Printed electronics use standard printing techniques to manufacture electronic devices on different substrates like glass, plastic films, and paper. Interest in this area is growing because of the potential to create cheaper circuits more efficiently than conventional methods. A new study published in AIP Advances provides insights into the processing of copper nanoparticle ink with green laser light.
Scientists looking to hydrogen as a next-generation clean energy source are developing hydrogen-sensing technologies, the most common of which uses palladium-based thin films because palladium readily absorbs hydrogen gas. However, it also readily absorbs other gases, decreasing the overall efficiency of these sensors. Researchers conducted a systematic study of hydrogen detection using the Extraordinary Hall Effect to measure the hydrogen magnetization response in cobalt-palladium thin films, and reports in the Journal of Applied Physics.
For fusion power plants to be effective, scientists must find a way to trigger the low-to-high confinement transition, or “L-H transition” for short. Scientists have observed that the L-H transition is always associated with zonal flows of plasma. Theoretically, zonal flows in a plasma consist of both a stationary flow with a near-zero frequency and one that oscillates at a higher frequency called the geodesic acoustic mode. For the first time, researchers have detected GAM at two different points simultaneously within the reactor. This new experimental setup will be a useful diagnostic tool for investigating the physics of zonal flows, and their role in the L-H transition. The researchers report these findings in a new paper published in Physics of Plasmas.
Epidemiological studies have established a strong correlation between inhaling ultrafine particles from incomplete combustion and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Still, relatively little is known about the mechanisms behind how air particulates affect human health. New work with carbon nanodots seeks to provide the first model of how ultrafine carbon-based particles interact with the lung tissues. Researchers created a 3D lung cell model system to investigate how carbon-based combustion byproducts behave as they interact with human epithelial tissue. They discuss their work in Biointerphases.
Spiderwebs can withstand a predator’s impact while still helping catch and detect small prey. Spiders architect these lightweight networks for strength and elasticity using different silks and geometric structures. Recently, researchers unraveled a new energy absorption mechanism that explains how spiderwebs can be simultaneously sensitive and impact-resistant. The research team reports their findings in Applied Physics Letters.
Scientists seek to better understand protein folding to cure misfolding diseases, but this incredibly complex process requires sophisticated algorithms to identify the folding mechanisms. Computational biophysicists have proposed a new way to identify the most crucial factors for protein folding. They demonstrated the short simulation time of their approach on a small but intriguing protein, “GB1 beta-hairpin,” in The Journal of Chemical Physics.
Titanium-based materials are widely used in medical implant technology, and coating the surface of titanium materials with biologically active molecules has recently shown promise to improve how cells adhere to implants and promote tissue regeneration. The mechanisms behind how peptides stick to titanium, however, are not fully understood. Researchers have now found how calcium ions present at the interface between titanium oxide and tissues affect how well peptides bind to the metal. The team reports their findings in Biointerphases.
The recurrence plot is a vital tool for analyzing nonlinear dynamic systems, especially systems involving empirically observed time series data. RPs show patterns in a phase space system and indicate where data visit the same coordinates, and can mimic some types of inferential statistics and linear analyses. A paper in Chaos provides a proof of concept for using RPs to mimic the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, which scientists use to determine if two data sets significantly differ.
Flashes of brightness known as solar flares can be followed by coronal mass ejections that send plasma from the sun into space. These charged particles can then travel to Earth, and when they arrive they wreak havoc on Earth’s magnetic field. The result can be beautiful but also destructive: auroras and geomagnetic storms. In the journal Chaos, researchers report a method for analyzing magnetic field data that might provide better short-term forecasting of geomagnetic storms.
Designing lightweight materials -- a goal in the automotive and airline industries -- requires carefully joining together different types of materials like metals and polymers, and these additional steps drive up manufacturing costs. New work in laser technology recently increased the adhesion strength of metal-plastic hybrid materials; engineers demonstrated a technique for binding plastic to aluminum by pretreating sheets of aluminum with infrared lasers. They discuss their work in the Journal of Laser Applications.
Cancer researchers struggle to identify tumor cells that are interspersed within nonmalignant tissues because tumor cells exploit the tissue environment and monopolize available resources to continue growing. Researchers attribute cancer cell’s ability to use cell signaling and metabolic pathways that override normal cell growth restrictions to complicated chemical exchanges between tissue and tumor cells. A new approach shows promise to begin analyzing cell-to-cell interactions in this complex environment. The researchers discuss their work in Biointerphases.
Innovations on the microscale depend on understanding and predicting the behavior of electricity on the smallest of length scales. Scientists already have a good grasp of “electrical breakdown,” when electricity jumps across large gaps and creates plasma. However, researchers have had little insight into the behavior of electricity as it jumps across very small gaps until now. A team reports new research, in the Physics of Plasmas, that shines light on the behavior of electrical breakdown for the smallest gap distances ever studied: a mere 5 to 10 microns.
Ceramic materials are used in nuclear, chemical and electrical power generation industries because of their ability to withstand extreme environments. However, at high temperatures, ceramics are susceptible to thermal-shock fractures caused by rapid temperature-changing events, such as cold water droplet contact with hot surfaces. In a novel interdisciplinary approach, engineers at the University of New Mexico report in AIP Advances the use of a cheap, simple, water-repelling coating to prevent thermal shock in ceramics.
Researchers recently discovered that the strength of the magnetic field required to elicit a particular quantum mechanical process corresponds to the temperature of the material. Based on this finding, scientists can determine a sample’s temperature to a resolution of one cubic micron by measuring the field strength at which this effect occurs. Temperature sensing is integral in most industrial, electronic and chemical processes, so greater spatial resolution could benefit commercial and scientific pursuits. The team reports their findings in AIP Advances.
Clinicians most often monitor antibodies because these small proteins attach to antigens, or foreign substances, we face every day. Most biomolecules, however, have complicated charge characteristics, and the sensor response from conventional carbon nanotube systems can be erratic. A team in Japan recently revealed how these systems work and proposed changes to dramatically improve biomolecule detection. They report their findings in the Journal of Applied Physics.
Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles present research on a curious cosmic phenomenon known as “whistlers” -- very low frequency packets of radio waves that race along magnetic field lines. Appearing in the Physics of Plasmas, the study provides new insights into the nature of whistlers and space plasmas and could one day aid in the development of practical plasma technologies with magnetic fields, including spacecraft thrusters that use charged particles as fuel.
The 1987 Montreal Protocol and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol called for countries around the world to phase out substances that deplete the ozone layer and cause global warming, but many HVAC systems still use synthetic refrigerants that violate those international agreements and inflict environmental damage. Recently, Iranian researchers investigated how natural refrigerants could be used in geothermal heat pumps to reduce energy consumption and operating costs. They report their findings in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.
Researchers from the University of Florida and the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil have used state of the art simulations to assess the effect of both pH and redox potential, or rate of electron transfer, on a biomolecule.
Experts in fluid dynamics and kids jumping into a pool both know that an object falling into a liquid makes a splash. A new study finds that a single layer of a penetrable fabric – in this case, toilet paper – causes a wettable ball to make an especially tall splash, but additional layers can stop the splash entirely.
400 kilometers above Earth, researchers examined waves in complex plasma under microgravity conditions and found that the microparticles behaved in nonuniform ways in the presence of varying electrical fields. They report some of the first findings from the Plasma-Kristall 4 experiment, a collaboration between the European Space Agency and the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos, in Physics of Plasmas.
In nature, the nuclear reactions that form stars are often accompanied by astronomically high amounts of energy, a challenge for nuclear astrophysicists trying to study these reactions; the chances of re-creating such a spark are unfathomably low. However, after recent renovations to its accelerator, one laboratory reported record-breaking performance. Following six years of upgrades to the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source at the Laboratory for Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics, researchers report improved results, discussed in Review of Scientific Instruments.
Metastasis is a leading contributor to many deaths related to cancer, but the exact mechanisms for how broken cellular function appears in cells far removed from a cancer’s primary tumor remain an area of ongoing research. Scientists at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities confirmed a link between healthy-tumor hybrid cells and metastatic tumors for the first time in live animals. In APL Bioengineering, they discuss how they studied the distinct, heterogenous gene expression profiles found in human hybrid cells and how hybrid cells spontaneously occur in mouse models.
Birds create songs by moving muscles in their vocal organs to vibrate air passing through their tissues, and new research shows that these muscles act in concert to create sound. Scientists describe how zebra finches produce songs in this week’s Chaos: Using electromyographic signals, they tracked the activity of one muscle involved in creating sound, the syringealis ventralis. They then used the data from this muscle to create a synthetic zebra finch song.
Scientists studying nucleation often use microscopic droplets as miniature experiments that can run quickly, in parallel, and in a small space. However, these experiments require high-resolution images, limiting the number of droplet images that can be simultaneously processed. Researchers recently overcame this challenge by focusing their measurements on the contrast between droplets and their surrounding medium. This technique, published this week in AIP Advances, provides the most accurate and efficient method for detecting crystal nucleation to date.
Modern communication systems often employ optical fibers to carry signals across or between devices. These integrated optics combine more than one function into a single circuit. However, signal transmission requires long optical fibers, which makes it difficult to miniaturize the device. Instead of long optical fibers, scientists have started testing planar waveguides. In the Journal of Applied Physics, investigators report on a laser-assisted study of a type of glass that shows promise as a material for broadband planar waveguide amplifiers.
A team of researchers recently discovered a new aspirin polymorph that’s predicted to dissolve faster than current form I aspirin tablets, which would mean faster pain relief after ingestion. Greater dissolving efficiency also means that each tablet would require less of the compound. Chunhua (Tony) Hu, New York University, will present the painstaking story of aspirin IV alongside its structural definition at the 68th Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association.
A laboratory at the Illinois Institute of Technology is using fiber diffraction to examine tissue structures in the human brain and heart, as well as in T. rex fossils. Few researchers use this type of X-ray diffraction because of the time and labor required to complete experiments, the researchers have resolved images of the fine threads of collagen fibrils in connective, neurological and dinosaur tissues to one-billionth of a meter. During the 68th Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association, they will explain their work.
Many vaccines become ineffective when exposed to room temperature or heat. This challenge can prevent patients from accessing lifesaving immunizations and increase the risk of global pandemics. During the 68th Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association, Jeremiah Gassensmith, University of Texas at Dallas, will describe his lab’s work developing metal-organic framework vaccines. This new biocompatible polymer framework “freezes” proteins inside vaccines. The proteins then dissolve when injected in human skin. This innovation could help health care providers transport and administer vaccines in remote areas with unreliable power.
Metallic glasses are an exciting research target for tantalizing applications; however, the difficulties associated with predicting how much energy these materials release when they fracture is slowing down development of metallic glass-based products. Recently, researchers developed a way of simulating to the atomic level how metallic glasses behave as they fracture. This modeling technique could improve computer-aided materials design and help researchers determine the properties of metallic glasses. The duo reports their findings in the Journal of Applied Physics.
Leading Argonne National Laboratory researcher Seth Darling describes the most advanced research innovations that could address global clean water accessibility.
The interaction of traveling waves in dissipative systems, physical systems driven by energy dissipation, can yield unexpected and sometimes chaotic results. These waves, known as dissipative pulses are driving experimental studies in a variety of areas that involve matter and energy flows. In the journal Chaos, researchers discuss their work studying collisions between three types of DSs to determine what happens when these traveling waves interact.
Studying the photochemistry has shown that ultraviolet radiation can set off harmful chemical reactions in the human body and, alternatively, can provide “photo-protection” by dispersing extra energy. To better understand the dynamics of these photochemical processes, a group of scientists irradiated the RNA base uracil with ultraviolet light and documented its behavior on a picosecond timescale. They discuss their work this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics.
In the heart, aging can disrupt the protein network within muscle cells that move blood around the body. However, a new discovery in how heart muscles maintain their shape in fruit flies sheds light on the crucial relationship between cardiac function, metabolism, and longevity. Researchers have discovered that maintaining high levels of the protein vinculin confers health benefits to fruit flies. Their work, published in APL Bioengineering, shows that fruit flies bred to produce 50 percent more vinculin enjoyed better cardiovascular health and lived a third of their average life span longer.
Ferroelectric materials are behind some of the most advanced technology available today. Findings that ferroelectricity can be observed in materials that exhibit other spontaneous transitions have given rise to a new class of materials, known as hybrid improper ferroelectrics. The properties of this type of material, however, are still far from being fully understood. New findings published in Applied Physics Letters help shine light on these materials and indicate potential for optoelectronic and storage applications.
Superconductor-ferromagnet structures are widely regarded as the building blocks of superconducting spintronic technology. More conventional spintronic devices typically require large currents, so researchers are investigating the viability of low-resistance superconductors. Their new results could answer longstanding questions about how SF structures interact. They reveal a general mechanism of the long-range electromagnetic proximity effect in SF structures in Applied Physics Letters.
Past research has shown a link between interstitial fluid flow and an increased invasion rate of glioblastoma cells, and a team of biomedical researchers and electrical engineers recently developed a new method to measure and reconstruct interstitial fluid flow velocities in the brain. This method gives researchers a first look at interstitial fluid flow dynamics in glioma models, and the technique can readily translate to clinical models already using contrast-enhanced MRI. The team describes their method in APL Bioengineering.
Using oscillating liquid streams, breakup and drop formation can be improved compared to common straight jets, but the many dynamic interactions make it difficult for scientists to understand the mechanisms behind this breakup. Now, researchers have simulated the breakup of an oscillating stream using numerical modelings. Their findings, published in Physics of Fluids, give researchers a better understanding of how an oscillating jet achieves these results. The report also offers a way to predict the device’s behavior numerically, which could save time and money in industry.
An international team is running tests on the largest and most sophisticated stellerator, the Wendelstein 7-X fusion experiment. This complex machine is housed at the Max-Planck-Institute of Plasma Physics, and researchers are analyzing data from the first experiment campaign that took place in 2016, hoping to understand the science of fusion reactors. In a new report in Physics of Plasma, the scientists recount the first detailed characterization of plasma turbulence at the outer edge of the stellerator.
A new microfluidics innovation shows hope to improve artificial placentas so preterm newborns can properly develop lungs following birth. An international team demonstrated the new technique to construct microchannels with a more efficient gas exchange between infant blood and air. The improved design uses both sides of the membrane for gas exchange; the group used this design to develop a prototype that oxygenates blood through a thin membrane. They report their findings in Biomicrofluidics.
As silicon-based semiconductors reach their performance limits, gallium nitride is becoming the next go-to material for several technologies. Holding GaN back, however, is its high numbers of defects. Expanding our understanding of how GaN defects form at the atomic level could improve the performance of the devices made using this material. Researchers have taken a significant step by examining and determining six core configurations of the GaN lattice. They present their findings in the Journal of Applied Physics.
Liquid water sustains life on earth, but its physical properties remain mysterious among scientific researchers. Recently, a team of Swiss researchers used existing THz spectroscopy techniques to measure liquid water’s hydrogen bonding. Future efforts with this technique could one day help explain water’s peculiar properties. The team reports their findings in The Journal of Chemical Physics.
Solar energy is clean and abundant, but when the sun isn't shining, you must store the energy in batteries or through a process called photocatalysis. In photocatalytic water splitting, sunlight separates water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen and oxygen can then be recombined in a fuel cell to release energy. Now, a new class of materials -- halide double perovskites -- may have just the right properties to split water, according to a newly published paper in Applied Physics Letters.
When doctorate physicists search for a first job, they may not be expecting to stay within whichever sector they end up in, but according to a new report from the Statistical Research Center at the American Institute of Physics, most do. The report, titled “Physics PhDs 10 Years Later: Movement Across Job Sectors,” reveals that physicists with doctorates rarely move from one broad employment sector to another.
Embolization -- the use of various techniques to cut off the blood vessels that feed tissue growth -- has gained traction over the past few decades to treat cancerous tumors, and one specific version is gas embolotherapy. During this process, the blood supply is cut off using acoustic droplet vaporization, which uses microscopic gas bubbles induced by exposure to ultrasonic waves. Researchers have discovered that these bubbles could also be used as potential drug delivery systems. The researchers report their findings this week in Applied Physics Letters.
Wind turbines are a source of clean renewable energy, but some people who live nearby describe the shadow flicker, the audible sounds and the subaudible sound pressure levels as “annoying.” They claim this nuisance negatively impacts their quality of life. Researchers in Canada set out to investigate how residential distance from the wind turbines affects people’s health; they report their new analysis in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
Nanoscientists at Northwestern University have developed a blueprint to fabricate new heterostructures from different types of 2-D materials, single atom layers that can be stacked together like “nano-interlocking building blocks.” Materials scientists and physicists are excited about the properties of 2-D materials and their potential applications. The researchers describe their blueprint for nanoheterostructures in the Journal of Applied Physics.
Considering the size of red blood cells, a new model for blood flow sheds light on why blood sometimes prefers some vessels over others.
Variation in expertise and risk-taking behaviors among investors regularly sends markets on roller-coaster rides. Researchers describe the intricate dynamics driving a financial markets model in this week’s Chaos. Their model takes aim to simulate asset pricing when mixed groups of investors enter a market. By examining bifurcation conditions, they described transitions between different chaotic dynamical regimes. They showed that their model can reflect the nature of real markets by switching between bear and bull dynamics.
By introducing impurities to a material, researchers can control the speed and frequency of phonons, potentially leading to more energy-efficient devices
A French nanorobotics team has assembled a new microrobotics system that pushes forward the frontiers of optical nanotechnologies. Combining several existing technologies, the µRobotex nanofactory builds microstructures in a large vacuum chamber and fixes components onto optical fiber tips with nanometer accuracy. The microhouse construction, reported in the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, demonstrates how researchers can advance optical sensing technologies when they manipulate ion guns, electron beams and finely controlled robotic piloting.
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