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    Engineers develop Novel Strategy for designing Tiny Semiconductor particles for wide-ranging applications

    January 26, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology


    MoS2 quantum dots in aqueous solution (left) and an ultrahigh magnification of a MoS2 quantum dot (right). MoS2 quantum dots synthesised with the new approach developed by NUS researchers can potentially generate cancer-killing properties.

    MoS2 quantum dots synthesized with the new approach can potentially generate cancer-killing properties. NUS Engineers have developed a cost-effective and scalable strategy for designing tiny semiconductor particles known as transition metal dichalcogenide quantum dots (TMD QDs) which can potentially generate cancer-killing properties. The team is also looking to optimise TMD QDs for applications such as the next generation TV and electronic device screens, advanced electronics components and even solar cells.

    Two-dimensional (2D) transition ...

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    Milky Way’s Neighbors Pick up the Pace

    January 25, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Taken with the European Southern Observatory’s Gaia Satellite, the maps show the relative abundance of heavy elements (elements heavier than helium) in the stars. Yellow indicates fewer heavy elements and purple indicates more heavy elements.
    Credit: David Nidever (NOAO/Montana State University) and the SDSS collaboration.

    After slowly forming stars for the first few billion years of their lives, the Magellanic Clouds, near neighbors of our own Milky Way galaxy, have upped their game and are now forming new stars at a fast clip. This new insight into the history of the Clouds comes from the first detailed chemical maps made of galaxies beyond the Milky Way.

    Named for explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who led the first European expedition to circumnavigate the globe, the Large and Small ...

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    In surprising reversal, scientists find a Cellular Process that Stops Cancer before it starts

    January 25, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Left: The 23 pairs of chromosomes of cells in which autophagy is functioning look normal and healthy with no structural or numerical aberrations (each color represents a unique chromosome pair). Right: the chromosomes of cells in which autophagy is not functioning bypass crisis, showing both structural and numerical aberrations, with segments added to, deleted from, and/or swapped between chromosomes–a hallmark of cancer.
    Credit: Salk Institute

    Cellular recycling process, thought to fuel cancer’s growth, can actually prevent it. Scientists studying the relationship of telomeres to cancer made a surprising discovery: a cellular recycling process called autophagy – generally thought of as a survival mechanism – actually promotes the death of cells, thereby preventing cancer initiation.

    T...

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    3D-Printed Soft Mesh Robots

    January 25, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    NC State researchers created a 3D-printed soft robot that can grab objects while floating on a water surface.
    Credit: Sangchul Roh, NC State University

    Structures can contract, reshape and grab objects while floating on water. Researchers at North Carolina State University have created 3D-printed flexible mesh structures that can be controlled with applied magnetic fields while floating on water. The structures can grab small objects and carry water droplets, giving them the potential to be useful as soft robots that mimic creatures living on water surfaces or that can serve as tissue scaffolds for cell cultures.

    “This research shows capabilities in the emerging field of combining 3D printing and soft robotics,” said Orlin Velev, S...

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