Over the last decade, there has been much excitement about the discovery, recognised by the Nobel Prize in Physics only 2 years ago, that there are two types of insulators: normal insulators which don’t conduct electricity, and topological insulators – newly discovered materials that conduct electricity only on their edges.

Now, FLEET researchers at Monash University, Australia, have for the first time successfully ‘switched’ a material between these two states of matter via application of an electric-field. This is the first step in creating a functioning topological transistor – a proposed new generation of ultra-low energy electronic devices.

Ultra-low energy electronics such as topol...

Injured neurons temporarily revert to immature state. Neurons in the brain and spinal cord don’t grow back after injury, unlike those in the rest of the body. Cut your finger, and you’ll probably be back to using it in days or weeks; slice through your spinal cord, and you likely will never walk again.

Now, working in mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St...

For the second time in history, a human-made object has reached the space between the stars. NASA’s Voyager 2 probe now has exited the heliosphere – the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun.

Comparing data from different instruments aboard the trailblazing spacecraft, mission scientists determined the probe crossed the outer edge of the heliosphere on Nov. 5...

Investigators identify, assess underlying mechanisms that may explain diet’s 25% reduction in cardiovascular risk for American women. A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health offers insights from a cohort study of women in the U.S. who reported consuming a Mediterranean-type diet. Researchers found a 25 percent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease among study participants who consumed a diet rich in plants and olive oil and low in meats and sweets...