Energy researchers invent error-free catalysts

A team of researchers have invented oscillating catalyst technology that can accelerate chemical reactions without side reactions or chemical errors. The groundbreaking technology can be incorporated into hundreds of industrial...

Cooling magnets with sound

Today, most quantum experiments are carried out with the help of light, including those in nanomechanics, where tiny objects are cooled with electromagnetic waves to such an extent that they...

Curcumin is the spice of life when delivered via tiny nanoparticles

For years, curry lovers have sworn by the anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric, but its active compound, curcumin, has long frustrated scientists hoping to validate these claims with clinical studies.

Scientists demonstrate first non-volatile nano relay operation at 200°C

Researchers have come up with a new type of nanoelectromechanical relay to enable reliable high-temperature, non-volatile memory. The work is an important development for all-electric vehicles and more-electric aircraft which...

A talented 2D material gets a new gig

Scientists have designed a tunable graphene device for experiments in exotic physics, where superconducting, insulating, and magnetic properties can be observed in a single system. The technology could advance the...

Biomaterial discovery enables 3D printing of tissue-like vascular structures

An international team of scientists have discovered a new material that can be 3D printed to create tissue-like vascular structures.

3 Questions: Emre Gençer on the evolving role of hydrogen in the energy system

As the world increasingly recognizes the need to develop more sustainable and renewable energy sources, low-carbon hydrogen has reemerged as an energy carrier with the potential to play a key role in sectors...

Waymo’s new self-driving cars are electric Jaguars loaded with sensors and cameras

A self-driving Jaguar I-Pace. (Waymo/)Just like cars with humans behind the wheel, self-driving vehicles need to see the world around them in careful detail. And since they don’t have eyes like a regular...

Maura Tierney joins Jeff Daniels in Showtime series 'Rust'

"The Affair" alum Maura Tierney will star with Jeff Daniels in "Rust," a new series based on Philipp Meyer's novel, "American Rust."

Turning down the heat turns up better perovskites

Lower-temperature process improves the efficiency of single-crystal solar cells

Plastic from wood

The biopolymer lignin is a by-product of papermaking and a promising raw material for manufacturing sustainable plastic materials. However, the quality of this naturally occurring product is not as uniform...

Using molecules to draw on quantum materials

Over millennia, civilizations progressed through the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages. Now the time has come for quantum materials to change the way we live, researchers say.

A small step for atoms, a giant leap for microelectronics

Rice materials scientist Boris Yakobson and colleagues in Taiwan and China report in Nature on making large single-crystal sheets of hexagonal boron nitride, touted as a key insulator in future...

Erratum for the Report: "A room-temperature single-photon source based on strongly interacting Rydberg atoms" by F. Ripka, H. Kübler, R. Löw, T. Pfau

Efficient tandem solar cells with solution-processed perovskite on textured crystalline silicon

Stacking solar cells with decreasing band gaps to form tandems presents the possibility of overcoming the single-junction Shockley-Queisser limit in photovoltaics. The rapid development of solution-processed perovskites has brought perovskite...

A scalable realization of local U(1) gauge invariance in cold atomic mixtures

In the fundamental laws of physics, gauge fields mediate the interaction between charged particles. An example is the quantum theory of electrons interacting with the electromagnetic field, based on U(1)...

Single-atom vibrational spectroscopy in the scanning transmission electron microscope

Single-atom impurities and other atomic-scale defects can notably alter the local vibrational responses of solids and, ultimately, their macroscopic properties. Using high-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy in the electron microscope, we...

Topological structure and dynamics of three-dimensional active nematics

Topological structures are effective descriptors of the nonequilibrium dynamics of diverse many-body systems. For example, motile, point-like topological defects capture the salient features of two-dimensional active liquid crystals composed of...

Triple-halide wide-band gap perovskites with suppressed phase segregation for efficient tandems

Wide–band gap metal halide perovskites are promising semiconductors to pair with silicon in tandem solar cells to pursue the goal of achieving power conversion efficiency (PCE) greater than 30% at low cost. However,...

Erratum for the Review: "What would it take for renewably powered electrosynthesis to displace petrochemical processes?" by P. De Luna, C. Hahn, D. Higgins, S. A. Jaffer, T. F. Jaramillo, E. H. Sargent

Light to electricity: New multi-material solar cells set new efficiency standard

Researchers from the University of Toronto Engineering and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have overcome a key obstacle in combining the emerging solar-harvesting technology of perovskites with...

All-solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries with high capacity and long life

Prof. Atsunori Matsuda, Prof. Hiroyuki Muto, Assistant Prof. Kazuhiro Hikima, Assistant Prof. Nguyen Huu Huy Phuc, Researcher Reiko Matsuda, and Mr. Takaki Maeda (Master Program) at the Department of Electrical...

Superhydrophobic magnetic sponge to help purify water from oil products

Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University jointly with the University of Lille (France) have developed a new material capable of purifying water effectively from oil products. It is based on an...

How do we get our eye color?

Punnet squares aren't the best way to predict a kid's eye color. (Candice Picard/Unsplash/)Most of us learned what we know about eye color from a chart in grade-school biology. You know, the...

'Crank Yankers' renewed for 20 additional episodes

Comedy Central ordered 20 more episodes of comedy series "Crank Yankers" from co-creator and executive producer Jimmy Kimmel.

Molecular tweak improves organic solar cell performance

A molecular tweak has improved organic solar cell performance, bringing us closer to cheaper, efficient, and more easily manufactured photovoltaics. The new design approach, targeting the molecular backbone of the...

Solving a mystery in 126 dimensions

One of the fundamental mysteries of chemistry has been solved by Australian scientists – and the result may have implications for future designs of solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes and...

Simultaneous optical trapping and imaging in the axial plane for light-matter interaction

Optical trapping has become a powerful tool in numerous fields such as biology, physics, chemistry. In light-matter interaction, transfer of optical linear momentum and angular momentum gives rise to optical...