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    Category Physics

    Space Station Crew Cultivates Crystals for Drug Development

    April 2, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Biology/Biotechnology, Physics

    Space station crew cultivates crystals for drug development

    Crystal formation within a 50 millimeter loop, taken on Expedition 6. Crystal growth investigations have been occurring on the station since before humans lived there because of the unique environment microgravity provides. Credit: NASA

    Crew members aboard the ISS will begin conducting research this week to improve the way we grow crystals on Earth. The information gained from the experiments could speed up the process for drug development, benefiting humans around the world. Many proteins are too small to be studied even under a microscope, and must be crystallized in order to determine their 3D structures. These structures tell researchers how a single protein functions and its involvement in the development of disease...

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    Bio-inspired Energy Storage: A new light for solar power

    April 1, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    1. The breakthrough electrode prototype (right) can be combined with a solar cell (left) for on-chip energy harvesting and storage. 2. A western swordfern leaf magnified 400 times, showing the self-repeating fractal pattern of its veins.

    1. The breakthrough electrode prototype (right) can be combined with a solar cell (left) for on-chip energy harvesting and storage.
    2. A western swordfern leaf magnified 400 times, showing the self-repeating fractal pattern of its veins.

    Graphene-based electrode prototype, inspired by fern leaves, could be the answer to solar energy storage challenge. Inspired by an American fern, researchers have developed a groundbreaking prototype that could be the answer to the storage challenge still holding solar back as a total energy solution. The new type of electrode created by researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, could boost the capacity of existing integrable storage technologies by 3000%.

    But the graphene-based prototype also opens a new path to the development of flexible ...

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    Quantum Communication: How to Outwit noise

    March 31, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Sketch of a thermal quantum network, where two nodes (for example, two superconducting qubits located inside separated dilution refrigerators) are connected via a unidirectional quantum communication channel at finite temperature T ch . (b) For the implementation of a noise-resilient transfer protocol, the qubit state is first mapped onto an intermediary oscillator. The oscillator is then coupled to the incoming and outgoing fields of the channel, f in , i ( t ) and f out , i ( t ) , via a tunable decay rate γ i ( t ) , which can be realized, for example, by a flux-tunable quantum interference device [45, 46, 47]. Reuse & Permissions Figure 2 Figure 2 (a) Occupation

    Intracity Quantum Communication via Thermal Microwave Networks: Sketch of a thermal quantum network, where two nodes (for example, two superconducting qubits located inside separated dilution refrigerators) are connected via a unidirectional quantum communication channel at finite temperature T ch . (b) For the implementation of a noise-resilient transfer protocol, the qubit state is first mapped onto an intermediary oscillator. The oscillator is then coupled to the incoming and outgoing fields of the channel, f in , i ( t ) and f out , i ( t ) , via a tunable decay rate γ i ( t ) , which can be realized, for example, by a flux-tunable quantum interference device [45, 46, 47]. Reuse & Permissions Figure 2 Figure 2 (a) Occupation

    Quantum information transfer requires reliable information tr...

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    Controlling Soft Robots using Magnetic fields

    March 30, 2017, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Researchers at NC State University have created several soft robot devices that make use of a fundamental advance in controlling soft robots. The new technique uses magnetic fields to remotely manipulate microparticle chains embedded in soft polymers. Credit: Joe Tracy

    Researchers at NC State University have created several soft robot devices that make use of a fundamental advance in controlling soft robots. The new technique uses magnetic fields to remotely manipulate microparticle chains embedded in soft polymers. Credit: Joe Tracy

    A team of engineering researchers has made a fundamental advance in controlling so-called soft robots, using magnetic fields to remotely manipulate microparticle chains embedded in soft robotic devices. The researchers have already created several devices that make use of the new technique. “By putting these self-assembling chains into soft robots, we are able to have them perform more complex functions while still retaining relatively simple designs,” says A/Prof Joe Tracy, North Carolina State University ...

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