333 articles from WEDNESDAY 2.9.2020

Zooming in on dark matter

Cosmologists have zoomed in on the smallest clumps of dark matter in a virtual universe - which could help us to find the real thing in space.

New anode material could lead to safer fast-charging batteries

Scientists have discovered a new anode material that enables lithium-ion batteries to be safely recharged within minutes for thousands of cycles. Known as a disordered rocksalt, the new anode is made up of earth-abundant lithium, vanadium and oxygen atoms arranged in a similar way as ordinary kitchen table salt, but randomly. It is promising for commercial applications where both high energy...

Globalization is reweaving the web of life

Networks of interactions among species are becoming increasingly similar across ecosystems, according to a global analysis. Data collected over the last 75 years show the accelerating pace that introduced species are reshaping mutualistic relationships and creating new ecological links between previously disconnected ecosystems. These changes to mutualistic networks will influence which species...

A new way of modulating color emissions from transparent films

Transparent luminescent materials have several applications; but so far, few multicolor light-emitting solid transparent materials exist in which the color of emission is tunable. Now, a team of scientists has developed an unprecedented mechanism to tune the photoemission of a solid polymeric film -- controlling the flow of protons in it by applying a voltage. Their study provides fresh insights...

Whatever floats your boat? Scientists defy gravity with levitating liquid

Researchers use vibrations to make toy vessels bob about under floating layer of liquidScientists have turned the world upside down with a curious quirk of physics that allowed them to float toy boats the wrong way up beneath a levitating body of liquid.In a striking demonstration of the mind-bending effect, the boats seem to defy the laws of gravity as they bob about on the water above them with...

How upside-down floating boats defy gravity – video

Scientists have been able to float a toy boat upside down on a levitating body of water using a quirky rule of physics.Researchers believe the finding could have practical implications to separate waste from water and process mineralsWhatever floats your boat? Scientists defy gravity with levitating liquid Continue...

Study details how general anesthetics and 'benzos' act on receptors in the brain

As you drift into unconsciousness before a surgery, general anesthetic drugs flowing through your blood are putting you to sleep by binding mainly to a protein in the brain called the γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor. Now UT Southwestern scientists have shown exactly how anesthetics attach to the GABAA receptor and alter its three-dimensional structure, and how the brain can tell the...

Engineers reprogram yeast cells to become microscopic drug factories

Since antiquity, cultures on nearly every continent have discovered that certain plant leaves, when chewed or brewed or rubbed on the body, could relieve diverse ailments, inspire hallucinations or, in higher dosages, even cause death. Today, pharmaceutical companies import these once-rare plants from specialized farms and extract their active chemical compounds to make drugs like scopolamine for...

Origin of a complex life form revealed

Researchers from McGill University have revealed the steps by which two very distinct organisms—bacteria and carpenter ants—have come to depend on one another for survival to become a single complex life form. The study, published today in Nature, shows that the two species have collaborated to radically alter the development of the ant embryo to allow this integration to happen. Understanding...

Zooming in on dark matter

Cosmologists have zoomed in on the smallest clumps of dark matter in a virtual universe—which could help us to find the real thing in space.

Parasitic plants attack crops when defending themselves from microbes

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan have discovered a link between defensive responses in plants and the beautiful but devastating crop parasite witchweed. Published in Nature, the new study shows that both parasitic and non-parasitic plants can detect and react to a class of organic compounds called quinones. While parasitic plants sense quinones in...

Microbial genetics: A protean pathogen

The bacterium Helicobacter pylori is linked to increased risk of stomach cancer, and is genetically highly variable. A new study by researchers of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich explores the role played by this diversity in the early phase of infection in adult humans.

Exclusive: EU draft plan targets free carbon credit cut for most industries

Most industries covered by the European Union's carbon market would see free credits cut by the highest possible rate over the next five years under draft plans, potentially costing some of the biggest polluters millions of euros. The carbon market is the EU's main policy for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, by forcing power plants and factories to buy credits to cover their emissions....

Spin-galvanic effect in graphene with topological topping demonstrated

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have demonstrated the spin-galvanic effect, which allows for the conversion of non-equilibrium spin density into a charge current. Here, by combining graphene with a topological insulator, the authors realize a gate-tunable spin-galvanic effect at room temperature. The findings were published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Pharma aims to make a better CBD

Cannabidiol (CBD) is an increasingly popular wellness trend. The compound, which occurs naturally in cannabis plants, is added to many products that claim to reduce anxiety, alleviate pain and more, without the intoxication of its cousin tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). While CBD products are largely unregulated and unproven, companies are working to create CBD-like molecules to develop pharmaceutical...

Nanoparticle-based computing architecture for nanoparticle neural networks

Scalable nanoparticle-based computing architectures have several limitations that can severely compromise the use of nanoparticles to manipulate and process information through molecular computing schemes. The von Neumann architecture (VNA) underlies the operations of multiple arbitrary molecular logic operations in a single chip without rewiring the device. In a new report, Sungi Kim and a team...