Passive day cooling is a promising technology for the sustainable reduction of energy consumption. It avoids the heating up of buildings by solar radiation and dissipates accumulated heat without external energy consumption. Researchers at the University of Bayreuth have now created a test system with which the materials used for passive cooling can be reliably characterised and compared — regardless of weather conditions and environmental conditions...

Astronomers at the University of Arizona have developed a theory to explain the presence of the largest molecules known to exist in interstellar gas.

The team simulated the environment of dying stars and observed the formation of buckyballs (carbon atoms linked to three other carbon atoms by covalent bonds) and carbon nanotubes (rolled up sheets of single-layer carbon atoms). The findings indicate that buckyballs and carbon nanotubes can form when silicon carbide dust—known to be proximate to dying stars—releases carbon in reaction to intense heat, shockwaves and high energy particles.

“We know from infrared observations that buckyballs populate the interstellar medium,” said Jacob Bernal, who led the research...

A team of scientists in the Physical Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have combined robotics with biology by equipping Ecoli bacteria with artificial components to construct biohybrid microrobots. First, the team attached several nanoliposomes to each bacterium. On their outer circle, these spherical-shaped carriers enclose a material (ICG, green particles) that melts when illuminated by near infrared light...

A team of international experts, renowned for debunking several black hole discoveries, have found a stellar-mass black hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighbour galaxy to our own...