May 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Long queues at traffic lights could be a thing of the past, thanks to a new artificial intelligence system developed by Aston University researchers. The system – the first of its kind – reads live camera footage and adapts the lights to compensate, keeping the...
Researchers find way to form diodes from superconductors
May 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) A group of researchers from Pisa, Jyväskylä, San Sebastian and MIT have demonstrated how a heterostructure consisting of superconductors and magnets can be used to create uni-directional current like that found in semiconductor diodes (Nature Communications, "Superconducting spintronic tunnel diode"). These novel superconductor diodes, however,...
Cooling speeds up electrons in bacterial nanowires
May 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The ground beneath our feet and under the ocean floor is an electrically-charged grid, the product of bacteria “exhaling” excess electrons through tiny nanowires in an environment lacking oxygen. Yale University researchers have been studying ways to enhance this natural electrical conductivity within nanowires 1/100,000th...
Astronomers observe explosion on a white dwarf
May 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) When stars like our Sun use up all their fuel, they shrink to form white dwarfs. Sometimes such dead stars flare back to life in a super hot explosion and produce a fireball of X-ray radiation. A research team led by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has...
Researchers reveal the origin story for carbon-12, a building block for life
May 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) With the help of the world’s most powerful supercomputer and new artificial intelligence techniques, an international team of researchers has theorized how the extreme conditions in stars produce carbon-12, which they describe as “a critical gateway to the birth of life.” The researchers’ fundamental question:...
Researchers design microgrid for future lunar base
May 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Sandia National Laboratories is well-known for designing reliable and resilient microgrids for military bases and vital city services. Now, Sandia researchers are working with NASA to design one for the moon. This is not the first time Sandia has partnered with NASA to power equipment...
Graphdiyne functionalized by silver nanoparticles to combat the threat of antibacterial resistance
May 11, 2022 (Nanowerk Spotlight) The threat of resistance to antimicrobial agents has been growing at an alarming rate in recent years and poses a huge public health threat globally according to the WHO. The increase in morbidity and mortality resulting from microbial infections has been attributed to the emergence...
Banana spots can help tackle food waste
May 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Banana peels hold the key to reducing tonnes of food waste. A new study released in Physical Biology ("Front-like expansion and arrest of programmed cell death in brown banana spots") reveals how the browning of this household staple can be explained and modelled. A team...
The world’s smallest gear wheel
May 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) Ever smaller and more intricate – without miniaturization, we wouldn’t have the components today that are required for high-performance laptops, compact smartphones or high-resolution endoscopes. Research is now being carried out in the nanoscale on switches, rotors or motors that comprise of only a few...
4D composite printing can improve the wings of drones (w/video)
May 11, 2022 (Nanowerk News) The aviation industry faces multiple pressures from higher fuel costs and increased scrutiny over the environmental and quality-of-life impacts from its aircraft. Researchers are looking for new methods of keeping expenses down while improving overall efficiency, and the relatively new market of unmanned aerial vehicles...