SciFi Insight

IMAGE: Printed circuit board for mounting the nanowire sample. view more  Credit: IST Austria Quantum computers promise great advances in many fields – from cryptography to the simulation of protein folding. Yet, which physical system works best to build the underlying quantum bits is still an open question. Unlike regular bits in your computer, these so-called

IMAGE: Prof. Lercher in his laboratory at the Department of Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich. view more  Credit: Andreas Heddergott / TUM Zeolites are extremely porous materials: Ten grams can have an internal surface area the size of a soccer field. Their cavities make them useful in catalyzing chemical reactions and thus saving energy.

A scientific breakthrough: Researchers from Tel Aviv University have engineered the world’s tiniest technology, with a thickness of only two atoms. According to the researchers, the new technology proposes a way for storing electric information in the thinnest unit known to science, in one of the most stable and inert materials in nature. The allowed

Osaka, Japan – A team of scientists led by the Department of Applied Physics at Osaka University, the Department of Physics and Electronics at Osaka Prefecture University, and the Department of Materials Chemistry at Nagoya University used photoinduced force microscopy to map out the forces acting on quantum dots in three dimensions. By eliminating sources

Natural wood remains a ubiquitous building material because of its high strength-to-density ratio; trees are strong enough to grow hundreds of feet tall but remain light enough to float down a river after being logged. For the past three years, engineers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science have been developing

A world-first sleep disorder diagnosis and monitoring trial will be conducted using invisible sensor technology developed at RMIT University. The trial is part of a new partnership between Australian research and technology company Sleeptite, RMIT and Flinders University. Researchers will test Sleeptite’s non-invasive sensor monitoring technology, REMi, and investigate its capability as a validation tool

IMAGE: A schematic diagram showing the observation of particles moving through a generic porous material. view more  Credit: Haichao Wu University of Colorado Boulder researchers have discovered that minuscule, self-propelled particles called “nanoswimmers” can escape from mazes as much as 20 times faster than other, passive particles, paving the way for their use in everything from

A process that uses heat to change the arrangement of molecular rings on a chemical chain creates 3D-printable gels with a variety of functional properties, according to a Dartmouth study. The researchers describe the new process as “kinetic trapping.” Molecular stoppers–or speed bumps–regulate the number of rings going onto a polymer chain and also control

IMAGE: STEM tomography image of a 3D-grown 100-200-nanometer crystalline disc grown from 3D gold-polystyrene polymer-grafted nanoparticles. view more  Credit: Berkeley Lab Crystallization is one of the most fundamental processes found in nature – and it’s what gives minerals, gems, metals, and even proteins their structure. In the past couple of decades, scientists have tried to uncover

The electronic properties of graphene can be specifically modified by stretching the material evenly, say researchers at the University of Basel. These results open the door to the development of new types of electronic components. Graphene consists of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. The material is very flexible and

Tel Aviv University’s groundbreaking technology may revolutionize the treatment of cancer and a wide range of diseases and medical conditions. In the framework of this study, the researchers were able to create a new method of transporting RNA-based drugs to a subpopulation of immune cells involved in the inflammation process, and target the disease-inflamed cell