Lifeboat Foundation

A study led by UCLA researchers could help accelerate the use of hydrogen as an environmentally friendly source of energy in transportation and other applications.

The team developed a method for predicting platinum alloys’ potency and stability—two key indicators of how they will perform as catalysts in hydrogen fuel cells. Then, using that technique, they designed and produced an alloy that yielded excellent results under conditions approximating real-world use. The findings are published in the journal Nature Catalysis.

“For the sustainability of our planet, we can’t keep living the way we do, and reinventing energy is one major way to change our path,” said corresponding author Yu Huang, a professor of materials science and engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. “We have fuel cell cars, but we need to make them cheaper. In this study, we came up with an approach to allow researchers to identify the right catalysts much faster.”

JoAnn Morgan was the only woman in the launch firing room during the launch of Apollo 11.

Credits: NASA

In spite of working for all of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, and being promoted to a senior engineer, Morgan was still not permitted in the firing room at liftoff — until Apollo 11, when “Karl Sendler went to bat for me.”

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This intriguing observation from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a gravitationally lensed galaxy with the long-winded identification SGAS J143845+145407. Gravitational lensing has resulted in a mirror image of the galaxy near the center of this image, creating a captivating centerpiece. A third distorted image of the galaxy appears as a bridge between them.

Gravitational lensing occurs when the mass of an enormous celestial body – such as a galaxy cluster – curves spacetime and causes the path of light from distant objects to visibly bend around it, as if by a lens. Appropriately, the body causing the light to curve is called a gravitational lens, and the distorted background object is referred to as being “lensed.” Gravitational lensing can result in multiple images of the original galaxy, as seen in this image, or in the background object appearing as a distorted arc or even a ring. Another important consequence of this lensing distortion is magnification, allowing astronomers to observe objects that would otherwise be too far away or be too faint to see.

The tech industry has more power than ever before. It’s time to leverage it to create real social, environmental, and political change. property= description.

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The tech industry has more power than ever before. It’s time to leverage it to create real social, environmental, and political change. property= description.

An apparent scooping turned into something much more valuable.

Before starting their weekend, Rosie Somerville and Marina Pérez-Jiménez decided to quickly check the latest literature. A few minutes later, the lab WhatsApp group was on fire. After months of arduous work on different organometallic complexes, some of them had just been published. What now?

Very often, researchers across the world work on similar developments without knowing about each other’s results. The latest recipients of the Nobel prize for chemistry, Benjamin List and Dave MacMillan, independently developed organocatalysis. But sometimes the science hall of fame works on a first-come, first-served basis. What if someone scoops the discovery?

The Serendipity Sapphire tips the scales at a staggering 2.5 million carats—roughly half a ton.

MIT physicists have significantly amplified quantum changes in atomic vibrations, allowing them to exclude noise from the classical world. This advance may allow them to measure these atomic oscillations, and how they evolve over time, and ultimately hone the precision of atomic clocks and of quantum sensors for detecting dark matter or gravitational waves.