/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Charging electric-vehicle batteries in Ithaca's frigid winter can be tough, and freezing temperatures also decrease the driving range. Hot weather can be just as challenging, leading to decomposition of battery materials and, possibly, catastrophic failure. /news/2025-05-pictures-movies-ev-battery-failure.html Materials Science Fri, 23 May 2025 12:50:03 EDT news667223160 Our brain is a complex organ. Billions of nerve cells are wired in an intricate network, constantly processing signals, enabling us to recall memories or to move our bodies. /news/2025-05-microscopy-method-reconstruct-mammalian-brain.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Wed, 07 May 2025 11:38:29 EDT news665836703 Scientists have achieved a major milestone in the quest to understand high-temperature superconductivity in hydrogen-rich materials. Using electron tunneling spectroscopy under high pressure, the international research team led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry has measured the superconducting gap of H3S—the material that set the high-pressure superconductivity record in 2015 and serves as the parent compound for subsequent high-temperature superconducting hydrides. /news/2025-04-high-pressure-electron-tunneling-spectroscopy.html Superconductivity Wed, 23 Apr 2025 15:56:00 EDT news664642551 A Northwestern University-led international team of scientists has, for the first time, directly observed catalysis in-action at the atomic level. /news/2025-04-atomic-video-catalytic-reaction-reveals.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Fri, 11 Apr 2025 11:05:48 EDT news663588340 Millions of people worldwide are affected by African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and other life-threatening infections caused by microscopic parasites borne by insects such as the tsetse fly. /news/2025-03-atomic-imaging-ai-insights-motion.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 20 Mar 2025 10:28:23 EDT news661685295 Researchers have shown, for the first time, how the genetic material of the Nipah virus replicates in infected cells. The virus can cause fatal encephalitis in humans. /news/2025-03-molecular-3d-viral-machine-deciphered.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 10 Mar 2025 11:24:26 EDT news660824654 Ever since their discovery almost four decades ago, high-temperature superconductors have fascinated scientists and engineers alike. These materials, primarily cuprates, defy classical understanding because they conduct electricity without resistance at temperatures far higher than traditional superconductors. Yet despite decades of research, we still don't have a clear, comprehensive microscopic picture of how superconductivity emerges in these complex materials. /news/2025-03-unraveling-mystery-high-temperature-superconductors.html Superconductivity Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 10 Mar 2025 10:51:49 EDT news660822697 Newly achieved precise control over light emitted from incredibly tiny sources, a few nanometers in size, embedded in two-dimensional (2D) materials could lead to remarkably high-resolution monitors and advances in ultra-fast quantum computing, according to an international team led by researchers at Penn State and Université Paris-Saclay. /news/2025-03-nanodot-fine-tune-sharper-displays.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 07 Mar 2025 09:45:01 EST news660563087 A research team from Seoul National University College of Engineering has developed a technology to observe atomic structural changes of nanoparticles in three dimensions. Their study, which resolves a long-standing challenge even past Nobel laureates could not solve, was published online in Nature Communications on January 29. /news/2025-03-3d-imaging-technique-captures-dynamic.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 04 Mar 2025 13:12:46 EST news660316363 Scientists have found that an increase in water salinity in the cells of the marine diatom Nitzschia weakens the connections between the components of the photosynthetic apparatus and disrupts the formation of the cell shell. /news/2025-02-salinity-affects-diatom-metabolism.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 21 Feb 2025 09:52:05 EST news659353921 When superconductors were discovered in 1911, they astounded researchers with their ability to conduct electricity with no resistance. However, they could only do so at temperatures close to absolute zero. But in 1986, scientists discovered that cuprates (a class of copper oxides) were superconductive at a relatively warm -225°F (above liquid nitrogen)—a step toward the ultimate goal of a superconductor that could operate at close to room temperature. /news/2025-02-secrets-superconductors-insights-key-property.html Superconductivity Wed, 19 Feb 2025 09:37:04 EST news659180221 One major category of the next generation of energy-efficient microelectronic devices and information processing technologies will likely be based on "spintronics," which leverage both an electron's charge and its spin—the tiny "up" or "down" magnetic moment carried by every electron. Now, a relatively new subset of spintronics has sprung up, known as magnonics, which harnesses the collective behaviors of spins, known as spin waves or magnons. /news/2025-02-imaging-method-captures-dynamics.html Condensed Matter Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:40:06 EST news658586139 Researchers at the Center for Life Sciences at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have for the first time identified structural changes in the botulinum neurotoxin, botox for short, that are believed to be crucial for its uptake into nerve cells. This could mean that the paralyzing effect of this potent neurotoxin could be used more selectively and efficiently in the future, for example in pain therapy. The study was published today in Nature Communications. /news/2025-02-botox-uptake-nerve-cells.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 11 Feb 2025 12:25:04 EST news658499101 It took two years for NASA's OSIRIS-REx space probe to return from asteroid Bennu before dropping off a small capsule as it flew past Earth, which was then recovered in the desert of the U.S. state of Utah on September 24, 2023. Its contents: 122 grams of dust and rock from asteroid Bennu. /news/2025-01-asteroid-bennu-solar-potential-life.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 29 Jan 2025 13:07:23 EST news657378436 The Stach Group in Penn Engineering has led a collaborative team identifying how chemical catalysts drive the creation of liquid fuels from sunlight, paving the way for more efficient removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. /news/2024-12-molecular-pave-catalytic.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Tue, 10 Dec 2024 12:23:05 EST news653055781 Photosynthesis, the process by which plants, algae and certain kinds of bacteria convert solar radiation into chemical energy, must adjust itself to changes in the intensity of sunlight, so as to ensure its efficient use. /news/2024-12-scientists-explore-photosynthesis-growth-artificial.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 09 Dec 2024 16:56:09 EST news652985764 Major findings on the inner workings of a brittle star's ability to reversibly control the pliability of its tissues will help researchers solve the puzzle of mutable collagenous tissue (MCT) and potentially inspire new "smart" biomaterials for human health applications. /news/2024-12-secrets-collagen-sea-creature-superpowers.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 06 Dec 2024 16:02:04 EST news652723295 Scientists have discovered a faster, more sustainable method for making metal-encapsulated covalent organic frameworks (COFs), materials that have the potential to play a crucial role in catalysis, energy storage, and chemical sensing. /news/2024-11-days-hours-faster-catalyst.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Tue, 26 Nov 2024 14:11:38 EST news651852695 Metallic nanoparticles, consisting of a few to several thousand atoms or simple molecules, are attracting significant interest. Electrodes coated with layers of nanoparticles (nanolayers) are particularly useful in areas such as energy production, serving as catalysts. /news/2024-11-nanostructures-imaging-techniques-unveil-secrets.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 13 Nov 2024 11:11:05 EST news650718662 Kory Burns, a professor at the University of Virginia School (UVA) of Engineering and Applied Science, is a materials science researcher who is using artificial intelligence to improve materials characterization. He and his collaborators, representing multiple universities and national labs, detailed their innovative new technique studying how to better determine the nanoscale effects of radiation on materials in a paper in APL Machine Learning. /news/2024-10-ai-technique-illuminates-materials-reactions.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 24 Oct 2024 09:50:04 EDT news648982201 For the first time ever, researchers have witnessed—in real time and at the molecular-scale—hydrogen and oxygen atoms merge to form tiny, nano-sized bubbles of water. /news/2024-09-witness-nanoscale-formation-real.html Nanomaterials Mon, 30 Sep 2024 14:56:05 EDT news646926962 In collaboration with the University of Minnesota and Cornell University, Martin Obr and Florian Schur from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) provide new details into the architecture of HTLV-1 (Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type 1) using Cryo-Electron Tomography (Cryo-ET)—a method to analyze the structures of biomolecules in high resolution. /news/2024-09-cryo-viral-htlv-overlooked-cousin.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 25 Sep 2024 10:10:14 EDT news646477802 A new study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is providing new insights into how next-generation electronics, including memory components in computers, break down or degrade over time. Understanding the reasons for degradation could help improve efficiency of data storage solutions. /news/2024-09-device-malfunctions-current-discovery-microelectronic.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 13 Sep 2024 12:40:01 EDT news645449793 Imagine owning a camera so powerful it can take freeze-frame photographs of a moving electron—an object traveling so fast it could circle the Earth many times in a matter of a second. Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed the world's fastest electron microscope that can do just that. /news/2024-08-world-fastest-microscope-electrons-motion.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 21 Aug 2024 14:00:01 EDT news643448881 For many decades, nuclear fusion power has been viewed as the ultimate energy source. A fusion power plant could generate carbon-free energy at a scale needed to address climate change. And it could be fueled by deuterium recovered from an essentially endless source—seawater. /news/2024-08-advanced-materials-durable-metals-fusion.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Tue, 20 Aug 2024 12:28:05 EDT news643375681 Noble gases have a reputation for being unreactive, inert elements, but more than 60 years ago Neil Bartlett demonstrated the first way to bond xenon. He created XePtF6, an orange-yellow solid. Because it's difficult to grow sufficiently large crystals that contain noble gases, some of their structures—and therefore functions—remain elusive. Now, researchers have successfully examined tiny crystallites of noble gas compounds. They report structures of multiple xenon compounds in ACS Central Science. /news/2024-08-exploring-xenon-crystallites.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Wed, 14 Aug 2024 08:00:01 EDT news642781022 Scientists from Yale University and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a systematic approach to understanding how energy is lost from the materials that make up qubits. Energy loss inhibits the performance of these quantum computer building blocks, so determining its sources—and adjusting the materials as necessary—can help bring researchers closer to designing quantum computers that could revolutionize several scientific fields. /news/2024-08-sources-energy-loss-quantum-gains.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 13 Aug 2024 09:33:04 EDT news642760381 Every year, life-threatening invasive fungal infections afflict more than 2 million individuals globally. Mortality rates for these infections are high, even when patients receive treatment. /news/2024-08-fungi-cell-walls-evade-antifungal.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 07 Aug 2024 15:55:01 EDT news642264885 An international team of scientists, led by Trinity College Dublin, has devised an innovative imaging method using state-of-the-art microscopes that significantly reduces the time and radiation required. Their work represents a significant breakthrough that will benefit several disciplines, from materials science to medicine, as the method promises to deliver improved imaging for sensitive materials such as biological tissues that are especially vulnerable to damage. /news/2024-08-microscopy-breakthrough-imaging-sensitive-materials.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 01 Aug 2024 14:00:01 EDT news641712419 Have you ever placed the palm of your left hand on the back of your right hand in such a way that all fingers point in the same direction? If you have, then you probably know that your left thumb will not touch its right counterpart. Neither rotations nor translations nor their combinations can turn a left hand into a right hand and vice versa. This feature is called chirality. /news/2024-07-physicists-imprint-previously-unseen-geometrical.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 11 Jul 2024 14:00:01 EDT news639920161