Electron Conspiracy in a Japanese Lattice Pattern: Kagome Metals Baffle Science

The kagome lattice is composed of three interwoven triangular lattices. For KV3Sb5, each such triangular lattice (denoted red, blue, and green) represent one type of Vanadium sublattice which together form the Kagome metal. The particular kagome lattice structure leads to intriguing quantum effects which yields collective electronic quantum states such as a potentially unprecedented form of superconductivity. (Image: Pixelwg Jörg Bandmann / ct.qmat)

Toward a new kind of superconductivity: In the past four years scientists have discovered metals whose crystal structure mimics that of a traditional Japanese woven bamboo pattern: kagome metals...

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Clearance of Protein Linked to Alzheimer’s controlled by Circadian Cycle

Ability of immune system to destroy Alzheimer’s-related protein oscillates with daily circadian rhythm. The brain’s ability to clear a protein closely linked to Alzheimer’s disease is tied to our circadian cycle, according to research published today in PLOS Genetics. The research underscores the importance of healthy sleep habits in preventing the protein Amyloid-Beta 42 (AB42) from forming clumps in the brain, and opens a path to potential Alzheimer’s therapies.

“Circadian regulation of immune cells plays a role in the intricate relationship between the circadian clock and Alzheimer’s disease,” said Jennifer Hurley, an expert in circadian rhythms, and associate professor of biological science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute...

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Debris from Disintegrating Planets Hurtling into White Dwarfs across the Galaxy

An impression of the high-mass X-ray binary called Cygnus X-1. It consists of a blue supergiant star (right) called HDE 226868, orbiting what is in all likelihood a black hole. The black hole is sucking gas from the blue star’s atmosphere, leading to the formation of an accretion disc around the black hole.

The moment that debris from destroyed planets impacts the surface of a white dwarf star has been observed for the first time by astronomers at the University of Warwick.

They have used Xrays to detect the rocky and gaseous material left behind by a planetary system after its host star dies as it collides and is consumed within the surface of the star.

Published today (9 February) in the journal Nature, the results are the first direct measurement of the accretion of rocky mate...

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Einstein’s Photoelectric Effect: The time it takes for an electron to be released

High-tech: COLTRIMS reaction microscope at electron storage ring BESSY II, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB). Photo: Miriam Weller, Goethe University Frankfurt

Researchers examine photoelectric effect with the aid of a COLTRIMS reaction microscope. It is now one hundred years ago that Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the photoelectric effect. The jury had not yet really understood his revolutionary theory of relativity — but Einstein had also conducted ground-breaking work on the photoelectric effect. With his analysis he was able to demonstrate that light comprises individual packets of energy — photons...

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