In research that could jumpstart interest into an enigmatic class of materials known as quasicrystals, MIT scientists and colleagues have discovered a relatively simple, flexible way to create new atomically thin versions that can be tuned for important phenomena. In work reported in Nature they describe doing just that to make the materials exhibit superconductivity and more.

The research introduces a new platform for not only learning more about quasicrystals, but also exploring exotic phenomena that can be hard to study but could lead to important applications and new physics...

Intense flashes of light, not mass, resolve the puzzle of impossible brightness. When scientists viewed the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) first images of the universe’s earliest galaxies, they were shocked. The young galaxies appeared too bright, too massive and too mature to have formed so soon after the Big Bang. It would be like an infant growing into an adult within just a couple years.

The startling discovery even caused some physicists to question the standard model of cosmology, wondering whether or not it should be upended.

In a new study, etripamil, a rapid- and short-acting investigational medication formulated to be delivered via nasal spray, restored a normal heart rhythm in less than 30 minutes in most users with intermittent rapid heartbeats, sparing them a trip to the emergency room to receive intravenous medication.

A fast-acting medication delivered as a nasal spray may someday allow patients with intermittent rapid heartbeats to treat it themselves as soon as they develop symptoms, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the A...

UC Riverside chemical engineers have designed a fuel that ignites only with the application of electric current. Since it doesn’t react to flames and cannot start accidental fires during storage or transport, it is a “safe” liquid fuel.

“The fuel we’re normally using is not very safe. It evaporates and could ignite, and it’s difficult to stop that,” said Yujie Wang, UCR chemical engineering doctoral student and co-author of a new paper about the fuel. “It is much easier to control the flammability of our fuel and stop it from burning when we remove voltage.”

The Journal of the American Chemical Society paper describes how the team created the fuel, and additional technical details are also included i...