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    New Type of Superconductor identified

    September 22, 2020, Categories  Physics

    This illustration shows a crystal lattice of strontium ruthenate responding to various sound waves sent via resonant ultrasound spectroscopy as the material cools through its superconducting transition at 1.4 kelvin (minus 457 degrees Fahrenheit). The highlighted deformation suggests the material may be a new type of superconductor.   

    Until now, the history of superconducting materials has been a tale of two types: s-wave and d-wave. Now, Cornell researchers — led by Brad Ramshaw, the Dick & Dale Reis Johnson Assistant Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences — have discovered a possible third type: g-wave.

    Their paper, “Thermodynamic Evidence for a Two-Component Superconducting Order Parameter in Sr2RuO4,” published Sept. 21 in Nature Physics...

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    Comet discovered to have its own Northern Lights

    September 22, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Image acquired by the navigation camera on the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko between Nov. 19 and Dec. 3, 2014. Image credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

    An atmospheric light show previously relegated to planets and Jupiter moons is found on comet using data from ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft. Data from NASA instruments aboard the ESA (European Space Agency) Rosetta mission have helped reveal that comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has its own far-ultraviolet aurora. It is the first time such electromagnetic emissions in the far-ultraviolet have been documented on a celestial object other than a planet or moon. A paper on the findings was released today in the journal Nature Astronomy.

    On Earth, aurora (also known as the northern or southern light...

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    Novel Mechanism may Confer Protection against Glaucoma

    September 21, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    reinal ganglion cells
    Increased Antioxidant Capacity and Pro-Homeostatic Lipid Mediators in Ocular Hypertension—A Human Experimental Model

    A team of researchers from LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence and the University of Copenhagen provides the first evidence that patients with ocular hypertension may exhibit superior antioxidant protection that promotes resistance to the elevated intraocular pressure associated with glaucoma. Their findings are published online in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

    In general, glaucoma patients are vulnerable to increased intraocular pressure. However, a particular group of patients has no glaucomatous neurodegeneration despite high intraocular pressure — patients with ocular hypertension.

    The paper reports the discovery of a new mechanism to...

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    World’s Smallest Ultrasound Detector created

    September 21, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Silicon chip (approx. 3 mm x 6 mm) with multiple detectors. The fine black engravings on the surface of the chip are the photonics circuits interconnecting the detectors (not visible with bare eyes). In the background a larger scale photonics circuit on a silicon wafer. © Helmholtz Zentrum München

    Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed the world’s smallest ultrasound detector. It is based on miniaturized photonic circuits on top of a silicon chip. With a size 100 times smaller than an average human hair, the new detector can visualize features that are much smaller than previously possible, leading to what is known as super-resolution imaging.

    Since the development of medical ultrasound imaging in the 1950s, the co...

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