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Solar cell manufacturing just became easier, more efficient, and less costly. A team of researchers at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), in collaboration with UC Berkeley, has discovered a unique material that can be used as a simpler approach to solar cell manufacturing, the team reported.

This material is a crystalline solar material with a built-in electric field — also known as “ferroelectricity” — that was reported earlier this year in the journal Science Advances.

Light microscopy image of nanowires, 100 to 1,000 nanometers in diameter, grown from cesium germanium tribromide (CGB) on a mica substrate. The CGB nanowires are samples of a new lead-free halide perovskite solar material that is also ferroelectric. (Credit: Peidong Yang and Ye Zhang/Berkeley Lab)

Solar panels, also known as photovoltaics, rely on semiconductor devices, or solar cells, to convert energy from the sun into electricity.

Continue reading “Scientists Grow Lead-Free Solar Material With a Built-In Switch” | >

We might be too close to wirelessly charging our mobile devices anywhere.

Researchers from Sejong University have developed a new system to transmit power over 30 meters using infrared light wirelessly. During laboratory tests, researchers demonstrated that the new system could transfer 400 mW of light power. For now, this amount of power is enough for charging sensors; however, further progress could mean enough high levels to charge mobile phones in various public places.

The research has been published in Optics Express.

In Optics Express, researchers describe a new wireless laser charging system that overcomes some of the challenges that have hindered previous attempts to develop safe and convenient on-the-go charging systems.

Continue reading “Researchers use infrared light to wirelessly transmit power over 30 meters” | >

The seedlings reached up to 30 cm.

Chinese astronauts have successfully grown rice seedlings onboard the Tiangong space station. Experts said on Monday that this experiment could provide important information about how astronauts can grow food to support extended space journeys, according to China Daily.

Even though prior rice experiments have been conducted in space, the one carried out aboard Tiangong is the first of its type to attempt to produce the entire life cycle of the plant, which starts with a seed and ends with a full plant generating new seeds.

On July 24, China launched the Wentian space laboratory into orbit to dock it with the Tianhe core module of the Chinese space station.

Continue reading “Space station rice tests show promise” | >

Since May, the engineering team with NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft had been trying to solve a mystery. The 45-year-old spacecraft seemed to be in excellent condition, receiving and executing commands from Earth, along with gathering and returning science data — but the probe’s attitude articulation and control system (AACS) was sending garbled information about its health and activities to mission controllers.

The AACS controls the spacecraft’s orientation and keeps Voyager 1’s high-gain antenna pointed precisely at Earth, enabling it to send data home. Though all signs suggested that the AACS was still working, the telemetry data was invalid.

While the spacecraft continues to return science data and otherwise operate as normal, the mission team is searching for the source of a system data issue.

The engineering team with NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is trying to solve a mystery: The interstellar explorer is operating normally, receiving and executing commands from Earth, along with gathering and returning science data. But readouts from the probe’s attitude articulation and control system (AACS) don’t reflect what’s actually happening onboard.

Continue reading “The 45-year-old probe is aging gracefully” | >

Astronomers’ beliefs are already being challenged by the telescope’s discoveries.

The famed James Webb Space Telescope, launched eight months ago and orbiting the sun a million miles from Earth, has started bringing up a number of questions for astronomers as its striking images flood in.

Unsurprisingly, the telescope has delivered some intriguing and exciting observations of the very distant universe. Surprisingly, these observations are not what astronomers thought they would be, as was first reported in the Washington Post.

Webb telescope sees surprisingly massive distant galaxies, raising questions about early galaxy formation.

Continue reading “Webb telescope is already challenging what astronomers thought they knew” | >

Researchers claim to have deciphered Linear Elamite, a mysterious ancient writing system used between 2,300 B.C. and 1,800 B.C. The study alleges success in decoding Linear Elamite, despite the fact that only about 40 known examples of the script remain today, according to a paper published in the journal Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie.

Over 300 Linear Elamite signs represent different sounds, such as a crescent-shaped sign that sounds like “pa,” the research team wrote in the paper.

ZA publishes articles and reviews in all areas of Assyriology, including Near Eastern archaeology and art history. The main geographical areas covered are Mesopotamia, Northern Syria, Anatolia, Ancient Armenia, and Elam from the fourth to first millennia BC. All articles are peer-reviewed.

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Ancient engineers might have built a canal on the Nile.

No one has solved the mystery of the Giza pyramids for centuries. Although archaeologists and scientists have tried to reveal how they were made over the years, it is difficult to say the “exact method” for sure. However, very recently, an idea has been put forward by researchers about how the pyramids were built.

According to a recent study — published in PNAS in August. 29 —the pyramids of Giza may have been built using a former arm of the Nile River. This river branch would have served as a navigable route for the transportation of goods not previously known.

The pyramids of Giza constitute one of the world’s most iconic cultural landscapes and have fascinated humanity for thousands of years. Indeed, the Great Pyramid of Giza (Khufu Pyramid) was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is now accepted that ancient Egyptian engineers exploited a former channel of the Nile to transport building materials and provisions to the Giza plateau. However, there is a paucity of environmental evidence regarding when, where, and how these ancient landscapes evolved. New palaeoecological analyses have helped to reconstruct an 8,000-year fluvial history of the Nile in this area, showing that the former waterscapes and higher river levels around 4,500 years ago facilitated the construction of the Giza Pyramid Complex.

Continue reading “Nile waterscapes facilitated the construction of the Giza pyramids during the 3rd millennium BCE” | >

The world record comes as a result of a new standard-setting collaboration.

Vision Marine Technologies, a manufacturer of electric recreational marine propulsion for OEMs, broke the 100 mph (160 kph) speed barrier on an electric watercraft and set a new world record, the company announced.

To pull off such a feat, a coalition of numerous significant, well-known players from around the world had to unite. With the sole purpose of setting new standards, Vision Marine, in collaboration with Hellkat Powerboats, created the V32, a 32-inch (9.75 meters) catamaran hull made to hold the required battery banks to power a pair of Vision Marine’s signature E-MotionTM electric outboards.

Nasdaq listed, Vision Marine Technologies produces outboard engines: the E-motion series, as well as a multitude of electric boats.

Continue reading “Electric Outboard Engines & Boats” | >

Inside a living cell, proteins and other molecules are often tightly packed together. These dense clusters can be difficult to image because the fluorescent labels used to make them visible can’t wedge themselves in between the molecules.

MIT researchers have now developed a novel way to overcome this limitation and make those “invisible” molecules visible. Their technique allows them to “de-crowd” the molecules by expanding a cell or before labeling the molecules, which makes the molecules more accessible to fluorescent tags.

This method, which builds on a widely used technique known as previously developed at MIT, should allow scientists to visualize molecules and cellular structures that have never been seen before.

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