state system by up to a factor of 240. Led by Shuo Ren and Rui-Jian Liang at the Unive…
Quantum communication protocol enables three users to establish a shared secure key
Quantum key distribution allows two users to establish secret keys whose security is grounded in the laws of quantum mechanics. Extending this capability to multiple users is an e…
Scientists teleport quantum states across 100 parallel optical channels
Quantum communication networks consist of several connected nodes that exchange information encoded in quantum states. These networks could potentially enable more secure communic…
X-ray light is like guitar music, with frequencies sliding continuously between harmonics
Ultrashort laser pulses can be used to generate X-rays. Normally, however, only certain specific frequencies are produced. A team from TU Wien and the University of California San…
Tiny molecular scissors reveal how crystals bend without breaking
Crystals are usually thought of as rigid and brittle. Yet some molecular crystals can bend, jump, twist or even change shape when exposed to light. Understanding how tiny molecula…
Photonic Legos of functional 3D thin-films unlock high-performance heterogeneous photonic integration
Photonic integrated circuits route information with optical signals instead of relying only on electrical currents. Silicon (Si) and silicon nitride (SiNx) are excellent photonic …
Cooling liquids reveal self-limiting particle clusters behind glass transition
Before diving into the mystery of glass, theoretical physicist Corentin Laudicina takes us back to high school physics for a moment. Although he has spent years studying exactly w…
Two-color light steers electrons through graphene's transient topological state
The electronic properties of materials are typically determined by their structure under normal, undisturbed conditions, when they are in a state known as equilibrium. Intense lig…
Physicists extend the search for quantum black holes at the LHC
Physicists at UC Santa Barbara have extended the search for evidence of microscopic black holes produced at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclea…
Laser experiments recreate solar flare physics and reveal consistent magnetic reconnection rates
Magnetic reconnection is a process that occurs when the magnetic fields of a conductive plasma quickly rearrange and release massive amounts of stored magnetic energy. It is widel…
Hemp waste cellulose unlocks tougher biodegradable plastics
Korean researchers have developed a method to strengthen biodegradable plastics using hemp hurd, an agricultural byproduct. The approach is expected to be applicable to other larg…
An extremely stable quantum gas offers a new lens on strongly interacting systems
Molecular gases are a new form of artificial quantum matter. However, when these molecules collide, they are often lost extremely rapidly. Researchers from Radboud University and …
Tiny atomic tweak makes plastic-eating enzymes more powerful
A new approach that changes just one atom in plastic-degrading enzymes could help make them more efficient while maintaining their stability, according to new research from The Au…