Dec 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) A team of Rice University scientists has solved a long-standing problem in thermal imaging, making it possible to capture clear images of objects through hot windows. Imaging applications in a range of fields ⎯ e.g. security, surveillance, industrial research and diagnostics ⎯ could benefit from...
New computational framework discovers experimental designs in microscopy 10,000 faster
Dec 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) For human researchers, it takes many years of work to discover new super-resolution microscopy techniques. The number of possible optical configurations of a microscope — for example, where to place mirrors or lenses — is enormous. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science...
Delivering medicines with microscopic flowers
Dec 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) How can medicines be directed to the precise location within the body where they need to act? Scientists have been researching this question for a long time. An example would be delivering cancer drugs directly to a tumour so that they only take effect at...
Breakthrough in the precision engineering of four-stranded beta-sheets
Dec 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) A newly developed approach can precisely produce four-stranded β-sheets through metal–peptide coordination, report researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo. Their innovative methodology overcomes long-standing challenges in controlled β-sheet formation, including fibril aggregation and uncontrolled isomeric variation in the final product. This breakthrough could advance the...
Advancing the synthesis of two-dimensional gold monolayers
Dec 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Researchers have created nearly freestanding nanostructured two-dimensional (2D) gold monolayers, an impressive feat of nanomaterial engineering that could open up new avenues in catalysis, electronics, and energy conversion. Gold is an inert metal which typically forms a solid three-dimensional (3D) structure. However, in its 2D...
Controlling polaritons at room temperature paves the way for high-speed computing
Dec 10, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Modern computers process information by moving electrons through circuits, but this approach is reaching its physical limits in terms of speed and efficiency. Scientists have long anticipated that using light instead of electrical signals could lead to developing new types computers that are more efficient....
Nature inspires self-assembling helical polymer
Dec 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Helical structures are ubiquitous across biology, from the double-stranded helix of DNA to how heart muscle cells spiral in a band. Inspired by this twisty ladder, researchers from Hiroshima University’s Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering have developed an artificial polymer that organizes itself...
Exploiting optical materials to capture hidden data through new imaging approach
Dec 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) In an era where autonomous navigation, medical diagnostics and remote sensing are rapidly evolving, traditional cameras— limited to capturing only the red, green, and blue (RGB) light intensities—are falling short of data demands. These cameras often miss essential spectral and polarization details crucial for identifying...
Cracking the code for materials that can learn
Dec 09, 2024 (Nanowerk News) It's easy to think that machine learning is a completely digital phenomenon, made possible by computers and algorithms that can mimic brain-like behaviors. But the first machines were analog and now, a small but growing body of research is showing that mechanical systems are capable...
Scientists and artists create enduring color-shifting coatings for architectural art
Dec 09, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Creating materials that change color based on viewing angle represents a significant challenge at the intersection of art and science. Natural examples of this phenomenon, called iridescence, appear in butterfly wings, peacock feathers, and opals. Unlike traditional pigments that absorb specific wavelengths of light, these...