Reduced Power Consumption in Semiconductor Devices

A research team reduces power consumption by half in semiconductor devices by embedding platinum nanoparticles. The new technology extends memory by one million times and is applicable in next-generation low power devices.

Stepping stones are placed to help travelers to cross streams. As long as there are stepping stones that connect the both sides of the water, one can easily get across with just a few steps. Using the same principal, a research team at POSTECH has developed technology that cuts the power consumption in semiconductor devices in half by placing stepping stones.

A research team led by Professor Junwoo Son and Dr...

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Layering, not Liquid: Astronomers explain Mars’ Watery Reflections

Martian South Pole Layered Deposit
This image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the edge of the Martian South Pole Layered Deposit. The stack of fine layering is highlighted by the rays of the polar sun.

Cornell astronomers believe bright reflections beneath the surface of Mars’ South Pole are not necessarily evidence of liquid water, but instead geological layers.

Researchers detail their alternative explanation in Nature Astronomy.

“On Earth, reflections that bright are often an indication of liquid water, even buried lakes like Lake Vostok,” said Dan Lalich, research associate. “But on Mars, the prevailing opinion was that it should be too cold for similar lakes to form.”

But the fact remains, Lalich said, that the bright reflection exists and requires an explanation.

Lalich created simulati...

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Common Gene Variant Linked to COVID Mortality

tavazoieostendorf
Sohail Tavazoie (left) and Benjamin Ostendorf (right).

Because three percent of the world population possesses these gene variants, the findings may have implications for hundreds of millions of individuals around the world

It may be the most baffling quirk of COVID: What manifests as minor, flu-like symptoms in some individuals spirals into severe disease, disability, and even death in others. A new paper published in Nature may explain the genetic underpinnings of this dichotomy.

The researchers demonstrated that mice with gene variants previously linked to Alzheimer’s disease were at greater risk of dying when infected with COVID. And a retrospective analysis suggests that patients with those same gene variants were more likely to have died of COVID throughout the pandemic...

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Key Element for a Scalable Quantum Computer

Kernstück für einen skalierbaren Quantencomputer
Semiconductor quantum chip with quantum bus of the JARA cooperation of Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University
Copyright:
— Forschungszentrum Jülich / Sascha Kreklau

Physicists demonstrate electron transport on a quantum chip. Millions of quantum bits are required for quantum computers to prove useful in practical applications. The scalability is one of the greatest challenges in the development of future devices. One problem is that the qubits have to be very close to each other on the chip in order to couple them together. Researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University have now come a significant step closer to solving the problem...

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