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Which qubit my dear? New method to distinguish between neighbouring quantum bits

This is Professor Michelle Simmons and Holger Büch in the Australian Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology at the University of New South Wales.

Pioneering breakthrough of chemical nanoengineering to design drugs controlled by light

This is IRB Barcelona group leader Ernest Giralt.The scientific cooperation between chemists, biotechnologists and physicists from various Catalan institutes, headed by Pau Gorostiza, from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), and Ernest Giralt, from the Institute...

Mapping a room in a snap

Blind people sometimes develop the amazing ability to perceive the contours of the room they're in based only on auditory information. Bats and dolphins use the same echolocation technique for...

IU chemists produce star-shaped macromolecule that grabs large anions

This model shows the five-sided cyanostar macrocycle capturing perchlorate at its center.Chemists at Indiana University Bloomington have created a symmetrical, five-sided macrocycle that is easy to synthesize and has characteristics that may help expand the molecular tool box available to researchers...

Light-carved 'nano-volcanoes' hold promise for drug delivery

Researchers from NC State University are able to carve nanoscale "volcanoes" by scattering light through a polymer "crystal ball" onto a photo-reactive thin film. The structures hold promise for new drug-delivery technologies.Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a method for creating "nano-volcanoes" by shining various colors of light through a nanoscale "crystal ball" made of a synthetic polymer. These...

'Self-cleaning' pollution-control technology could do more harm than good, study suggests

This image shows Jonathan Raff, Indiana University.Research by Indiana University environmental scientists shows that air-pollution-removal technology used in "self-cleaning" paints and building surfaces may actually cause more problems than they solve.

New quantum dot technique combines best of optical and electron microscopy

Much like in an old tube television where a beam of electrons moves over a phosphor screen to create images, the new microscopy technique works by scanning a beam of electrons over a sample that has been coated with specially engineered quantum dots. The dots absorb the energy and emit it as visible light that interacts with the sample at close range. The scattered photons are collected using a similarly closely placed photodetector (not depicted), allowing an image to be constructed.It's not reruns of "The Jetsons," but researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new microscopy technique that uses a process similar to...

Filmmaking magic with polymers

Dr. Alamgir Karim, associate dean of research for the University of Akron College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering and Goodyear Chair Professor of Polymer Engineering,holds a strip of the polymer thin film that can now be produced at an industrial level for use in a wide range of applications.Think about windows coated with transparent film that absorbs harmful ultraviolet sunrays and uses them to generate electricity. Consider a water filtration membrane that blocks viruses and other microorganisms from...

Polymer structures serve as 'nanoreactors' for nanocrystals with uniform sizes, shapes

Georgia Tech professor Zhiqun Lin examines a gold nanoparticle toluene solution. The work is part of research on using star-shaped block co-polymers to create nanocrystals of uniform size and shape.Using star-shaped block co-polymer structures as tiny reaction vessels, researchers have developed an improved technique for producing nanocrystals with consistent sizes, compositions and architectures -- including metallic, ferroelectric, magnetic, semiconductor...

Simple theory may explain mysterious dark matter

This is a comparison of an anapole field with common electric and magnetic dipoles. The anapole field, top, is generated by a toroidal electrical current. As a result, the field is confined within the torus, instead of spreading out like the fields generated by conventional electric and magnetic dipoles.Most of the matter in the universe may be made out of particles that possess an unusual, donut-shaped electromagnetic field called an anapole.

Testing artificial photosynthesis

Miguel Modestino, Joel Ager and Rachel Segalman were part of the team that demonstrated the first fully integrated microfluidic test-bed for evaluating and optimizing solar-driven electrochemical energy conversion systems.With the daily mean concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide having reached 400 parts-per-million for the first time in human history, the need for carbon-neutral alternatives to fossil fuel energy has...

Working backward: Computer-aided design of zeolite templates

Rice University scientists have created a computational procedure to identify small organic molecules (purple) that can be used to guide the growth of zeolite crystals (yellow).aking a page from computer-aided drug designers, Rice University researchers have developed a computational method that chemists can use to tailor the properties of zeolites, one of the world's most-used...

Printing artificial bone

This photo shows the brick-and-mortar pattern of simulated bone and nacre against the backdrop of real nacre found in the inner shell of many molluscs.Researchers working to design new materials that are durable, lightweight and environmentally sustainable are increasingly looking to natural composites, such as bone, for inspiration: Bone is strong and tough because...

'Chemical architects' build materials with potential applications in drug delivery and gas storage

Home remodelers understand the concept of improving original foundations with more modern elements. Using this same approach -- but with chemistry -- researchers in the University of Pittsburgh's Kenneth P....

New array measures vibrations across skin may help engineers design tactile displays

In the near future, a buzz in your belt or a pulse from your jacket may give you instructions on how to navigate your surroundings.

DNA brings materials to life

This shows two colloids interacting over time in relation to temperature.A colloid is a substance spread out evenly inside another substance. Everyday examples include milk, styrofoam, hair sprays, paints, shaving foam, gels and even dust, mud and fog. One of...

An ultrasensitive molybdenum-based image sensor

This prototype is the first ever molybdenum based image sensor, 5 times more sensitive than current silicium-based technologyA new material has the potential to improve the sensitivity of photographic image sensors by a factor of five. In 2011, an EPFL team led by Andras Kis discovered the...

Discovery of new material state counterintuitive to laws of physics

When you squeeze something, it gets smaller. Unless you're at Argonne National Laboratory.

Nanofiber sensor detects diabetes or lung cancer faster and easier

Clockwise from left to right: left upper shows a magnified SEM image of a broken thin-wall assembled SnO2 fiber. Left below is an array of breath sensors (Inset is an actual size of a breath sensor). The right is the cover of <i>Advanced Functional Materials</i> (May 20th issue) in which a research paper on the development of a highly sensitive exhaled breath sensor by using SnO2 fibers is published.Today's technological innovation enables smartphone users to diagnose serious diseases such as diabetes or lung cancer quickly and effectively by simply breathing into a small gadget, a nanofiber breathing sensor,...

'Popcorn' particle pathways promise better lithium-ion batteries

Sandia National Laboratories physicist Farid El Gabaly aligns a lithium-iron-phosphate battery electrode sample for chemical characterization with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The samples will then be thinly sliced for state-of-the-art synchrotron X-ray microscopy.Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have confirmed the particle-by-particle mechanism by which lithium ions move in and out of electrodes made of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4, or LFP), findings that...

Unfrozen mystery: H2O reveals a new secret

A fragment of the crystal structure of the new ice is shown where the oxygen atoms are blue and the molecular hydrogen atoms pink. Hydrogen atoms that have been pulled off the water molecules are colored gold. These appear to locate in polyhedral voids in the oxygen lattice (one of which is shaded light grey). Previously, these voids were believed to remain even after the water molecule breaks up at enormous pressures.Using revolutionary new techniques, a team led by Carnegie's Malcolm Guthrie has made a striking discovery about how ice behaves under pressure, changing ideas that date back almost 50 years....

The body electric: Researchers move closer to low-cost, implantable electronics

This is a silicon circuit coated with a protective layer and immersed in fluid that mimics human body chemistry. Researchers at The Ohio State University are developing low-cost electronic devices that work in direct contact with living tissue inside the body.New technology under development at The Ohio State University is paving the way for low-cost electronic devices that work in direct contact with living tissue inside the body.

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