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Circa 2017


Researchers at Tohoku University have gained new insight into the electronic processes that guide the transformation of liquids into a solid crystalline or glassy state.

The ability of some liquids to transition into has been exploited since ancient times. But many fundamental aspects of this transition phase are far from understood. Better understanding could spur the development of new products such as DVDs or Blu-Ray discs that store data by altering their state of matter from one to another, and of new glass materials.

A multi-institutional Japanese team led by Kenichiro Hashimoto of Tohoku University’s Institute for Materials Research compared the molecular dynamics of glass formation in conventional liquids, such as glucose, to an organic material containing ‘frustrated’ electrons. These electrons, responsible for conducting electrical currents, are unable to reach their lowest energy state due to their geometric arrangement on the material’s crystal lattice.

A team of physicists from the Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms and other universities has developed a special type of quantum computer known as a programmable quantum simulator capable of operating with 256 quantum bits, or “qubits.”

The system marks a major step toward building large-scale quantum machines that could be used to shed light on a host of complex quantum processes and eventually help bring about real-world breakthroughs in , , finance, and many other fields, overcoming research hurdles that are beyond the capabilities of even the fastest supercomputers today. Qubits are the fundamental building blocks on which quantum computers run and the source of their massive processing power.

“This moves the field into a new domain where no one has ever been to thus far,” said Mikhail Lukin, the George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Physics, co-director of the Harvard Quantum Initiative, and one of the senior authors of the study published today in the journal Nature. “We are entering a completely new part of the quantum world.”

Safe and readily available water is important for public health, whether it is used for drinking, domestic use, food production, or recreational purposes. Despite the vast quantity of water on Earth, just 2.5% of it is freshwater, and an estimated 785 million people lack a clean source of drinking water. Desalination of seawater could be a vital technology to meet the world’s drinking water needs.

Now, Korean engineers have developed a new desalination technique that takes just minutes to make seawater drinkable. They used a new nanofiber membrane distillation process that could desalinate water with 99.99% efficiency. Engineers believe that commercializing such technology could help humankind cope with the shortage of fresh drinking water in the future.

Amongst the most challenging issues in membrane distillation is membrane wetting that causes the pollution of permeate, reduction in vapor production, and finally, reduction in the performance of the membrane. If a membrane exhibits wetting during membrane distillation operation, the membrane must be replaced.

The Retrobiome, Cancer, And Aging — Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer CtrThe Retrobiome, Cancer, And Aging — Dr. Andrei Gudkov, PhD, DSci, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, joins me on Progress, Potential, And Possibilities Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine #Cancer #Vaika #Genome #DnaDamage #ImmunoSenescence #Pets #Dogs #Health #Lifespan #LifeExtension #Inflammaging #Longevity #Aging #Oncology


Dr Andrei Gudkov, PhD, DSci, is a preeminent cancer researcher who serves as Senior Vice President, Research Technology and Innovation, Chair of the Department of Cell Stress Biology, and a member of the senior leadership team for National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Center Support Grant at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (https://www.roswellpark.org/andrei-gudkov).

Dr. Gudkov is responsible for building on the basic and translational research strengths of the Cell Stress Biology program in DNA damage and repair, photodynamic therapy, thermal and hypoxic stress and immune modulation.