The aluminum plates were attached to the topological insulator using platinum. The picture (scale bar: 200?nm) shows one of the devices used in the experiment. Because of the stress, induced by various cool downs, a clear buckling feature appears in the nanogap of the device. This modification is causing the characteristics of the superconducting pairs of electron to vary in different directions, a signature of unconventional superconductivity. Credit: Thilo Bauch and Floriana Lombardi/Chalmers University of Technology

They have probably succeeded in creating a topological superconductor. With their insensitivity to decoherence what are known as Majorana particles could become stable building blocks of a quantum computer...

This is a lithium battery temperature sensor. Credit: WMG, University of Warwick

Researchers at WMG at the University of Warwick have developed a new direct, precise test of Lithium-ion batteries’ internal temperatures and their electrodes potentials and found that the batteries can be safely charged up to five times faster than the current recommended charging limits.

The new technology works in-situ during a battery’s normal operation without impeding its performance and it has been tested on standard commercially available batteries...

This is a collection of SHERLOCK paper test strips. (Left) Unused paper strips. (Middle) Paper tests displaying a negative SHERLOCK readout. (Right) Paper tests displaying a positive SHERLOCK readout. Credit: Zhang lab, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

100-fold greater sensitivity, ability to detect multiple targets at once, and other improvements provide more power for detecting genetic signatures. The team that first unveiled the rapid, inexpensive, highly sensitive CRISPR-based diagnostic tool called SHERLOCK has greatly enhanced the tool’s power, and has developed a miniature paper test that allows results to be seen with the naked eye – without the need for expensive equipment.

The SHERLOCK team developed a simple paper strip to display test results for a single genetic signature, b...

These are rectangular shapes printed at the TU Eindhoven 3-D-concrete printer. Suiker elaborated his equations for rectangular layouts like these. Credit: Rob Wolfs/Eindhoven University of Technology

3D-printed materials commonly are soft and flexible during printing, leaving printed walls susceptible to collapse or falling over. Akke Suiker, professor in Applied Mechanics at Eindhoven University of Technology, had a Eureka moment and saw the solution to this structural problem. He developed a model with which engineers can now easily determine the dimensions and printing speeds for which printed wall structures remain stable. His formulae are so elementary that they can become commonplace in the fast growing field of 3D printing.

Conventional concrete deposited in formwork typically is al...