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Rice University scientists calculate that the atom-thick film of boron known as borophene could be the first pure two-dimensional material naturally able to emit visible and near-infrared light by activating its plasmons. The Rice team tested models of three polymorphs and found that triangular borophene, at left, was capable of emitting visible light, while the other two reached near-infrared. Credit: Sharmila Shirodkar/Rice University

Scientists calculate flat boron capable of visible plasmon emissions. An atom-thick film of boron could be the first pure 2D material able to emit visible and near-infrared light by activating its plasmons, according to Rice University scientists...

Depiction of the proposed system in a metropolitan city where quantum-secure information is transferred between two quantum nodes. Credit: Agheal Abedzahdeh (Duke University)

Recent advances in quantum computers may soon give hackers access to machines powerful enough to crack even the toughest of standard internet security codes. With these codes broken, all of our online data—from medical records to bank transactions—could be vulnerable to attack. To fight back against the future threat, researchers are wielding the same strange properties that drive quantum computers to create theoretically hack-proof forms of quantum data encryption.

And now, these quantum encryption techniques may be one step closer to wide-scale use thanks to a new system developed by scientists at Duke Universit...

High magnification micrograph of Crohn’s disease. Biopsy of esophagus. H&E stain. Credit: Nephron/Wikipedia

A single protein from a worm parasite may one day offer new therapeutic options for treating inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis, that avoid the potentially serious side effects of current immunosuppressant medications. The study, published today in Nature Communications, demonstrates the discovery of a distinct new worm protein which mimics a cytokine found in humans, known as transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β). The newly-discovered protein switches off inflammation by inducing “regulatory T cells”, the body’s own means of dampening excessive reactivity.

The “Hygiene Hypothesis” suggests that some bugs and parasites may protect you from an overly-rea...

Heat transport through pillared graphene could be made faster by manipulating the junctions between sheets of graphene and the nanotubes that connect them, according to Rice University researchers. Credit: Lei Tao/Rice University

3D carbon nanostructures’ thermal transport abilities. Pillared graphene would transfer heat better if the theoretical material had a few asymmetric junctions that caused wrinkles, according to Rice University engineers. Materials scientist Rouzbeh Shahsavari and alumnus Navid Sakhavand first built atom-level computer models of pillared graphene – sheets of graphene connected by covalently bonded carbon nanotubes – to discover their strength and electrical properties as well as their thermal conductivity.

In a new study, they found that manipulating the joints bet...