In July 2024, global temperatures reached unprecedented levels, breaking historical records with an average of 17.16°C. This extreme heat has led soil water to evaporate, leaving the vegetation and biodiversity more fragile and under stress in many regions of the world.
A theoretical analysis from researchers at Japan’s largest scientific research agency, RIKEN, suggests that intermediate energy heavy-ion collisions can give birth to the strongest electromagnetic fields ever observed.
Heavy ion collisions involve colliding large atomic nuclei at high velocities. Such collisions generate strong electric fields for a brief period, enabling scientists to study behaviors and phenomena that are otherwise remain hidden.
Physicists have observed the Zel’dovich effect in an electromagnetic system – something that was thought to be incredibly difficult to do until now. This observation, in a simplified induction generator, suggests that the effect could in fact be quite fundamental in nature.
In 1971, the Russian physicist Yakov Zel’dovich predicted that electromagnetic waves scattered by a rotating metallic cylinder should be amplified by gaining mechanical rotational energy from the cylinder. The effect, explains Marion Cromb of the University of Southampton, works as follows: waves with angular momentum – or twist – that would usually be absorbed by an object, instead become amplified by that object. However, this amplification only occurs if a specific condition is met: namely, that the object is rotating at an angular velocity that’s higher than the frequency of the incoming waves divided by the wave angular momentum number. In this specific electromagnetic experiment, this number was 1, due to spin angular momentum, but it can be larger.
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A prototype described as the world’s strongest functional structural battery has been unveiled by researchers in Sweden.
By 2023, Asp’s team had improved on this approach with a second-generation structural battery that used the same constituents, but employed an improved manufacturing method. This time, the team used an infusion technique to ensure the resin was distributed more evenly throughout the carbon fibre network.
In this incarnation, the team enhanced the battery’s negative electrode by using ultra-thin spread tow carbon fibre, where the fibres are spread into thin sheets. This approach improved both the mechanical strength and the electrical conductivity of the battery. At that stage, however, the mechanical strength of the battery was still limited by the LFP positive electrode.
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In the age of technology everywhere, we are all too familiar with the inconvenience of a dead battery. But for those relying on a wearable healthcare device to monitor glucose, reduce tremors, or even track heart function, taking time to recharge can pose a big risk.
For the first time, researchers in Carnegie Mellon University have shown that a healthcare device can be powered using body heat alone. By combining a pulse oximetry sensor with a flexible, stretchable, wearable thermoelectric energy generator composed of liquid metal, semiconductors, and 3D printed rubber, the team has introduced a promising way to address battery life concerns.
Yet despite the attraction of OAM monopoles for orbitronics, until this latest study, they have remained a theoretical dream.
Hedgehogs hide between theory and experiment.
To observe them experimentally, hope has lain with a technique known as Circular Dichroism in Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy, or CD-ARPES, using circularly polarised X-rays from a synchrotron light source. Yet a gap between theory and experiment has in the past hindered researchers from interpreting the data. “Researchers may have had the data, but the evidence for OAM monopoles was buried in it,” says Schüler.
As President, Jimmy Carter established several science-related initiatives and policies.
Carter also sought to promote scientific research and development in a number of areas. He increased funding for basic science research in fields such as physics and chemistry, and established the National Commission on Excellence in Education to promote improvements in science and math education in American schools.
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Anyone familiar with optics labs is familiar with the extremes of light coherence: laser beams are highly coherent, producing clear interference patterns used for precise applications like atomic manipulation or precise sensing. In contrast, light from sources like flashlights is incoherent, typically unable to produce such patterns without considerable effort, or at the cost of considerable optical power losses.
The company said its technology can recover 300% more lithium than conventional methods. Traditional extraction typically yields 30% to 40% of lithium from brine, while EnergyX said its DLE achieves a +90% extraction rate.
The technology has raised over $110 million in total funding, backed by investors including General Motors, Eni and POSCO.
With two Tier 1 projects underway, Black Giant in Chile is estimated to produce 40,000 tonnes of lithium per year, while Project Lonestar in the US is estimated at 25,000 tonnes.
An innovative thermal energy storage system uses sand to store and release renewable energy without traditional batteries.
