Tag: Materials Science
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Kvemo Bolnisi: Iron Age Origins Revealed by Workshop
Uncovering a 3,000-Year-Old Workshop The Iron Age is one of humanity’s most transformative periods, marking a shift from bronze-burnished tools to the hard, durable metals that would shape empires. A fresh look at the Kvemo Bolnisi site in southern Georgia is helping researchers understand how iron metallurgy may have emerged. Rather than proving that iron…
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Ice’s Hidden Power: Flexoelectricity Generates Electricity
Revealing the Hidden Power of Ice Ordinary ice has long been seen as an inert, low-energy material. Yet a collaborative effort led by physicist Xin Wen at Xi’an Jiaotong University has changed that view by showing that ice can actively generate electricity when subjected to mechanical stress. Using thin, bent slabs of saline ice, the…
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Ice’s Hidden Charge: How Bent Salty Ice Sparks Electricity
Introduction: A surprising power inside ordinary ice Ice is more than just a cold medium for keeping our drinks cool. Recent experiments led by physicist Xin Wen at Xi’an Jiaotong University reveal that ordinary ice can generate electricity when it is bent, thanks to two electric phenomena: flexoelectricity and ferroelectricity. This discovery distinguishes ice from…
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Unlocking Chirality: Controlled Crystallisation of Chiral Perovskite Films for Next-Gen Optoelectronics
Overview: A Leap in Chiral Perovskite Film Technology Chiral perovskite films are emerging as a transformative platform for optoelectronics. Scientists at the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS) in Bengaluru have unlocked a practical, scalable approach to control the crystallisation of chiral hybrid materials. These advances hold promise for high-performance circularly polarised light…
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Molecular Coating Tames Noisy Quantum Light Emission
Overview: A cleaner, more reliable quantum light source Quantum technologies demand perfection: one photon at a time with identical energy. Even tiny variations in photon number or energy can derail devices and threaten the performance of quantum computers that may form a quantum internet. In response, Northwestern University engineers developed a simple, scalable solution that…
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Polytechnique Engineers Design a Low-Cost, Kirigami-Inspired Parachute for a New Era of Airdrops
Kirigami meets parachute technology Researchers at Polytechnique Montreal have fused the ancient Japanese art of kirigami with parachute design to create a low-cost concept that could power humanitarian airdrops and scientific missions. In a study published in Nature, Frédérick Gosselin and David Mélançon outline how a flat sheet, cut and folded in a kirigami pattern,…
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Reimagining Waste as a Resource: Turning Polystyrene into Nylon Precursors
Turning a stubborn plastic into a valuable feedstock Waste plastics come in many forms, but not all are easy to recycle. Polystyrene, particularly in its extruded foamed form known as Styrofoam, has long posed a recycling challenge. At Saarland University, a multidisciplinary team led by biotechnologist Christoph Wittmann has turned a stubborn problem into a…
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THOR AI Solves Century-Old Physics Puzzle with Tensors
THOR AI: A Tensor Network Breakthrough for Statistical Physics Researchers from the University of New Mexico (UNM) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have unveiled a novel computational framework that tackles a long-standing challenge in statistical physics: the configurational integral at the heart of predicting a material’s thermodynamic and mechanical properties. The approach, called Tensors…
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AI Tensor Network Solves Century-Old Physics Puzzle
A Breakthrough in Statistical Physics Researchers from The University of New Mexico (UNM) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have unveiled a novel computational framework that tackles a long-standing obstacle in statistical physics. The THOR (Tensors for High-dimensional Object Representation) AI framework applies tensor network algorithms to compress and evaluate the sprawling configurational integrals and…
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Elvira Fortunato: The Scientist with a Heart for Discovery
Elvira Fortunato: A Portuguese science icon Elvira Fortunato is one of the most celebrated Portuguese researchers in modern times. Known for her work at the intersection of materials science, chemistry, and engineering, her name is now linked to a breakthrough that could redefine the limits of flexible electronics: the first transistor built on paper. Along…