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Archive for the ‘materials’ category: Page 184

Nov 12, 2018

We Just Got Closer Than Ever to Unlocking Graphene’s Superconducting Powers

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, materials

Scientists are now closer than ever to being able to use graphene as a superconductor – to conduct electricity with zero resistance – making it useful for developing energy efficient gadgets, improving medical research, upgrading power grids, and much more besides.

The key to the new approach is heating a silicon carbide (SiC) crystal, itself a superconductor, until the silicon atoms have all evaporated. This leaves two graphene layers on top of each other in a way that, in certain conditions, offers no resistance to electrical current.

A similar dual-layer approach was also successfully used to turn graphene into a superconductor earlier this year. The difference here is the layers don’t have to be carefully angled on top of each other, which should make it easier to reproduce at scale.

Continue reading “We Just Got Closer Than Ever to Unlocking Graphene’s Superconducting Powers” »

Nov 6, 2018

Database of 18,000 Retracted Scientific Papers Now Online

Posted by in category: materials

The blog Retraction Watch released an online database of more than 18,000 papers and conference materials that have been retracted since the 1970s.

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Nov 6, 2018

In materials hit with light, individual atoms and vibrations take disorderly paths

Posted by in categories: materials, particle physics

‘’Until now, scientists assumed this all happened in a smooth, coordinated way. ‘’… silly scientists 🤔🙈🤦‍♂️.


Hitting a material with laser light sends vibrations rippling through its latticework of atoms, and at the same time can nudge the lattice into a new configuration with potentially useful properties – turning an insulator into a metal, for instance.

Until now, scientists assumed this all happened in a smooth, coordinated way. But two new studies show it doesn’t: When you look beyond the average response of atoms and vibrations to see what they do individually, the response, they found, is disorderly.

Continue reading “In materials hit with light, individual atoms and vibrations take disorderly paths” »

Nov 4, 2018

Watch the First Knitted Concrete Structure Take Shape

Posted by in category: materials

Soon, we might be able to knit entire buildings.

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Nov 1, 2018

This Simulation Based On Observations Of The Supermassive Black Hole At The Center Of Our Galaxy Is Mind-Boggling

Posted by in categories: cosmology, materials

Based on observations by the European Souther Observatory’s GRAVITY instrument, this simulation shows gases swirling around the black hole at the center of the Milky Way — at just 30% the speed of light — “the first time material has been observed orbiting close to the point of no return.”

ESO/Gravity Consortium/L. Calçada

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Nov 1, 2018

Graphene Computing & 3D Integrated Circuits

Posted by in categories: computing, materials

This video is the fourth in a multi-part series discussing computing. In this video, weíll be discussing computing performance and efficiency as well as how the computer industry plans on maximizing them.

[0:25–1:55] Starting off we’ll look at, how computing performance is measured and its rate of increase since the mid-1900s.

[1:55–8:05] Following that we’ll discuss, new classical computing paradigms that will push the computer industry forward past 2020. These paradigm shifts are 3D integrated circuits and the use of new materials such as graphene.

Continue reading “Graphene Computing & 3D Integrated Circuits” »

Oct 28, 2018

Scientists Say New Material Could Hold up an Actual Space Elevator

Posted by in categories: materials, space

This is a breakthrough.

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Oct 25, 2018

SodaStream deploys an ocean-sweeper to clean up plastic waste in the Caribbean Sea

Posted by in category: materials

SodaStream and NGO Plastic Soup are battling plastics in the Caribbean Sea armed with a unique vessel, the “Holy Turtle,” and a coalition of local schoolkids.

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Oct 23, 2018

People Are Living Inside Landfills As The World Drowns In Its Own Trash

Posted by in category: materials

If it floats, is it a ‘lifeboat’?


While the oceans fill up with plastic waste, a horrifying crisis unfolds on land.

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Oct 22, 2018

Researchers switch material from one state to another with a single flash of light

Posted by in category: materials

Scientists from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have demonstrated a surprisingly simple way of flipping a material from one state into another, and then back again, with single flashes of laser light.

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