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Categories: Paleontology: Climate, Physics: General

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A new study finds that early human species adapted to mosaic landscapes and diverse food resources, which would have increased our ancestor's resilience to past shifts in climate.

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Physicists have discovered stacked pancakes of 'liquid' magnetism that may account for the strange electronic behavior of some layered helical magnets.

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Adapting a detector developed for space X-ray observation, researchers have successfully verify strong-field quantum electrodynamics with exotic atoms.

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Researchers have developed a new class of integrated photonic devices -- 'leaky-wave metasurfaces' -- that convert light initially confined in an optical waveguide to an arbitrary optical pattern in free space. These are the first to demonstrate simultaneous control of all four optical degrees of freedom. Because they're so thin, transparent, and compatible with photonic integrated circuits, they can be used to improve optical displays, LIDAR, optical communications, and quantum optics.

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Quantum dots in semiconductors such as silicon or gallium arsenide have long been considered hot candidates for hosting quantum bits in future quantum processors. Scientists have now shown that bilayer graphene has even more to offer here than other materials. The double quantum dots they have created are characterized by a nearly perfect electron-hole-symmetry that allows a robust read-out mechanism -- one of the necessary criteria for quantum computing.

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Photovoltaics, the conversion of light to electricity, is a key technology for sustainable energy. Since the days of Max Planck and Albert Einstein, we know that light as well as electricity are quantized, meaning they come in tiny packets called photons and electrons. In a solar cell, the energy of a single photon is transferred to a single electron of the material, but no more than one. Only a few molecular materials like pentacene are an exception, where one photon is converted to two electrons instead. This excitation doubling, which is called exciton fission, could be extremely useful for high-efficiency photovoltaics, specifically to upgrade the dominant technology based on silicon. Researchers have now deciphered the first step of this process by recording an ultrafast movie of the photon-to-electricity conversion process, resolving a decades-old debate about the mechanism of the process.

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Researchers have demonstrated a prototype lidar system that uses quantum detection technology to acquire 3D images while submerged underwater. The high sensitivity of this system could allow it to capture detailed information even in extremely low-light conditions found underwater.

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An international team of researchers has developed a comprehensive manual for engineering spin dynamics in nanomagnets -- an important step toward advancing spintronic and quantum-information technologies.

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Large numbers can only be factorized with a great deal of computational effort. Physicists are now providing a blueprint for a new type of quantum computer to solve the factorization problem, which is a cornerstone of modern cryptography.

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A new study has found links at the atomic level between photosynthesis and exciton condensates -- a strange state of physics that allows energy to flow frictionlessly through a material. The finding is scientifically intriguing and may suggest new ways to think about designing electronics, the authors said.

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Using a "spooky" phenomenon of quantum physics, researchers have discovered a way to double the resolution of light microscopes.

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The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is melting rapidly, raising concerns it could cross a tipping point of irreversible retreat in the next few decades if global temperatures rise 1.5 to 2.0 degrees Celsius (2.7 to 3.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. New research finds that 6,000 years ago, the grounded edge of the ice sheet may have been as far as 250 kilometers (160 miles) inland from its current location, suggesting the ice retreated deep into the continent after the end of the last ice age and re-advanced before modern retreat began.

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Whenever SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's linear accelerator is on, packs of around a billion electrons each travel together at nearly the speed of light through metal piping. These electron bunches form the accelerator's particle beam, which is used to study the atomic behavior of molecules, novel materials and many other subjects. But trying to estimate what a particle beam actually looks like as it travels through an accelerator is difficult, leaving scientists often with only a rough approximation of how a beam will behave during an experiment. Now, researchers have developed an algorithm that more precisely predicts a beam's distribution of particle positions and velocities as it zips through an accelerator.

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New research has found evidence -- locked into an ancient stalagmite from a cave in the Himalayas -- of a series of severe and lengthy droughts which may have upturned the Bronze Age Indus Civilization.

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By superimposing two laser fields of different strengths and frequency, the electron emission of metals can be measured and controlled precisely to a few attoseconds. Physicists have shown that this is the case. The findings could lead to new quantum-mechanical insights and enable electronic circuits that are a million times faster than today.

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Physicists are using nanoparticles to develop new sources of light that will allow us to 'peel back the curtain' into the world of extremely small objects -- thousands of times smaller than a human hair -- with major gains for medical and other technologies.

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A team of researchers has demonstrated the ultimate sensitivity allowed by quantum physics in measuring the time delay between two photons. This breakthrough has significant implications for a range of applications, including more feasible imaging of nanostructures, including biological samples, and nanomaterial surfaces, as well as quantum enhanced estimation based on frequency-resolved boson sampling in optical networks.

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A team of physicists has illuminated certain properties of quantum systems by observing how their fluctuations spread over time. The research offers an intricate understanding of a complex phenomenon that is foundational to quantum computing.

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New findings suggest that Heinrich Events had no discernible impact on temperatures in Greenland, which could have repercussions for scientists' understanding of past climate dynamics.

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A new age of superconductors may be about to beginn: In the 1980s, many superconducting materials (called cuprates) were based on copper. Then, nickelates were discovered -- a new kind of superconducting materials based on nickel. But now, scientists from Austria and Japan have shown: There is a 'Goldilocks zone' of superconductivity which can neither be reached with cuprates nor with nickelates. Instead, palladium-based materials ('palladates') could be the solution.