Category Physics

Waste fish scales (upper left corner) are used to fabricate flexible nanogenerator (lower left) that power up more than 50 blue LEDs (lower right). An enlarged microscopic view of a fish scale shows the well-aligned collagen fibrils (upper right). The possibility of making a fish scale transparent (middle) and rollable (extreme left lower corner) is also illustrated. Credit: Sujoy Kuman Ghosh and Dipankar Mandal/Jadavpur University

Large quantities of fish are consumed in India on a daily basis, which generates a huge amount of fish “biowaste” materials. In an attempt to do something positive with this biowaste, a team of researchers at Jadavpur University in Koltata, India explored recycling the fish byproducts into an energy harvester for self-powered electronics...

Experiments at Rice University showed nanodiamonds and other forms of carbon were created when carbon nanotube pellets were fired at a target at hypervelocity. Credit: Illustration by Pedro Alves da Silva Autreto

Superman can famously make a diamond by crushing a chunk of coal in his hand, but Rice University scientists are employing a different tactic. They are making nanodiamonds and other forms of carbon by smashing nanotubes against a target at high speeds. The process of making them will enrich the knowledge of engineers who design structures that resist damage from high-speed impacts. The diamonds are the result of a detailed study on the ballistic fracturing of carbon nanotubes at different velocities...

Two become one: various diffraction patterns showing Rayleigh’s criterion

A team of researchers with the National University of Singapore has found a way to get around what they describe as ‘Rayleigh’s curse’—a phenomenon that happens when 2 light sources appear to coalesce as they grow closer together, limiting ability to measure the distance between them.

For many years, scientists working in a variety of fields studying the stars through a telescope or objects through a microscope have been limited by the same problem—diffraction interfering with light sources that are very close together—the wave-like nature of light causes spreading, which in turn can cause an overlap of photons striking a surface meant to be used to measure the difference between two sources.

Back in the late 1...

The UW–Madison engineers use a solution process to deposit aligned arrays of carbon nanotubes onto 1 inch by 1 inch substrates. The researchers used their scalable and rapid deposition process to coat the entire surface of this substrate with aligned carbon nanotubes in less than 5 minutes. The team’s breakthrough could pave the way for carbon nanotube transistors to replace silicon transistors, and is particularly promising for wireless communications technologies. STEPHANIE PRECOURT

For decades, scientists have tried to harness the unique properties of carbon nanotubes to create high-performance electronics that are faster or consume less power – resulting in longer battery life, faster wireless communication and faster processing speeds for devices like smartphones and laptops...