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Design strategies for liquid metal-based soft electronics
Liquid metals (LMs) combine metallic electrical and thermal conductivity with soft, deformable mechanics for soft electronics. This Review highlights LM composite and structural material strategies, with a focus on interfacial design that enables stable, high-resolution patterning and reliable integration in wearable, implantable and soft robotic systems
Scientists achieve record-breaking low temperature on China’s space station, paving the way for new physics experiments
Matter starts to behave differently at extremely low temperatures, creating conditions ideal for studying quantum physics and new states of matter. Now, researchers from China have achieved a new low-temperature record aboard their Tiangong space station. Their research, recently published in Science, might lead to a new generation of experiments in quantum physics and precision measurements in space.
At temperatures near absolute zero, atoms can form a kind of cloud, called a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC), that behaves as a shared quantum wave. BECs are valuable for physics research. The authors of the new study describe them as “versatile platforms for quantum simulation.” The colder atoms get, the more they slow down, allowing scientists to take better measurements. This has led to a quest for lower and lower temperatures.
But achieving extremely low temperatures near absolute zero can be difficult. Gravity creates restrictions by making atoms sag in the trap. Magnetic levitation has been used to counteract gravity, but it creates a new issue by forcing atoms to have the same internal spin state. Optical traps use laser beams and offer more flexible control, but they had not directly produced a condensate under microgravity conditions before the new study.
Address correspondence to: Roberto Pacifici
Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Lipids, Emory University School of Medicine, 101 Woodruff Circle, Room 1,309, Atlanta, Georgia 30,322, USA. Phone: 404.712.8420; Email: [email protected].
The brain filters consciousness
Neuroscientist and theoretical physicist Àlex Gómez-Marín argues that the brain may not produce consciousness, but instead filter or permit it. Tracing a provocative history from Galileo to modern consciousness science, he argues that scientific progress came by prioritising what can be measured, leaving inner experience behind. Using his own near-death experience and cases like terminal lucidity, he calls for a more open, rigorous “Science 2.0” that takes anomalous experiences seriously.
‘Big Bang’ Fix Puts Voyager Across the ‘One Light-Day’ Mark
An innovative solution helps to put the venerable Voyager 1 spacecraft past a key milestone.
Flashback to 1977. Jimmy Carter was U.S. president, Star Wars was a box office hit, and the two Voyager spacecraft departed on an historic Grand Tour of the solar system. Now, teams at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are working to keep the missions active, as they push the boundaries of interstellar space beyond the solar system.
NASA recently announced that after a brief bit of drama and loss of communications with Voyager 1, a fix dubbed the ‘Big Bang’ was successful in resuscitating the spacecraft. The Big Bang swap alternated three units (two primary heaters and an old 8-track digital tape recorder) with three low power secondary options. The brief loss of communications occurred on October 20th, and lasted for 48 hours.
IBM, Quantinuum and Intel signal a new phase in the quantum computing race
Announcements from IBM and Quantinuum plus a recent acquisition by Intel show that the race to develop a quantum computer has shifted from focusing just on the qubits to integrating these computers with classical systems and software development platforms.
To start with, IBM, AMD, and the DOE-funded Quantum Science Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are collaborating on a new research platform that pairs IBM’s 120-qubit Nighthawk quantum computer with a classical computer in order to allow researchers to better explore quantum error correction, the organizations announced.
This is a research platform rather than a commercial product, says IDC analyst Heather West.
NASA navigation experiment shows promise for planetary landings
NASA has successfully demonstrated technology designed to help spacecraft autonomously navigate to safe landing sites on the moon and on other planets. An Alta-X drone equipped with the agency’s Safe and Precise Landing—Integrated Capabilities Evolution (SPLICE) guidance, navigation and control payload completed simulated lunar descent and landing maneuvers Aug. 27. The flight took place at Rogers Dry Lake near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
During the tests, the SPLICE payload used an advanced guidance system to map the terrain and assess potential landing areas. If the system determines the targeted landing area is unsafe, the system diverts the drone to a safer location. The system generates high-resolution digital elevation maps from light-detection and sensor data.
Researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston developed the SPLICE payload and partnered with specialists at NASA Armstrong to integrate, test and fly it aboard the Alta-X drone in June and July. Those tests verified communications, data handling, telemetry and command-and-control performance between the SPLICE payload and the drone to prepare for a full-scale test at Voyager Technologies in Mojave, California, later this month.
New method detects lung antibodies through non-invasive exhaled breath
For the first time, researchers have succesfully measured antibodies against specific respiratory viruses in exhaled air. This is shown in a new study involving, amongst others, the Karolinska Institutet, published in eBioMedicine. The method may make it easier to study the immune system in the small airways of the lungs.
Antibodies in the mucosal lining of the respiratory tract play an important role in protecting against respiratory viruses such as influenza virus, SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). While antibodies in the upper airways are relatively easy to measure, sampling from the lower airways has previously required invasive procedures such as bronchoscopy.
In the new study, researchers used a non-invasive method called PExA (Particles in Exhaled Air). By breathing into a specially designed instrument, participants generated tiny exhaled particles originating from the respiratory tract lining fluid of the small airways. These particles were collected and analysed for virus-specific antibodies.