Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Space Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Uracil found in Ryugu samples      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Samples from the asteroid Ryugu collected by the Hayabusa2 mission contain nitrogenous organic compounds, including the nucleobase uracil, which is a part of RNA.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Honey, the 3D print--I mean, dessert--is ready!      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Cooking devices that incorporate three-dimensional (3D) printers, lasers, or other software-driven processes may soon replace conventional cooking appliances such as ovens, stovetops, and microwaves. But will people want to use a 3D printer -- even one as beautifully designed as a high-end coffee maker -- on their kitchen counters to calibrate the exact micro- and macro-nutrients they need to stay healthy? Will 3D food printing improve the ways we nourish ourselves? What sorts of hurdles will need to be overcome to commercialize such a technology? Researchers explore the benefits and drawbacks of 3D-printed food technology, cooking 3D-printed food with lasers as part of the system, how 3D-printed food compares to the 'normal' food we eat, and the future landscape of our kitchens.

Offbeat: General
Published

Delicious 3D printed food      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Additive manufacturing of food involves designing, pre-processing, manufacturing, and post-processing, and each step is an opportunity to create innovative foods. Researchers identify factors that affect the print quality and shape complexity of the food created. For example, changing the printing patterns and ingredients of the initial mix or paste can affect the food's matrix and microstructures and therefore its texture. Accounting for these features can increase food quality, improve control, and speed up printing.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Computer Science: Quantum Computers Energy: Technology Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

'Y-ball' compound yields quantum secrets      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists investigating a compound called 'Y-ball' -- which belongs to a mysterious class of 'strange metals' viewed as centrally important to next-generation quantum materials -- have found new ways to probe and understand its behavior.

Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Surprise in the quantum world: Disorder leads to ferromagnetic topological insulator      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Magnetic topological insulators are an exotic class of materials that conduct electrons without any resistance at all and so are regarded as a promising breakthrough in materials science. Researchers have achieved a significant milestone in the pursuit of energy-efficient quantum technologies by designing the ferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi6Te10 from the manganese bismuth telluride family. The amazing thing about this quantum material is that its ferromagnetic properties only occur when some atoms swap places, introducing antisite disorder.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

'Inkable' nanomaterial promises big benefits for bendable electronics      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team of scientists is developing an inkable nanomaterial that they say could one day become a spray-on electronic component for ultra-thin, lightweight and bendable displays and devices.

Energy: Nuclear Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Physics: General Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics Space: Astrophysics Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Scientists find a common thread linking subatomic color glass condensate and massive black holes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Atomic nuclei accelerated close to the speed of light become dense walls of gluons known as color glass condensate (CGC). Recent analysis shows that CGC shares features with black holes, enormous conglomerates of gravitons that exert gravitational force across the universe. Both gluons in CGC and gravitons in black holes are organized in the most efficient manner possible for each system's energy and size.

Offbeat: General Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Vocal tract size, shape dictate speech sounds      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers explore how anatomical variations in a speaker's vocal tract affect speech production. Using MRI, the team recorded the shape of the vocal tract for 41 speakers as the subjects produced a series of representative speech sounds. They averaged these shapes to establish a sound-independent model of the vocal tract. Then they used statistical analysis to extract the main variations between speakers. A handful of factors explained nearly 90% of the differences between speakers.

Offbeat: General Physics: General Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Ultrafast beam-steering breakthrough      (via sciencedaily.com) 

n a major breakthrough in the fields of nanophotonics and ultrafast optics, a research team has demonstrated the ability to dynamically steer light pulses from conventional, so-called incoherent light sources.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Scientists open door to manipulating 'quantum light'      (via sciencedaily.com) 

How light interacts with matter has always fired the imagination. Now scientists for the first time have demonstrated the ability to manipulate single and double atoms exhibiting the properties of simulated light emission. This creates prospects for advances in photonic quantum computing and low-intensity medical imaging.

Computer Science: General Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Superconducting amplifiers offer high performance with lower power consumption      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have devised a new concept of superconducting microwave low-noise amplifiers for use in radio wave detectors for radio astronomy observations, and successfully demonstrated a high-performance cooled amplifier with power consumption three orders of magnitude lower than that of conventional cooled semiconductor amplifiers. This result is expected to contribute to the realization of large-scale multi-element radio cameras and error-tolerant quantum computers, both of which require a large number of low-noise microwave amplifiers.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Sculpting quantum materials for the electronics of the future      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The development of new information and communication technologies poses new challenges to scientists and industry. Designing new quantum materials -- whose exceptional properties stem from quantum physics -- is the most promising way to meet these challenges. An international team has designed a material in which the dynamics of electrons can be controlled by curving the fabric of space in which they evolve. These properties are of interest for next-generation electronic devices, including the optoelectronics of the future.

Computer Science: General Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

3D-printed revolving devices can sense how they are moving      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers created a system that enables makers to incorporate sensors directly into rotational mechanisms with only one pass in a 3D printer. This gives rotational mechanisms like gearboxes the ability to sense their angular position, rotation speed, and direction of rotation.

Computer Science: General Computer Science: Quantum Computers Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR) Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Qubits put new spin on magnetism: Boosting applications of quantum computers      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Research using a quantum computer as the physical platform for quantum experiments has found a way to design and characterize tailor-made magnetic objects using quantum bits, or qubits. That opens up a new approach to develop new materials and robust quantum computing.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General
Published

'Talking' concrete could help prevent traffic jams and cut carbon emissions      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An increasing number of U.S. interstates are set to try out an invention that could save millions of taxpayer dollars and significantly reduce traffic delays. The invention, a sensor that allows concrete to 'talk,' decreases construction time and how often concrete pavement needs repairs while also improving the road’s sustainability and cutting its carbon footprint. Embedded directly into a concrete pour, the sensor sends engineers more precise and consistent data about the concrete’s strength and need for repair than is possible with currently used tools and methods.

Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Breakthrough in the understanding of quantum turbulence      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have shown how energy disappears in quantum turbulence, paving the way for a better understanding of turbulence in scales ranging from the microscopic to the planetary. The team's findings demonstrate a new understanding of how wave-like motion transfers energy from macroscopic to microscopic length scales, and their results confirm a theoretical prediction about how the energy is dissipated at small scales. In the future, an improved understanding of turbulence beginning on the quantum level could allow for improved engineering in domains where the flow and behavior of fluids and gases like water and air is a key question. Understanding that in classical fluids will help scientists do things like improve the aerodynamics of vehicles, predict the weather with better accuracy, or control water flow in pipes. There is a huge number of potential real-world uses for understanding macroscopic turbulence.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

'Terminator zones' on distant planets could harbor life      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In a new study, astronomers describe how extraterrestrial life has the potential to exist on distant exoplanets inside a special area called the 'terminator zone,' which is a ring on planets that have one side that always faces its star and one side that is always dark.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Evidence that Venus is volcanically active      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Venus appears to have volcanic activity, according to a new research paper that offers strong evidence to answer the lingering question about whether Earth's sister planet currently has eruptions and lava flows.

Biology: Zoology Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Characterizing abnormal neural networks in dogs with anxiety      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers report abnormalities in functional neural networks of dogs diagnosed with anxiety. The study shows that compared with healthy dogs, those with anxiety exhibit stronger connections between the amygdala and other regions of the anxiety network. The findings might also help reveal how functional connections between anxiety-related regions of the brain are altered in cases of human anxiety disorders.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
Published

Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral was historical first in using iron reinforcements in the 12th century      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The Notre-Dame de Paris is the first known cathedral of Gothic-style architecture to be initially constructed with extensive use of iron to bind stones together. The 2019 fire that significantly damaged the cathedral enabled analyses leading to this discovery.