Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Next-generation wireless technology may leverage the human body for energy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

While you may be just starting to reap the advantages of 5G wireless technology, researchers throughout the world are already working hard on the future: 6G. One of the most promising breakthroughs in 6G telecommunications is the possibility of Visible Light Communication (VLC), which is like a wireless version of fiberoptics, using flashes of light to transmit information. Now, a team has announced that they have invented a low-cost, innovative way to harvest the waste energy from VLC by using the human body as an antenna. This waste energy can be recycled to power an array of wearable devices, or even, perhaps, larger electronics.

Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Self-powered, printable smart sensors created from emerging semiconductors could mean cheaper, greener Internet of Things      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Creating smart sensors to embed in our everyday objects and environments for the Internet of Things (IoT) would vastly improve daily life -- but requires trillions of such small devices. A professor believes that emerging alternative semiconductors that are printable, low-cost and eco-friendly could lead the way to a cheaper and more sustainable IoT.

Engineering: Graphene Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Human brain organoids implanted into mouse cortex respond to visual stimuli for first time      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team of engineers and neuroscientists has demonstrated for the first time that human brain organoids implanted in mice have established functional connectivity to the animals' cortex and responded to external sensory stimuli. The implanted organoids reacted to visual stimuli in the same way as surrounding tissues, an observation that researchers were able to make in real time over several months thanks to an innovative experimental setup that combines transparent graphene microelectrode arrays and two-photon imaging.

Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Designing with DNA      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Marvel at the tiny nanoscale structures emerging from labs, and it's easy to imagine you're browsing a catalog of the world's smallest pottery: itty-bitty vases, bowls, and spheres. But instead of making them from clay, the researchers designed these objects out of threadlike molecules of DNA, bent and folded into complex three-dimensional objects. These creations demonstrate the possibilities of a new open-source software program.

Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Shrinking hydrogels enlarge nanofabrication options      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a strategy for creating ultrahigh-resolution, complex 3D nanostructures out of various materials.

Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

New X-ray imaging technique to study the transient phases of quantum materials      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of researchers has recently demonstrated for the first time the use of a new lensless ultrafast X-Ray method to image phase transitions. This new method enables the direct observation of the dynamics of quantum materials at the nanoscale.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

New study models the transmission of foreshock waves towards Earth      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As the supersonic solar wind surges towards Earth, its interaction with our planet's magnetic field creates a shock to deflect its flow, and a foreshock filled with electromagnetic waves. How these waves can propagate to the other side of the shock has long remained a mystery.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Ultrathin solar cells promise improved satellite performance      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As low Earth orbit becomes more cluttered, it becomes increasingly necessary to use middle Earth orbits, and radiation-tolerant cell designs will be needed. Making photovoltaics thinner should increase their longevity because the charge carriers have less far to go during their shortened lifetimes. Scientists propose a radiation-tolerant photovoltaic cell design that features an ultrathin layer of light-absorbing material. Compared to thicker cells, nearly 3.5 times less cover glass is needed for the ultra-thin cells to deliver the same amount of power after 20 years of operation.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Where do high-energy particles that endanger satellites, astronauts and airplanes come from?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astrophysicists show how and when specific particles form and offers clues to questions that have troubled scientists since the 1940s.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms
Published

Major infrared breakthrough could lead to solar power at night      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using technology similar to night-vision goggles, researchers have developed a device that can generate electricity from thermal radiation.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms
Published

Modeling Earth's magnetosphere in the laboratory      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists report a method to study smaller magnetospheres, sometimes just millimeters thick, in the laboratory. The new experimental platform combines the magnetic field of the Large Plasma Device with a fast laser-driven plasma and a current-driven dipole magnet. The LAPD magnetic field provides a model of the solar system's interplanetary magnetic field, while the laser-driven plasma models the solar wind and the dipole magnet provides a model for the Earth's inherent magnetic field. Motorized probes allow system scans in three dimensions by combining data from tens of thousands of laser shots.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: Exploration
Published

Researchers discover source of super-fast electron 'rain'      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have discovered a new source of super-fast, energetic electrons raining down on Earth's atmosphere, a phenomenon that contributes to the colorful aurora borealis and poses hazards to satellites, spacecraft and astronauts.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: The Solar System
Published

Ancient ice reveals mysterious solar storm      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Through analysis of ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica, a research team has found evidence of an extreme solar storm that occurred about 9,200 years ago. What puzzles the researchers is that the storm took place during one of the sun's more quiet phases -- during which it is generally believed our planet is less exposed to such events.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: The Solar System
Published

A lab in the sky: Physics experiment in Earth’s atmosphere could help improve GPS performance      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The Earth's atmosphere has been used as a 'laboratory' to carry out a physics experiment which could help to improve the performance of GPS.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms
Published

Protecting Earth from space storms      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A major space weather event could have a catastrophic impact on Earth, disabling communications and electrical systems. Researchers are using the Frontera supercomputer to develop new geomagnetic forecasting methods and improve the Geospace Model used by NOAA for operational purposes. They hope to increase the lead time for space weather events from 30 minutes to 1-3 days, localize space weather forecasts, and provide uncertainty estimates.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: The Solar System
Published

Solving solar puzzle could help save Earth from planet-wide blackouts      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Understanding the Sun's magnetic dynamo could help predict solar weather, such as potentially dangerous geothermal storms, solar flares and sunspots. Mathematicians have proposed a new model of the Sun that matches observed data.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: The Solar System
Published

Unravelling the knotty problem of the Sun's activity      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new approach to analysing the development of magnetic tangles on the Sun has led to a breakthrough in a longstanding debate about how solar energy is injected into the solar atmosphere before being released into space, causing space weather events. The first direct evidence that field lines become knotted before they emerge at the visible surface of the Sun has implications for our ability to predict the behavior of active regions and the nature of the solar interior.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: The Solar System
Published

Lightning impacts edge of space in ways not previously observed      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team of researchers working with data collected by an Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) have examined the simultaneous impacts of thunderstorms and solar flares on the ionospheric D-region (often referred to as the edge of space).

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: The Solar System
Published

Boundary of heliosphere mapped      (via sciencedaily.com) 

For the first time, the boundary of the heliosphere has been mapped, giving scientists a better understanding of how solar and interstellar winds interact.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: The Solar System
Published

'Surfing' particles: Physicists solve a mystery surrounding aurora borealis      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The spectacularly colorful aurora borealis -- or northern lights -- that fills the sky in high-latitude regions has fascinated people for thousands of years. Now, a team of scientists has resolved one of the final mysteries surrounding its origin.