Category Physics

A new Method for converting solar energy into electrical power using photo-bioelectrochemical cells. Credit: Image courtesy Prof. Itamar Willner

In the natural photosynthetic apparatus, photosynthetic reaction is coupled to biocatalytic transformations leading to CO2 fixation and O2 evolution. Although significant progress has been achieved in the integration of native photosystems with electrodes for light-to-electrical energy conversion, the conjugation of the photosystems to enzymes to yield photo-bioelectrocatalytic solar cells remains a challenge.

The photo-bioelectrochemical cells use glucose oxidase or glucose dehydrogenase and modified integrated electrodes that include the natural photosynthetic reaction center, known as photosystem I, conjugated to these enzymes...

This prototype bicycle helmet will protect your head with a biodegradable and renewable alternative to hazardous Styrofoam. The shock-absorbing foam material inside was developed at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and it is one of the key features of an entirely wood-sourced helmet. Credit: Cellutech

We may soon be saying goodbye to polystyrene, the petroleum-based material that is used to make Styrofoam. In what looks like an ordinary bicycle helmet, designers have replaced Styrofoam with a new shock-absorbing material made with renewable and biodegradable wood-based material.

Researcher Lars Wågberg, a professor in Fibre Technology at Stockholm’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology, says the wood-based foam material Cellufoam offers comparable properties to Styrofoam.

The helmet was pr...

The graph depicting the tensor product structure of the binary icosahedral group 2I is the same as the Dynkin diagram of affine E8.

Over centuries, humans have tried to discover a Theory of Everything. Possible candidates eg String Theory and Grand Unified Theory, require higher dimensions or higher-dimensional symmetries, eg 10 dimensions, despite their radical difference from the world we actually experience. One such symmetry – known as E8 – exists in 8 dimensions and is the largest symmetry without counterparts in every dimension and is therefore called exceptional. Now a scientist has constructed E8 for the first time, along with other exceptional 4D symmetries, in the 3D space we inhabit. These exceptional symmetries are essentially 3D phenomena in disguise.

Dr Dechant, who is al...

A thin, flexible film developed by researchers from the University of Michigan can detect biomarkers of cancer in the blood. It may eventually lead to the development of phone-sized cancer detection devices. (Photo : Public Domain Pictures | Pixabay

A thin, stretchable film that coils light waves like a Slinky could one day lead to more precise, less expensive monitoring for cancer survivors. The Uni of Michigan chemical engineers who developed the film say it could help patients get better follow-up Rx with less disruption to their everyday lives.
The film provides a simpler, more cost-effective way to produce circularly polarized light, an essential ingredient in the process that could eventually provide an early warning of cancer recurrence.

Circular polarization is similar to the linea...