Category Physics

Photo of Nano-Bio System A schematic of the nano-biosystem (top) and an electron microscope image of quantum rods

A transformational advance has been made in an alternate lighting source, one that doesn’t require a battery or a plug: high-efficient energy transfer between semiconductor quantum rods and luciferase enzymes. Quantum rods and luciferase enzymes are nanomaterials and biomaterials, respectively. When combined correctly, these materials produce bioluminescence – except, instead of coming from a biomaterial, such as a firefly enzyme, the light eminates from a nanomaterial, and is green, orange, red, or near-infrared in color.

Each quantum rods is 4 nm wide and 50 nm long...

The water bridge pictured is formed under the influence of a high-voltage electrical field of about 15kV. It spans about 1 cm across two Teflon beakers, each filled with deionised water. Credit: © Woisetschläger/Fuchs – TU Graz.

Wetsus in The Netherlands and TU Graz have produced electrically charged water by means of a floating water bridge. Until its scientific rediscovery in 2007 at TU Graz, the “water bridge” phenomenon, discovered in the 19th century, had sank into oblivion. If extremely pure water ie water distilled many times, is placed in 2 beakers and subject to a high voltage, the fluid moves up the side of each beaker and forms a floating water bridge between the 2 vessels...

NIST researchers demonstrated an approach for detecting hidden flaws in ceramic capacitors, which store energy in the electronics for medical implants and spacecraft. NIST studied 3-millimeter-long capacitors (top photo), looking for cracks similar to the one shown in the NASA photo (bottom). Credit: NIST/NASA

Medical implants and spacecraft can suddenly go dead, often for the same reason: cracks in ceramic capacitors, devices that store electric charge in electronic circuits. These cracks, at first harmless and often hidden, can start conducting electricity, depleting batteries or shorting out the electronics...

Phobos as observed by MAVEN’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph. Orange shows mid-ultraviolet (MUV) sunlight reflected from the surface of Phobos, exposing the moon’s irregular shape and many craters. Blue shows far ultraviolet light detected at 121.6 nm, which is scattered off of hydrogen gas in the extended upper atmosphere of Mars. Phobos, observed here at a range of 300km, blocks this light, eclipsing the ultraviolet sky. Credit: CU/LASP and NASA

At the end of 2015, NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission made a series of close approaches to the Martian moon Phobos, collecting data from within 300 miles of the moon. Among the data returned were spectral images of Phobos in the ultraviolet...