Lifeboat Foundation

Just like a book can’t be judged by its cover, a material can’t always be judged by its surface. But, for an elusive conjectured class of materials, physicists have now shown that the surface previously thought to be “featureless” holds an unmistakable signature that could lead to the first definitive observation.

Higher-order topological insulators, or HOTIs, have attracted attention for their ability to conduct electricity along one-dimensional lines on their surfaces, but this property is quite difficult to experimentally distinguish from other effects. By instead studying the interiors of these materials from a different perspective, a team of physicists has identified a surface signature that is unique to HOTIs that can determine how light reflects from their surfaces.

As the team reports in the journal Nature Communications, this property could be used to experimentally confirm the existence of such topological states in real materials.

New device can recognize similar patterns and operates at room temperatures.

The design uses China’s first diamond semiconductor material.

Just like humans, plants also communicate with each other as soon as any danger or attack is detected in their neighbourhood. Scientists know about this phenomenon since the 1980s, having identified at least 80 species who act in their defence in crisis situations. However, it was still shrouded in mystery as to how exactly plants receive such danger signals from their neighbours.

Now, a team of Japanese scientists has not just solved this puzzle but also filmed the communication among plants in an amazing video. In a study published in Nature Communications, molecular biologists at Saitama University in Japan, Yuri Aratani and Takuya Uemura, demonstrated how these plants behave upon detecting danger.

Continue reading “Watch: Plant caught on cam ‘talking’ to neighbouring plant in groundbreaking study” »

Rishi Sunak needs to decide whether he wants to back the UK’s creative industries or gamble everything on an artificial intelligence boom, the chief executive of Getty Images has said.

Craig Peters, who has led the image library since 2019, spoke out amid growing anger from the creative and media sector at the harvesting of their material for “training data” for AI companies. His company is suing a number of AI image generators in the UK and US for copyright infringement.

Chemical engineers at MIT have developed a hydrogel system using zwitterionic materials for efficient water treatment in just one step, with minimal impact on the environment.

Advanced cooling technologies and reflective materials could slash temperatures in Riyadh by 4.5°C.

Explore the research unlocking ways to cool one of the world’s hottest cities – Riyadh – using ‘super cool’ building materials and irrigated greenery.

Summary: Researchers create a transparent graphene-based neural implant offering high-resolution brain activity data from the surface. The implant’s dense array of tiny graphene electrodes enables simultaneous recording of electrical and calcium activity in deep brain layers.

This innovation overcomes previous implant limitations and offers insights for neuroscientific studies. The transparent design allows optical imaging alongside electrical recording, revolutionizing neuroscience research.

Microsoft systems were able to scan through 32 million potential batteries, company says.