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Nov 12, 2024

Star’s disappearance in Andromeda marks the birth of a black hole

Posted by in category: cosmology

Massive stars about eight times more massive than the sun explode as supernovae at the end of their lives. The explosions, which leave behind a black hole or a neutron star, are so energetic they can outshine their host galaxies for months. However, astronomers appear to have spotted a massive star that skipped the explosion and turned directly into a black hole.

Nov 12, 2024

Heavy-ion run at the LHC begins

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is like an immensely powerful kitchen, designed to cook up some of the rarest and hottest recipes in the universe, like the quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter known to have existed shortly after the Big Bang. While the LHC mostly collides protons, once a year it collides heavy ions—such as lead nuclei—a key ingredient for preparing this primordial soup.

Nov 12, 2024

Discover more of the Hyundai NEXO

Posted by in categories: economics, energy, transportation

I’m interested in what impact hydrogen cars will be on the economy, and what technological advancements we will see in the future The NEXO is a truly one-of-a-kind hydrogen fuel cell SUV that combines cutting-edge technology and futuristic design with fantastic driving range.


Fuel cell power and hydrogen make the Hyundai NEXO a highly advanced family-sized SUV.

Nov 12, 2024

News at KAIST

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Existing perovskite solar cells, which have the problem of not being able to utilize approximately 52% of total solar energy, have been developed by a Korean research team as an innovative technology that maximizes near-infrared light capture performance while greatly improving power conversion efficiency. This greatly increases the possibility of commercializing next-generation solar cells and is expected to contribute to important technological advancements in the global solar cell market.

The research team of Professor Jung-Yong Lee of the School of Electrical Engineering at KAIST (President Kwang-Hyung Lee) and Professor Woojae Kim of the Department of Chemistry at Yonsei University announced on October 31st that they have developed a high-efficiency and high-stability organic-inorganic hybrid solar cell production technology that maximizes near-infrared light capture beyond the existing visible light range.

The research team suggested and advanced a hybrid next-generation device structure with organic photo-semiconductors that complements perovskite materials limited to visible light absorption and expands the absorption range to near-infrared.

Nov 11, 2024

Project Hyperion is Seeking Ideas for Building Humanity’s First Generation Ship

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space

The dream of traversing the depths of space and planting the seed of human civilization on another planet has existed for generations. For long as we’ve known that most stars in the Universe are likely to have their own system of planets, there have been those who advocated that we explore them (and even settle on them). With the dawn of the Space Age, this idea was no longer just the stuff of science fiction and became a matter of scientific study. Unfortunately, the challenges of venturing beyond Earth and reaching another star system are myriad.

When it comes down to it, there are only two ways to send crewed missions to exoplanets. The first is to develop advanced propulsion systems that can achieve relativistic speeds (a fraction of the speed of light). The second involves building spacecraft that can sustain crews for generations – aka. a Generation Ship (or Worldship). On November 1st, 2024, Project Hyperion launched a design competition for crewed interstellar travel via generation ships that would rely on current and near-future technologies. The competition is open to the public and will award a total of $10,000 (USD) for innovative concepts.

Continue reading “Project Hyperion is Seeking Ideas for Building Humanity’s First Generation Ship” »

Nov 11, 2024

Information Flow in Molecular Machines

Posted by in categories: biological, chemistry, engineering, nanotechnology

A theoretical model shows that exchange of information plays a key role in the molecular machines found in biological cells.

Molecular machines perform mechanical functions in cells such as locomotion and chemical assembly, but these “tiny engines” don’t operate under the same thermodynamic design principles as more traditional engines. A new theoretical model relates molecular-scale heat engines to information engines, which are systems that use information to generate work, like the famous “Maxwell’s demon” [1]. The results suggest that a flow of information lies at the heart of molecular machines and of larger heat engines such as thermoelectric devices.

The prototypical engine is a steam engine, in which work is produced by a fluid exposed to a cycle of hot and cold temperatures. But there are other engine designs, such as the bipartite engine, which has two separate parts held at different temperatures. This design is similar to that of some molecular machines, such as the kinesin motor, which carries “molecular cargo” across biological cells. “Bipartite heat engines are common in biology and engineering, but they really haven’t been studied through a thermodynamics lens,” says Matthew Leighton from Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Canada. He and his colleagues have now analyzed bipartite heat engines in a way that reveals a connection to information engines.

Nov 11, 2024

A new paradigm in high-speed photoacoustic small animal whole-body imaging

Posted by in category: biological

A research team has developed an advanced continuous rotational scanning photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) system for rapid imaging of living organisms. The research is published in the journal Laser & Photonics Reviews.

Nov 11, 2024

Scientists demonstrate controlled transfer of atoms using coherent tunneling between optical tweezers

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

An experimental setup built at the Technion Faculty of Physics demonstrates the transfer of atoms from one place to another through quantum tunneling between optical tweezers. Led by Prof. Yoav Sagi and doctoral student Yanay Florshaim from the Solid State Institute, the research was published in Science Advances.

Nov 11, 2024

Compact error correction: Toward a more efficient ‘quantum hard drive’

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Two quantum information theorists at the University of Sydney Nano Institute have solved a decades-old problem that will require fewer qubits to suppress more errors in quantum hardware.

Nov 11, 2024

Theoretical predictions provide a first peek at nuclear shape transitions

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, physics

It turns out that the evolution of the most violent collisions between nuclei, as they are studied at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, depends on the initial conditions, namely the geometry and shape of the colliding nuclei, which are in their ground state. More surprisingly, this insight also allows us to determine properties of the colliding nuclei that cannot easily be studied by other methods.

The researchers have predicted how the shape changes and fluctuations of the colliding nuclei will influence the outcome of extreme high-energy conditions. This paves the way for further studies which will yield a better understanding of the dynamic behavior of nuclei. An article on the results has been published in Physical Review Letters.

The predictions are theoretical but based on an experiment at the world’s leading physics research center, CERN, Switzerland.

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