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Terahertz instead of gigahertz — quantum material speeds up transistor switching by 1000 times

Researchers from Northeastern University in the United States have found a way to speed up electronics by a thousand times by replacement of silicon chips on quantum materials.

It is noted, that the new technology, through controlled heating and cooling, allows the quantum material to switch between the state of a conductor and an insulating material almost instantly. According to the researchers, such materials can replace silicon and lead to the emergence of electronic devices that are much faster and smaller.

«Processors currently operate in gigahertz. The speed of change that this will provide will allow you to move to terahertz», — explains the lead author of the study, professor of physics Alberto de la Torre.

Astronomers discover a super-Earth exoplanet orbiting a nearby star

Using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new super-Earth exoplanet that orbits a nearby M dwarf star. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-1846 b, is about two times larger and four times more massive than Earth. The finding was detailed in a paper published June 23 on the arXiv preprint server.

Lab-grown ‘tiny hearts’ bring hope for children and adults with genetic heart disease

Scientists from QIMR Berghofer’s Cardiac Bioengineering Lab have developed lab-grown, three-dimensional heart tissues known as cardiac organoids that mimic the structure and function of real adult human heart muscle.

To create these tissues, the researchers use special cells called (which can turn into any cell in the body). However, when these stem cells become , they usually stay immature and more like the heart tissue found in a developing baby. This immaturity can limit their usefulness to model diseases that present in childhood or as an adult.

In the study, researchers activated two key biological pathways to mimic the effects of exercise in order to mature these cells, making them behave more like genuine adult heart tissue. This breakthrough means scientists can now use these lab-grown heart tissues to test that could help people with heart conditions. The findings have been published in Nature Cardiovascular Research.

New AI system uncovers hidden cell subtypes, boosts precision medicine

In this view of cHL (classic Hodgkin Lymphoma) tissue, CellLENS identified subtle but distinct CD4 T cell subpopulations infiltrating a tumor, lingering at tumor boundaries, and found at a distance from tumors. CellLENS enables the potential precision therapy strategies against specific immune cell populations in the tissue environment.

Image courtesy of the researchers.

ALMA reveals hidden structures in the first galaxies of the universe

Astronomers have used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to peer into the early universe and uncover the building blocks of galaxies during their formative years. The CRISTAL survey—short for [CII] Resolved ISM in STar-forming galaxies with ALMA—reveals cold gas, dust, and clumpy star formation in galaxies observed as they appeared just 1 billion years after the Big Bang.

“Thanks to ALMA’s unique sensitivity and resolution, we can resolve the internal structure of these early in ways never possible before,” said Rodrigo Herrera-Camus, principal investigator of the CRISTAL survey, professor at Universidad de Concepción, and Director of the Millennium Nucleus for Galaxy Formation (MINGAL) in Chile. “CRISTAL is showing us how the first galactic disks formed, how stars emerged in giant clumps, and how gas shaped the galaxies we see today.”

CRISTAL, an ALMA Large Program, observed 39 typical star-forming galaxies selected to represent the main population of galaxies in the early universe. Using [CII] line emission, a specific type of light emitted by ionized in cold interstellar gas, as a tracer of and dust, and combining it with near-infrared images from the James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes, researchers created a detailed map of the interstellar medium in each system.