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For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that negative refraction can be achieved using atomic arrays—without the need for artificially manufactured metamaterials.

Scientists have long sought to control light in ways that appear to defy the laws of nature.

Negative refraction—a phenomenon where light bends in the opposite direction to its usual behavior—has captivated researchers for its potential to revolutionize optics, enabling transformative technologies such as superlenses and cloaking devices.

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What if love could be programmed? AI companions are here, offering customizable relationships tailored to your every desire. From apps like Replika to futuristic VR partners, we explore the rise of AI girlfriends and their potential to redefine how we connect. Could this technology solve loneliness—or destroy real human relationships? And what would a world without women look like, with just AI partners and baby incubators? Dive into this provocative discussion and share your thoughts below!

#AIGirlfriends #FutureOfLove #AICompanions #DigitalRelationships #TechAndSociety #AIInnovation #VirtualReality #LonelinessSolutions #MenAndTech #EthicalAI

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Every year, more than 5 million people in the USA are diagnosed with heart valve disease, but this condition has no effective long-term treatment. When a person’s heart valve is severely damaged by a birth defect, lifestyle, or aging, blood flow is disrupted. If left untreated, there can be fatal complications.

Valve replacement and repair are the only methods of managing severe valvular heart disease, but both often require repeated surgeries that are expensive, disruptive, and life-threatening. Most replacement valves are made of animal tissue and last up to 10 or 15 years before they must be replaced. For pediatric patients, solutions are extremely limited and can require multiple reinterventions.

Now, Georgia Tech researchers have created a 3D-printed heart valve made of bioresorbable materials and designed to fit an individual patient’s unique anatomy. Once implanted, the valves will be absorbed by the body and replaced by new tissue that will perform the function that the device once served.

Continue reading “New Implant Will Help Patients Regenerate Their Own Heart Valves” | >

Terahertz radiation (THz), electromagnetic radiation with frequencies ranging from 0.1 and 10 THz, is central to the functioning of various technologies, including imaging, sensing and spectroscopy tools. While THz radiation waves have been manipulated in different ways over the past decades, controlling their direction in air has so far remained a challenge.

Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique (CNRS) at Institut Polytechnique de Paris recently demonstrated the steering of laser-produced THz radiation in air, using a recently introduced technique dubbed “flying focus.” Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, could open new possibilities for the manipulation of THz electromagnetic waves, which could in turn be leveraged to develop new technologies.

“My group has been working on the generation of THz radiation by laser-induced filaments in air for almost 20 years,” Aurélien Houard, senior author of the paper, told Phys.org. “A major advantage of these filaments is that they can be generated at a large distance from the laser in the atmosphere. However, the THz emission remained confined close to the laser axis, which is not convenient for remote detection.”

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An international team of astronomers has investigated a newly detected Type II supernova designated SN 2024jlf. The new study, detailed in a paper published Jan. 30 on the arXiv pre-print server, yields important information regarding the evolution of this supernova and the nature of its progenitor.

Type II supernovae (SNe) are the results of rapid collapse and violent explosion of massive stars (with masses above 8.0 solar masses). They are distinguished from other SNe by the presence of hydrogen in their spectra.

Based on the shape of their light curves, they are usually divided into Type IIL and Type IIP. Type IIL SNe show a steady (linear) decline after the explosion, while Type IIP exhibit a period of slower decline (a plateau) that is followed by a normal decay.

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Data security on the internet is under threat: in the future, quantum computers could decode even encrypted files sent over the internet in no time. Researchers worldwide are, therefore, experimenting with quantum networks that will enable a paradigm shift in the future when globally connected to form the quantum internet.

Such systems would be able to guarantee tap-proof communication through quantum mechanical phenomena such as superposition and entanglement, as well as cryptographic quantum protocols. However, the is still in its infancy: high costs coupled with high energy consumption and a high level of complexity for the necessary technologies have prevented quantum networks from scaling easily.

Two researchers at the Institute of Photonics at the Leibniz University Hannover want to remedy this situation. Using frequency-bin coding, they have developed a novel method for entanglement-based quantum key distribution. This quantum mechanical encryption technique uses different light frequencies, i.e. colors, to encode the respective quantum states. The method increases security and resource efficiency.

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Carnegie Mellon University’s Professor Curtis Meyer and his research colleagues explore an uncharted world inside protons and neutrons. For the first time, researchers have provided measurements describing a maximum boundary for a subatomic particle known as a hybrid meson in a journal paper published in Physical Review Letters. The measurements show scientists a path forward in a search for these elusive particles that provide a new look at the force that holds all matter together.

“The stage is set for future discoveries,” said Meyer, senior associate dean for CMU’s Mellon College of Science and the Otto Stern Professor of Physics. “We’re at an exciting phase where we’re able to analyze a great deal of data. This paper is the first to address one of the experiment’s foundational questions.”

Applying a symmetry property of the strong force, the team set the upper limit on the photoproduction cross sections of a hybrid meson known as the spin-exotic π1 (1600).

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The commonplace phenomenon of liquid drops falling from a surface is—perhaps surprisingly—not yet fully understood by scientists. Understanding the complex interactions between the forces involved here would be helpful in industry, where structured packings in cooling towers must be designed to encourage droplet formation in fluid flow but coatings mixed to maintain a pristine, smooth surface.

Furthermore, the design of meshes used to harvest from fog or dew, where this is limited, relies on an understanding of how the water condenses on the fibers and drops into collection tanks.

Atefeh Pour Karimi, a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Heat and Mass Transfer, Aachen University, Germany, and her supervisors and collaborators have analyzed the dynamics of this type of flow in detail and published their findings in The European Physical Journal Special Topics.

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