Drawing Inspiration from Plants: A Metal-Air Paper Battery for Wearable Devices

Drawing inspiration from plants: A metal–air paper battery for wearable devices
Photographs and a circuit diagram of a SpO2 sensor without cover. On the front side, control IC chip and battery connector were equipped. On the back side, the LED and detector for measuring pulse and O2 saturation were equipped. Credit: RSC Applied Interfaces (2024). DOI: 10.1039/D4LF00039K

For more than two millennia, paper has been a staple of human civilization. But these days, the use of paper is not limited to writing. It is also playing a pivotal role in ushering in a greener future.

Lightweight and thin paper-based devices help reduce dependence on metal or plastic materials, while at the same time being easier to dispose of...

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First Tidally Locked Super-Earth Exoplanet Confirmed

First tidally locked exoplanet super-Earth confirmed
Observed dayside brightness temperature of LHS 3844b (red; 1σ range), vs. the planet’s theoretical dayside equilibrium temperature for two different rotation states (solid curves). The blue curve assumes pseudo-synchronous rotation, the green curve assumes Mercury-like 3:2 rotation. Shaded blue and green regions indicate the effect of increasing or decreasing LHS 3844b’s tidal dissipation efficiency by 1 order of magnitude. Credit: The Astrophysical Journal (2024). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad2077

An international team of astronomers and astrophysicists has confirmed the first known observance of a tidally locked super-Earth exoplanet...

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Universal Brain-Computer Interface lets People Play Games with just their Thoughts

Texas Engineering student wearing electrode cap at computer desk
Hussein Alawieh, a graduate student in Dr. José del R. Millán’s lab, wears a cap packed with electrodes that is hooked up to a computer. The electrodes gather data by measuring electrical signals from the brain, and the decoder interprets that information and translates it into game action.

Engineers have created a brain-computer interface that doesn’t require calibration for each user, paving the way for widespread clinical applicability.

Imagine playing a racing game like Mario Kart, using only your brain to execute the complex series of turns in a lap.

This is not a video game fantasy, but a real program that engineers at The University of Texas at Austin have created as part of research into brain-computer interfaces to help improve the lives of people with motor disabiliti...

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Study Unveils a New Family of Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulators

Study unveils a new family of quantum anomalous Hall insulators
Left: Atomic structure of monolayer V2MX4. Right: Electron structure with topological chiral edge state of monolayer V2WS4 (by Yadong Jiang). Credit: Adapted from Physical Review Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.106602

In recent years, physicists and material scientists have identified various new materials marked by interesting properties and quantum effects. These materials could prove highly valuable both as platforms to study quantum effects and for the development of new quantum computing devices.

One class of materials that has attracted particular attention is quantum anomalous Hall insulators...

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