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Categories: Ecology: Endangered Species, Physics: Optics
Published Riding a wave to better medical diagnosis
(via sciencedaily.com) Medical imaging via X-rays, CT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds provide health-care professionals with unique perspectives and a better understanding of what's happening inside a patient's body. Using various forms of waves, these machines can visualize many unseen ailments and diseases. This imaging is beneficial for health-care professionals to make correct diagnoses, but the added insight of spectroscopy provides even more detail. Spectroscopy offers a means to identify biomolecules within specimens through their characteristic signatures for absorption in the electromagnetic spectrum.
Published Researchers find global plant water use efficiency stalled due to climate change
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New findings have found that water use efficiency has stalled since 2001 which implies not as much CO2 was being taken in by plants and more water was consumed and that could have implications on carbon cycling, agricultural production and water resources.
Published Chromium replaces rare and expensive noble metals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Expensive noble metals often play a vital role in illuminating screens or converting solar energy into fuels. Now, chemists have succeeded in replacing these rare elements with a significantly cheaper metal. In terms of their properties, the new materials are very similar to those used in the past.
Published Scientists invent smallest known way to guide light
(via sciencedaily.com) Through a series of innovative experiments, scientists found that a sheet of glass crystal just a few atoms thick could trap and carry light. Not only that, but it was surprisingly efficient and could travel relatively long distances -- up to a centimeter, which is very far in the world of light-based computing.
Published Arrays of quantum rods could enhance TVs or virtual reality devices
(via sciencedaily.com) Using scaffolds of folded DNA, engineers assembled arrays of quantum rods with desirable photonic properties that could enable them to be used as highly efficient micro-LEDs for televisions or virtual reality devices.
Published Researchers 'film' novel catalyst at work
(via sciencedaily.com) A novel catalysis scheme enables chemical reactions that were previously virtually impossible. The method is also environmentally friendly and does not require rare and precious metals. The researchers recorded the exact course of the catalysis in a kind of high-speed film. They did this using special lasers that can make processes visible that last only fractions of a billionth of a second. The results allow them to further optimize the catalyst.
Published Chemicals from maize roots influence wheat yield
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Maize roots secrete certain chemicals that affect the quality of soil. In some fields, this effect increases yields of wheat planted subsequent to maize in the same soil by more than 4%. While the findings from several field experiments show that these effects are highly variable, in the long term they may yet help to make the cultivation of grains more sustainable, without the need for additional fertilizers or pesticides.
Published The positional transmitter of statoliths unveiled: It keeps plants from getting lazy
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Plants orient their organs in response to the gravity vector, with roots growing towards gravity and shoots growing in the opposite direction. The movement of statoliths responding to the inclination relative to the gravity vector is employed for gravity sensing in both plants and animals. However, in plants, the statolith takes the form of a high-density organelle, known as an amyloplast, which settles toward gravity within the gravity sensing cell. Despite the significance of this gravity sensing mechanism, the exact process behind it has eluded scientists for over a century.
Published Making molecules dance to our tune reveals what drives their first movements
(via sciencedaily.com) Bringing ultrafast physics to structural biology has revealed the dance of molecular 'coherence' in unprecedented clarity.
Published Researchers identify peptides for pollen tube growth in rice
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Rapid alkalinization factors (RALFs) are required for pollen tube germination and elongation, an essential process in plant fertilization. But their role in monocot plants remains unexplored. Scientists have now identified OsRALF17 and OsRALF19 in rice and determined their functions in pollen tube germination and growth. This study provides novel insights into the role of RALFs in rice fertilization, paving the way for enhanced grain yield.
Published The oldest and fastest evolving moss in the world might not survive climate change
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A 390-million-year-old moss called Takakia lives in some of Earth's most remote places, including the icy cliffs of the Tibetan Plateau. In a decade-long project, a team of scientists climbed some of the tallest peaks in the world to find Takakia, sequence its DNA for the first time, and study how climate change is impacting the moss. Their results show that Takakia is one of the fastest evolving species ever studied -- but it likely isn't evolving fast enough to survive climate change.
Published Technology advance could expand the reach of 3D nanoprinting
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have developed an easy-to-build, low-cost 3D nanoprinting system that can create arbitrary 3D structures with extremely fine features. The new 3D nanoprinting technique is precise enough to print metamaterials as well as a variety of optical devices and components such as microlenses, micro-optical devices and metamaterials.
Published Researchers use SPAD detector to achieve 3D quantum ghost imaging
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have reported the first 3D measurements acquired with quantum ghost imaging. The new technique enables 3D imaging on a single photon level, yielding the lowest photon dose possible for any measurement.
Published Uncovering the Auger-Meitner Effect's crucial role in electron energy loss
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Defects often limit the performance of devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The mechanisms by which defects annihilate charge carriers are well understood in materials that emit light at red or green wavelengths, but an explanation has been lacking for such loss in shorter-wavelength (blue or ultraviolet) emitters.
Published Self-supervised AI learns physics to reconstruct microscopic images from holograms
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have unveiled an artificial intelligence-based model for computational imaging and microscopy without training with experimental objects or real data. The team introduced a self-supervised AI model nicknamed GedankenNet that learns from physics laws and thought experiments. Informed only by the laws of physics that universally govern the propagation of electromagnetic waves in space, the researchers taught their AI model to reconstruct microscopic images using only random artificial holograms -- synthesized solely from 'imagination' without relying on any real-world experiments, actual sample resemblances or real data.
Published Kordofan giraffes face local extinction if poaching continues
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Poaching of two Critically Endangered Kordofan giraffes per year could result in extinction in just 15 years within Cameroon's Bénoué National Park without intervention.
Published New photocatalytic system converts carbon dioxide to valuable fuel more efficiently than natural photosynthesis
(via sciencedaily.com) A research team recently developed a stable artificial photocatalytic system that is more efficient than natural photosynthesis. The new system mimics a natural chloroplast to convert carbon dioxide in water into methane, a valuable fuel, very efficiently using light. This is a promising discovery, which could contribute to the goal of carbon neutrality.
Published Unleashing a new era of color tunable nano-devices -- smallest ever light source with switchable colors formed
(via sciencedaily.com) New research has achieved a significant breakthrough in color switching for nanocrystals, unlocking exciting possibilities for a simple, energy efficient display design and for tunable light sources needed in numerous technologies. The discovery also has potential applications in sensitive sensors for various substances, including biological and neuroscience uses, as well as advancements in quantum communication technologies. This nanomaterial breakthrough holds the promise of inspiring exciting innovations in the future.
Published Butterfly-inspired films create vibrant colors while passively cooling objects
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New films inspired by butterfly wings circumvent the heating effect usually experienced by colored objects absorbing light on a hot day. The new films could be used on the outside of buildings, vehicles and equipment to reduce the energy needed for cooling while preserving vivid color properties.
Published Researchers are using monkey poop to learn how an endangered species chooses its mates
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Northern muriquis, which live in the Atlantic forest of Brazil, are one of the most endangered species of monkey in the world. To better understand what goes on in the mating lives of muriquis, researchers turned to the monkeys' poop to help gain insight into how the primates choose their mates.