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    Engineers harvest WiFi Signals to power Small-Electronics

    May 20, 2021, Categories  Technology/Electronics

    The research breakthrough was achieved by a team led by Professor Yang Hyunsoo (left). Dr Raghav Sharma (right), the first author of the paper, is holding a chip embedded with about 50 spin-torque oscillators.

    A research team has developed new technology that uses tiny smart devices known as spin-torque oscillators to harvest and convert wireless radio frequencies into energy to power small electronics.

    With the rise of the digital age, the amount of WiFi sources to transmit information wirelessly between devices has grown exponentially. This results in the widespread use of the 2.4GHz radio frequency that WiFi uses, with excess signals available to be tapped for alternative uses.

    To harness this under-utilised source of energy, a research team from the National University of Sin...

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    Alien Radioactive Element Prompts Creation Rethink

    May 20, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This false-colour composite from NASA Spitzer Space Telescope and NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory shows the remnant of N132D. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA. 

    The first-ever discovery of an extraterrestrial radioactive isotope on Earth has scientists rethinking the origins of the elements on our planet.

    The tiny traces of plutonium-244 were found in ocean crust alongside radioactive iron-60. The two isotopes are evidence of violent cosmic events in the vicinity of Earth millions of years ago.

    Star explosions, or supernovae create many of the heavy elements in the periodic table, including those vital for human life, such as iron, potassium and iodine.

    To form even heavier elements, such as gold, uranium and plutonium it was thought that a more violent event ma...

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    Western Diet may Increase Risk of Gut Inflammation, Infection

    May 19, 2021, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    A tiny, 3D model of the intestines formed from anti-inflammatory cells known as Paneth cells (green and red) and other intestinal cells (blue) is seen in the image above. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Cleveland Clinic used such models, called organoids, to understand why a Western-style diet rich in fat and sugar damages Paneth cells and disrupts the gut immune system. (Image: Ta-Chiang Liu)

    Diet rich in sugar, fat damages immune cells in digestive tracts of mice. Eating a Western diet impairs the immune system in the gut in ways that could increase risk of infection and inflammatory bowel disease, according to a study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Cleveland Clinic.

    The study, in mice and peop...

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    Future Sparkles for Diamond-based Quantum Technology

    May 19, 2021, Categories  Physics

    diamond
    An artist’s impression of a diamond building block in a future photonic circuit. The red color emphasises the germanium vacancy centres emitting at the red spectral range and the ring illustrates the cavity. Image: supplied.

    Two research breakthroughs are poised to accelerate the development of synthetic diamond-based quantum technology. Marilyn Monroe famously sang that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but they are also very popular with quantum scientists — with two new research breakthroughs poised to accelerate the development of synthetic diamond-based quantum technology, improve scalability, and dramatically reduce manufacturing costs.

    While silicon is traditionally used for computer and mobile phone hardware, diamond has unique properties that make it particularly useful as...

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