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Categories: Energy: Nuclear, Geoscience: Geology

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Sapphires are among the most precious gems, yet they consist solely of chemically 'contaminated' aluminum oxide, or corundum. It is widely assumed that these crystals with their characteristically blue color come from deep crustal rocks and accidentally ended up on the Earth's surface as magma ascended. Geoscientists have now been able to show that the sapphire grains found in the Eifel (Germany) formed in association with volcanism.

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Researchers have used magnetic fields to reveal the mystery of how light particles split. Scientists are closer to giving the next generation of solar cells a powerful boost by integrating a process that could make the technology more efficient by breaking particles of light photons into small chunks.

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A new analysis of rocks thought to be at least 2.5 billion years old helps clarify the chemical history of Earth's mantle -- the geologic layer beneath the planet's crust. The findings hone scientists' understanding of Earth's earliest geologic processes, and they provide new evidence in a decades-long scientific debate about the geologic history of Earth. Specifically, the results provide evidence that the oxidation state of the vast majority of Earth's mantle has remained stable through geologic time and has not undergone major transitions, contrary to what has been suggested previously by other researchers.

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Researchers have successfully made super-heavy element 116 using a beam of titanium-50. That milestone sets the team up to attempt making the heaviest element yet: 120.

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Fluids circulating underground change rocks over the course of time. These processes must be taken into account if they are to be used as a climate archive. Researchers have used 380-million-year-old limestones from Hagen-Hohenlimburg to show in detail which climate information is still preserved in the rock.

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Researchers have found that titanium-48 changes from a shell model structure to an alpha-cluster structure depending on the distance from the center of the nucleus. The results upend the conventional understanding of nuclear structure and are expected to provide clues to the Gamow theory on the alpha-decay process that occurs in heavy nuclei, which has not been solved for nearly 100 years.

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As the planet continues to warm due to human-driven climate change, accurate computer climate models will be key in helping illuminate exactly how the climate will continue to be altered in the years ahead.

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Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, paving the way towards benchmarking quantum chemistry calculations.

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Age data for certain classes of meteorite have made it possible to gain new findings on the origin of small water-rich astronomical bodies in the early solar system. These planetesimals continually supplied building materials for planets -- also for the Earth, whose original material contained little water. The Earth received its actual water through planetesimals, which emerged at low temperatures in the outer solar system, as shown by computational models carried out by an international research teach with participation by earth scientists.

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An assessment ranks the feasibility of converting 245 operational coal power plants in the U.S. into advanced nuclear reactors, providing valuable insights for policymakers and utilities to meet decarbonization goals, according to a new study.

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A team of researchers had already been working with electricity price data for years before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, exploring statistics and developing forecasting methods. Now they zero in on how prices in different countries relate and how countries were affected by the energy crisis and address the interdependencies of different markets. Their approach combines statistical physics and network science, identifying communities and the fundamental spatiotemporal patterns within the electricity price/time data from all countries. The researchers hope their work will strengthen the European perspective in the political debate about electricity markets and prices, because problems like this are best tackled via international cooperation.

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Raising the energy state of an atom's nucleus using a laser, or exciting it, would enable development of the most accurate atomic clocks ever to exist. This has been hard to do because electrons, which surround the nucleus, react easily with light, increasing the amount of light needed to reach the nucleus. By causing the electrons to bond with fluorine in a transparent crystal, UCLA physicists have finally succeeded in exciting the neutrons in a thorium atom's nucleus using a moderate amount of laser light. This accomplishment means that measurements of time, gravity and other fields that are currently performed using atomic electrons can be made with orders of magnitude higher accuracy.

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Two samples from Mars together deliver clear evidence of the origin of Martian organic material. The study presents solid evidence for a prediction made over a decade ago that could be key to understanding how organic molecules, the foundation of life, were first formed here on Earth.

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Hydrothermal vents can be found around the world at the junctions of drifting tectonic plates. But there are many hydrothermal fields still to be discovered. During a 2022 expedition of the MARIA S. MERIAN, the first field of hydrothermal vents on the 500-kilometer-long Knipovich Ridge off the coast of Svalbard was discovered.

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Why did multicellularity arise? Solving that mystery may help pinpoint life on other planets and explain the vast diversity and complexity seen on Earth today, from sea sponges to redwoods to human society. A new article shows how specific physical conditions -- especially ocean viscosity and resource deprivation -- during the global glaciation period known as Snowball Earth could have driven eukaryotes to turn multicellular.

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Scientists predict from geochemical data that Iceland is entering a new volcanic era that will last for decades, possibly centuries. Under an hour's drive from the country's capital city, the ongoing eruptions pose considerable risks for economic disruption, and they leave evacuated communities uncertain of a possible return.

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Researchers have experimentally generated high-density relativistic electron-positron pair-plasma beams by producing two to three orders of magnitude more pairs than previously reported.

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The new study provides unambiguous evidence that the inner core began to decrease its speed around 2010, moving slower than the Earth's surface.

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Scientists have for the first time observed how atoms in magnesium oxide morph and melt under ultra-harsh conditions, providing new insights into this key mineral within Earth's mantle that is known to influence planet formation.

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Complex metal alloys enter a new era of predictive design for aerospace and other high-temperature applications.