Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers at Tohoku University and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) have discovered a new spintronic phenomenon—a persistent rotation of chiral-spin structure.

Their discovery was published in the journal Nature Materials on May 13, 2021.

Tohoku University and JAEA researchers studied the response of chiral-spin structure of a non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn₃Sn thin film to electron spin injection and found that the chiral-spin structure shows persistent rotation at zero magnetic field. Moreover, their frequency can be tuned by the applied current.

There is now a new addition to the magnetic family: thanks to experiments at the Swiss Light Source SLS, researchers have proved the existence of altermagnetism. The experimental discovery of this new branch of magnetism is reported in Nature and signifies new fundamental physics, with major implications for spintronics.

Magnetism is a lot more than just things that stick to the fridge. This understanding came with the discovery of antiferromagnets nearly a century ago. Since then, the family of magnetic materials has been divided into two fundamental phases: the ferromagnetic branch known for several millennia and the antiferromagnetic branch.

The experimental proof of a third branch of magnetism, termed altermagnetism, was made at the Swiss Light Source SLS, by an international collaboration led by the Czech Academy of Sciences together with Paul Scherrer Institute PSI.

Scientists are investigating whether an oral drug sprinkled with gold nanoparticles could one day treat neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.

The experimental medicine, called CNM-Au8, has now shown success in boosting the brain’s metabolism in phase II clinical trials.

Research on the safety and efficacy of the daily drug is still ongoing, but the initial results have researchers hopeful. The medicine contains suspended nanoparticles of gold that can apparently pass the blood-brain barrier and improve energy supply to neurons, preventing their decline.

Through a first-of-its-kind strategic enterprise agreement with Boston Dynamics, Chevron is a leader in the oil and gas industry’s robotics age.

An interesting new attack on biometric security has been outlined by a group of researchers from China and the US. PrintListener: Uncovering the Vulnerability of Fingerprint Authentication via the Finger Friction Sound [PDF] proposes a side-channel attack on the sophisticated Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). The attack leverages the sound characteristics of a user’s finger swiping on a touchscreen to extract fingerprint pattern features. Following tests, the researchers assert that they can successfully attack “up to 27.9% of partial fingerprints and 9.3% of complete fingerprints within five attempts at the highest security FAR [False Acceptance Rate] setting of 0.01%.” This is claimed to be the first work that leverages swiping sounds to infer fingerprint information.

Biometric fingerprint security is widespread and widely trusted. If things continue as they are, it is thought that the fingerprint authentication market will be worth nearly $100 billion by 2032. However, organizations and people have become increasingly aware that attackers might want to steal their fingerprints, so some have started to be careful about keeping their fingerprints out of sight, and become sensitive to photos showing their hand details.

With less than three weeks until the R2 is finally unveiled, Rivian (RIVN) confirmed it will bring the more affordable electric SUV to Europe.

After opening the R2 website last week, Rivian gave us our first look at the new EV during a teaser video.

The shadowy image shows a smaller-looking version of the R1S, aligning with what we’ve seen in the past. A patent filed by Rivian last month showed a more compact electric SUV with slightly smaller headlights and a rear quarter panel.

I want to put my pipe and deerstalker hat away for five minutes.

Minesto has begun supplying electricity to the Faroe Islands generated by its Dragon 12 underwater ‘flying’ generator.

UCLA spinout Equatic has developed a carbon removal technology it believes can help the world meet its climate change goals — by converting CO₂ in the ocean into seashell dust.

The challenge: To prevent the worst predicted effects of climate change, experts say we need to not only slash our carbon emissions, but also remove and permanently store some of the CO₂ that’s already been released.

The ocean does this naturally: it already absorbs about 31% of human-made carbon emissions, but there’s a limit to the amount of CO₂ that seawater can absorb before it starts to release the carbon back into the atmosphere. Absorbing CO₂ from the air also causes ocean acidification, resulting in further environmental damage.