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LEDs based on transition metal dichalcogenides displaying reduced efficiency losses
Oxygen-plasma intercalation. Credit: Nature Electronics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-024-01264-3

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs), semiconductor-based devices that emit light when an electric current flows through them, are key building blocks of numerous electronic devices. LEDs are used to light up smartphone, computer, and TV displays, as well as light sources for indoor and outdoor environments.

Past studies consistently observed a decline in the performance and efficiency of LED devices based on two-dimensional (2D) materials at high current densities. This loss of efficiency at high current densities has been linked to high levels of interaction between excitons, which cause a process known as exciton-exciton annihilation (EEA).

Essentially, the properties of some 2D materials...

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Scientists discover Novel Metabolic Compound that can Regulate Body Weight

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine and collaborating institutions report in the journal Cell the discovery of BHB-Phe, a novel compound produced by the body that regulates appetite and body weight through interactions with neurons in the brain.

Until now, BHB has been known as a compound produced by the liver to be used as fuel. However, in recent years, scientists have found that BHB increases in the body after fasting or exercise, prompting interest in investigating potential beneficial applications in obesity and diabetes.

In the current study, the team at Stanford University led by co-corresponding author Dr. Jonathan Z. Long, associate professor of pathology, discovered that BHB also participates in another metabolic pathway...

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New new Design for Photonic Time Crystals could Change How we Use and Control Light

Breakthrough in photonic time crystals could change how we use and control light
“This work could lead to the first experimental realization of photonic time crystals, propelling them into practical applications and potentially transforming industries,” says Professor Viktar Asadchy from Aalto University, Finland. Credit: Xuchen Wang / Aalto University

An international research team has for the first time designed realistic photonic time crystals–exotic materials that exponentially amplify light. The breakthrough opens up exciting possibilities across fields such as communication, imaging and sensing by laying the foundations for faster and more compact lasers, sensors and other optical devices.

“This work could lead to the first experimental realization of photonic time crystals, propelling them into practical applications and potentially transforming industr...

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A Formula for Life? New Model Calculates Chances of Intelligent Beings in our Universe and Beyond

A formula for life? New model calculates chances of intelligent beings in our Universe and beyond
How the same region of the universe would look in terms of the amount of stars for different values of the dark energy density. Clockwise, from top left, no dark energy, same dark energy density as in our universe, 30 and 10 times the dark energy density in our universe. The images are generated from a suite of cosmological simulations. Credit: Oscar Veenema

The chances of intelligent life emerging in our universe—and in any hypothetical ones beyond it—can be estimated by a new theoretical model which has echoes of the famous Drake Equation.

This was the formula that American astronomer Dr. Frank Drake came up with in the 1960s to calculate the number of detectable extraterrestrial civilizations in our Milky Way galaxy.

More than 60 years on, astrophysicists led by Durham Uni...

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