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Categories: Offbeat: Space, Physics: Optics
Published Tiniest 'starquake' ever detected



An orange dwarf star has yielded the tiniest 'starquakes' ever recorded, measured by an international team of scientists.
Published Scientists on the hunt for evidence of quantum gravity's existence at the South Pole



An Antarctic large-scale experiment is striving to find out if gravity also exists at the quantum level. An extraordinary particle able to travel undisturbed through space seems to hold the answer.
Published Research lights up process for turning CO2 into sustainable fuel



Researchers have successfully transformed CO2 into methanol by shining sunlight on single atoms of copper deposited on a light-activated material, a discovery that paves the way for creating new green fuels.
Published Pushing back the limits of optical imaging by processing trillions of frames per second



Pushing for a higher speed isn't just for athletes. Researchers, too, can achieve such feats with their discoveries. A new device called SCARF (for swept-coded aperture real-time femtophotography) can capture transient absorption in a semiconductor and ultrafast demagnetization of a metal alloy. This new method will help push forward the frontiers of knowledge in a wide range of fields, including modern physics, biology, chemistry, materials science, and engineering.
Published A self-cleaning wall paint



Beautiful white wall paint does not stay beautiful and white forever. Often, various substances from the air accumulate on its surface. This can be a desired effect because it makes the air cleaner for a while -- but over time, the color changes and needs to be renewed. Now, special titanium oxide nanoparticles have been developed that can be added to ordinary, commercially available wall paint to establish self-cleaning power: The nanoparticles are photocatalytically active, they can use sunlight not only to bind substances from the air, but also to decompose them afterwards.
Published Astronomers discover 49 new galaxies in under three hours



New work aimed to study the star-forming gas in a single radio galaxy. Although the team didn't find any star-forming gas in the galaxy they were studying, they instead discovered other galaxies while inspecting the data. In total, the gas of 49 galaxies was detected.
Published James Webb Space Telescope captures the end of planet formation



How much time do planets have to form from a swirling disk of gas and dust around a star? A new study gives scientists a better idea of how our own solar system came to be.
Published Signs of life would be detectable in single ice grain emitted from extraterrestrial moons



Could life be found in frozen sea spray from moons orbiting Saturn or Jupiter? New research finds that life can be detected in a single ice grain containing one bacterial cell or portions of a cell. The results suggest that if life similar to that on Earth exists on these planetary bodies, that this life should be detectable by instruments launching in the fall.
Published Secrets of the Van Allen belt revealed in new study



A challenge to space scientists to better understand our hazardous near-Earth space environment has been set in a new study.
Published Cleaning up environmental contaminants with quantum dot technology



The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was focused on quantum dots -- objects so tiny, they're controlled by the strange rules of quantum physics. Quantum dots used in electronics are often toxic, but their nontoxic counterparts are being explored for uses in medicine and in the environment, including water decontamination. One team of researchers has specially designed carbon- and sulfur-based dots for these environmental applications.
Published Researchers add swept illumination to open-top light-sheet microscope



Researchers have incorporated a swept illumination source into an open-top light-sheet microscope to enable improved optical sectioning over a larger area of view. The advance makes the technique more practical for nondestructive 3D pathology.
Published Icy impacts: Planetary scientists use physics and images of impact craters to gauge the thickness of ice on Europa



New study reveals that Europa's ice shell is at least 20 kilometers thick.
Published Scientists find one of the most ancient stars that formed in another galaxy



The first generation of stars transformed the universe. Inside their cores, simple hydrogen and helium fused into a rainbow of elements. When these stars died, they exploded and sent these new elements across the universe. The iron running in your veins and the calcium in your teeth and the sodium powering your thoughts were all born in the heart of a long-dead star.
Published Quantum tornado provides gateway to understanding black holes



Scientists have created a giant quantum vortex to mimic a black hole in superfluid helium that has allowed them to see in greater detail how analogue black holes behave and interact with their surroundings.
Published Astrophysicist's research could provide a hint in the search for dark matter



Dark matter is one of science's greatest mysteries. Although it is believed to make up about 85 percent of the cosmos, scientists know very little about its fundamental nature. Research provides some of the most stringent constraints on the nature of dark matter yet. It also revealed a small hint of a signal that, if real, could be confirmed in the next decade or so.
Published Metamaterials and AI converge, igniting innovative breakthroughs



Scientists unveil next-generation research trends in metaphotonics platforms with AI.
Published Molecular crystal motors move like microbes when exposed to light



At first glance, Rabih Al-Kaysi's molecular motors look like the microscopic worms you'd see in a drop of pond water. But these wriggling ribbons are not alive; they're made from crystallized molecules that perform coordinated movements when exposed to light. With continued development, these tiny machines could be used as drug-delivery robots or engineered into arrays that direct the flow of water around submarines.
Published Spectroscopy and theory shed light on excitons in semiconductors



Researchers have made very fast and very precise images of excitons -- in fact, accurate to one quadrillionth of a second and one billionth of a meter. This understanding is essential for developing more efficient materials with organic semiconductors.
Published Backyard insect inspires invisibility devices, next gen tech



Leafhoppers, a common backyard insect, secrete and coat themselves in tiny mysterious particles that could provide both the inspiration and the instructions for next-generation technology, according to a new study. In a first, the team precisely replicated the complex geometry of these particles, called brochosomes, and elucidated a better understanding of how they absorb both visible and ultraviolet light.
Published Using light to produce medication and plastics more efficiently



Anyone who wants to produce medication, plastics or fertilizer using conventional methods needs heat for chemical reactions -- but not so with photochemistry, where light provides the energy. The process to achieve the desired product also often takes fewer intermediate steps. Researchers are now going one step further and are demonstrating how the energy efficiency of photochemical reactions can be increased tenfold. More sustainable and cost-effective applications are now tantalizingly close.