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Illustration of a KTN crystal operating under different phases. Credit: Penn State

A major technological advance in the field of high-speed beam-scanning devices has increased the speed of 2D and 3D printing by up to 1000 times, according to researchers in Penn State’s College of Engineering. Using a space-charge-controlled KTN beam deflector – a kind of crystal made of potassium tantalate and potassium niobate – with a large electro-optic effect, researchers have found that scanning at a much higher speed is possible.

“Basically, when the crystal materials are applied to an electric field, they generate uniform reflecting distributions, that can deflect an incoming light beam,” said Prof. Shizhuo Yin...

Artist’s concept of a binary system similar to the one that originated the nova Sagittarii 2015 N.2. Credit: David A. Hardy y PPARC

Lithium, the lightest solid element, is created during astrophysical phenomena, but its origin has been elusive. Recently, researchers detected enormous quantities of beryllium-7, an unstable element that decays into lithium in 53.2 days, inside nova Sagittarii 2015 N.2, which suggests that novae are the main source of lithium in the galaxy. Practically every chemical element has an astronomical origin. Light elements were formed between 10s and 20min after the Big Bang, including H (75%), He (25%) and a very small amount of Li and Be.

The remaining chemical elements were formed in stars, either through fusion of other elements inside the nucleus, which begins...

Artist’s conception of how the “nearly naked” supermassive black hole originated. Credit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF

Smaller galaxy loses nearly all its stars, gas during passage through larger neighbor. Astronomers using the super-sharp radio vision of the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) have found the shredded remains of a galaxy that passed through a larger galaxy, leaving only the smaller galaxy’s nearly-naked supermassive black hole to emerge and speed away at more than 2,000 miles per second. The galaxies are part of a cluster of galaxies more than 2 billion light-years from Earth. The remaining black hole and a small galactic remnant is only ~3,000 light-years across. For comparison, our Milky Way Galaxy is approximately 100,000 light-years across.

The d...

Too much fat in the diet promotes insulin resistance by spurring chronic inflammation. In the image above, immune cells (shown in green) produce fatty acids that contribute to diabetes-related inflammation. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have developed a way to block production of fatty acids in these immune cells in mice and protect them from diet-induced diabetes. Credit: Semenkovich lab/ Washington University

Inflammation is one of the main reasons why people with diabetes experience heart attacks, strokes, kidney problems and other, related complications. Now, in a surprise finding, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a possible trigger of chronic inflammation...