Making the Strange Metal State in High Temperature Superconductors even Stranger

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have uncovered a striking new behavior of the ‘strange metal’ state of high temperature superconductors. The discovery represents an important piece of the puzzle for understanding these materials, and the findings have been published in the journal Science.

Superconductivity, where an electric current is transported without any losses, holds enormous potential for green technologies. For example, if it could be made to work at high enough temperatures, it could allow for lossless transport of renewable energy over great distances. Investigating this phenomenon is the aim of the research field of high temperature superconductivity...

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Making Martian Rocket Biofuel on Mars

Artist's conception of astronauts and human habitats on Mars. Courtesy: NASA
Artist’s conception of astronauts and human habitats on Mars. Courtesy: NASA

New study outlines biotechnology process to produce rocket fuel on red planet. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a concept that would make Martian rocket fuel, on Mars, that could be used to launch future astronauts back to Earth.

The bioproduction process would use three resources native to the red planet: carbon dioxide, sunlight, and frozen water. It would also include transporting two microbes to Mars. The first would be cyanobacteria (algae), which would take CO2 from the Martian atmosphere and use sunlight to create sugars...

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Specific Molecular Mechanism that controls the Transition from Acute to Chronic Pain

Daniele Piomelli
UCI School of Medicine
“This study is the first to identify that NAAA, a previously unrecognized control node, can be effectively targeted by small-molecule therapeutics that inhibit this enzyme, and block the transition from acute to chronic pain,” said Daniele Piomelli, PhD, Distinguished Professor in the UCI School of Medicine Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology.

Previously unrecognized control point identified as target for drugs that block transition. A new study led by University of California, Irvine researchers is the first to reveal the specific molecular mechanism that controls the transition from acute to chronic pain, and identifies this mechanism as a critical target for disease-modifying medicines.

Findings from the study, titled “NAAA-regulated lipid signaling gov...

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Topological Valley Hall Edge Solitons in Photonics

Experimental setup for observing nonlinear valley Hall edge states
Experimental setup for observing nonlinear valley Hall edge states. Credit: H. Zhong, S. Xia, et al., doi 10.1117/1.AP.3.5.056001

A novel topological edge soliton developed for nonlinear photorefractive lattices enables robust light beams is promising for photonic technology. Diffraction is a natural property of light beams. It allows light to bend around obstacles. Because light serves as a carrier of information, some of the distorting effects of diffraction must be mitigated for many technological applications. Topological insulators, first unveiled in condensed matter physics, have attracted interest for over a decade. A photonic topological insulator can help ensure consistent propagation of a light beam along its edges...

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