Category Technology/Electronics

(Colour online) Pre- and post-video test scores by age group (Study A). Values shown are means ± standard errors. All pre-test to post-test improvements were statistically significant (paired t-tests, p < .001 for each)

Does “edutainment” such as content-rich music videos have any place in the rapidly changing landscape of science education? A new study indicates that students can indeed learn serious science content from such videos. The study, titled ‘Leveraging the power of music to improve science education’ and published by International Journal of Science Education, examined over 1,000 students in a 3-part experiment, comparing learners’ understanding and engagement in response to 24 musical and non-musical science videos.

The central findings were that
(1) across ages and g...

Hybrid solar and wind harvesting cells on the top of this model house collect enough energy to light it up inside. Credit: American Chemical Society

The “Internet of Things” could make cities “smarter” by connecting an extensive network of tiny communications devices to make life more efficient. But all these machines will require a lot of energy. Rather than adding to the global reliance on fossil fuels to power the network, researchers report on a single device that harvests wind and solar energy appears in the journal ACS Nano.

Hybridized nanogenerator, including a solar cell (SC) and a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), that can individually/simultaneously scavenge solar and wind energies, which can be extensively installed on the roofs of the city buildings...

A laser pulse hits nickel (green). Spin-up-electrons (red) change into silicon (yellow). Electrons with both spin-orientations change back from silicon into nickel. Credit: Image courtesy of Vienna University of Technology, TU Vienna

They are essential for spintronics, a technology that could replace today’s electronics.For years scientists have been working on elements using electrons angular momentum (their spin) rather than their electrical charge. This new approach, “spintronics” has major advantages compared to common electronics. It can operate with much less energy. TU Wien (Vienna) scientists have now proposed a new method to produce gigantic spin currents in a very small period of time. The secret is using ultra short laser pulses.

For every electron, 2 different spin-states are p...

Atoms in silicon dioxide are hit by the yellow light wave (from the left) causing the electrons around each atom to oscillate. This displacement absorbs energy from the light wave. At the end of the cycles the absorbed energy is returned to the light wave. Recording of the temporal evolution of the light field after passage through the sample allows the first real-time observation of the attosecond-speed electron motion inside solids. Credit: Image courtesy of Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics

Light waves might be able to drive future transistors. The electromagnetic waves of light oscillate approximately 1M times in a billionth of a second, hence with petahertz frequencies. In principle also future electronics could reach this speed and become 100...