Some metals seem to carry electric currents without electrons, defying canonical understanding.
For 50 years, physicists have understood current as a flow of charged particles. But a new experiment has found that in at least one strange material, this understanding falls apart.
Prof. Sakhrat Khizroev (University of Miami) discusses how new and advanced materials can be used for interfacing machines and the human brain!
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Published in the prestigious journal Science, the research explores the emergence of a unique polarized versatility within the one-dimensional metal, offering the potential for a seamless transition between insulator and superconductor states.
For 200 years, scientists have failed to grow a common mineral in the laboratory under the conditions believed to have formed it naturally. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Michigan and Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan have finally succeeded, thanks to a new theory developed from atomic simulations.
Their success resolves a long-standing geology mystery called the “Dolomite Problem.” Dolomite—a key mineral in the Dolomite mountains in Italy, Niagara Falls, the White Cliffs of Dover and Utah’s Hoodoos—is very abundant in rocks older than 100 million years, but nearly absent in younger formations.
A mystery that has dogged materials science for 200 years has finally been solved. A mineral found in many ancient rock formations had stubbornly resisted the efforts of scientists to grow it in the lab, even though they could recreate the conditions they thought formed it in nature. Now, a team has cracked the problem, figuring out how to speedily grow dolomite crystals for the very first time.
Dolomite is a mineral so important, there’s a whole mountain range named after it. As well as these peaks in the Italian Alps, dolomite is abundant in the White Cliffs of Dover, the hoodoos of Utah, and other rocks dating back more than 100 million years. It actually accounts for almost 30 percent of minerals of its type – carbonates – in the Earth’s crust, but it’s notably absent in rocks that formed more recently.
Transistors are crucial electronic components that regulate, amplify and control the flow of current inside most existing devices. In recent years, electronics engineers have been trying to identify materials and design strategies that could help to further improve the performance of transistors, while also reducing their size.
Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides have some advantageous properties that could help to enhance the capabilities of transistors. While past studies have demonstrated the potential of these materials in individual transistors, their use for developing entire integrated circuits (ICs) that operate at high frequencies has proved challenging.
Researchers at Nanjing University in China recently created new ICs that can operate at GHz frequencies, based on the 2D semiconducting material monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). Their devices, presented in a Nature Electronics paper, rely on MoS2-based field-effect transistors (FETs).
Researchers innovated a stretchable thermoelectric generator with a skin-attachable gasket, enhancing energy production through “mechanical metamaterials.”
National research council of science and technology.
This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize the area of energy generation by leveraging the power of “mechanical metamaterials.”
Continue reading “Researchers devised worlds’ most efficient thermoelectric harvester” »
Experiments with an unconventional superconductor show that a change in the properties of the material’s electrons can, unexpectedly, cause the material to become dramatically less stiff.
Electrons flowing through a crystal lattice don’t usually get to call the shots: their behavior is generally set by the lattice structure. But certain materials exhibit an electron–lattice coupling that allows the conduction electrons to influence the lattice behavior. This electron version of “wagging the dog” is predicted to be quite weak, making it a surprise that experiments with an unconventional superconductor now uncover a large electron-driven softening of the material’s lattice [1]. The finding could provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying unconventional superconductivity.
The lattice in a crystalline material is a periodic framework of atoms held together by electrostatic bonds. That framework dictates the properties of electrons moving through the material. For example, if the lattice is altered by applying mechanical strain or by adding dopant atoms, the electron momenta will correspondingly change, which can affect the material’s electronic band structure.
Glass is a material that appears simple in its transparency and rigidity but is, in fact, highly complex and intriguing. Its transformation from a liquid to glass, known as the “glass transition,” is marked by a significant slowdown in its dynamics, giving glass its distinctive properties.
This transformation has been a subject of scientific curiosity for years. A particularly interesting aspect of this process is the emergence of “dynamical heterogeneities.” As the liquid cools and nears the glass transition temperature, its dynamics become more correlated and intermittent.
Brooklyn-based studio Modu has employed a series of techniques that lower ambient air temperature in order to help cool the interior and exterior of this Houston building.
Modu inserted pocket gardens, vertical fins, trellises and fluted concrete walls along the length of the exterior in order to create “outdoor comfort” and reduce Houston heat.
The Promenade building is a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 square metre) centre which will host wellness and health clients throughout several offices.
