SciGlow | All Science News In One Place
SciGlow is a newsletter of science stories from the major research labs. Headlines link to in-depth articles and editorials. SciGlow keeps scientists and others up-to-date on current research.
Leading the charge in translating basic materials research into real-world products, Professor Ajayan Vinu has been awarded the highly coveted C.N. Rao Distinguished Lecture on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT) Bombay – the highest ranked university in India. In his lecture, Advanced Nano-materials for clean energy, environment, and health, … Read more
The ability to determine what’s real and what’s fake online could soon become a little easier thanks to artificial intelligence systems and research developed at The University of Queensland. Data scientist Associate Professor Dr Gianluca Demartini said the aim of the project was to establish an online safety benchmark for the identification of fake news. … Read more
A new study shows that, contrary to widespread belief within the solar power industry, new kinds of solar cells and panels don’t necessarily have to last for 25 to 30 years in order to be economically viable in today’s market. Rather, solar panels with initial lifetimes of as little as 10 years can sometimes make … Read more
It may still be decades before quantum computers are ready to solve problems that today’s classical computers aren’t fast or efficient enough to solve, but the emerging “probabilistic computer” could bridge the gap between classical and quantum computing. Engineers at Purdue University and Tohoku University in Japan have built the first hardware to demonstrate how … Read more
Building conventional robots typically requires carefully combining components like motors, batteries, actuators, body segments, legs and wheels. Now, researchers have taken a new approach, building a robot entirely from smaller robots known as “smarticles” to unlock the principles of a potentially new locomotion technique. The 3D-printed smarticles – short for smart active particles – can … Read more
Have lights turned on automatically when you walk into a room? Does the air conditioner in the conference room turn on when a certain number of people enter the room? In today’s world, spaces with motion and temperature “smart sensors” are common and generally improve our overall well-being. Often times, data is being gathered from … Read more
Integrated circuits in silicon enable our digital era. The capabilities of electronic circuits have been extended even further with the introduction of photonics: components for the generation, guiding and detection of light. Together, electronics and photonics support entire systems for data communication and processing, all on a chip. However, there are certain things that even … Read more
Technology is getting smaller – which is good news. The ability to fabricate materials with optical, electrical and mechanical properties out of very small particles could have far-reaching applications. For example, micro-particles grafted with DNA can be used in medicine for better sensing, imaging and treatment delivery. An improved understanding of how these materials behave … Read more
Inspired by octopuses, researchers have developed a structure that senses, computes and responds without any centralized processing – creating a device that is not quite a robot and not quite a computer, but has characteristics of both. The new technology holds promise for use in a variety of applications, from soft robotics to prosthetic devices. … Read more
An inexpensive thermoelectric device harnesses the cold of space without active heat input, generating electricity that powers an LED at night, researchers report September 12 in the journal Joule. “Remarkably, the device is able to generate electricity at night, when solar cells don’t work,” says lead author Aaswath Raman, an assistant professor of materials science and … Read more