Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and four national laboratories have devised a way to make lithium-ion battery cathodes without using cobalt, a mineral plagued by price volatility and geopolitical complications.

In a paper published today in Nature, the scientists describe how they overcame thermal and chemical-mechanical instabilities of cathodes composed substantially of nickel—a common substitute for cobalt—by mixing in several other metallic elements.

“Through a techniq...

Animations of the relative heights of the cloud tops of Jupiter reveal delicately textured swirls and peaks that resemble the frosting on top of a cupcake. The results have been presented today by citizen scientist and professional mathematician and software developer, Gerald Eichstädt, at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2022 in Granada.

The animation uses data from JunoCam, the visible...

A study suggests that high-fat diets fuel the creation of inflammatory immune cells in the bone marrow of mice. The results may help explain how high-fat diets trigger inflammation, which can contribute to the development of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and other complications in individuals with obesity.

An invasion of inflammatory immune cells, called monocytes, into fat tissue is a hallmark of obesity, but what leads to this harmful phenomenon is unclear. Many immune cells, including monocytes, are produced in the bone marrow, which is very sensitive to environmental changes. Scientists have already shown that fat cells in the bone marrow rapidly expand in response to a high-fat diet.

“We wanted to know ...

From The City College of New York’s Center for Discovery and Innovation and the Physics Department comes news of a new type of magnetic quasiparticle created by coupling light to a stack of ultrathin 2D magnets. This achievement sprouting from a collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin lays the foundation for an emergent strategy to artificially design materials by ensuring their strong interaction with light.

“Implementing our approach with magnetic materials is a promising path towards efficient magneto-optical effects,” said CCNY physicist Vinod M. Menon, whose group led the study...