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Many fundamental processes of life, and their synthetic counterparts in nanotechnology, are based on the autonomous assembly of individual particles into complex patterns. LMU physicist Professor Erwin Frey, Chair of Statistical and Biological Physics at LMU Munich and member of the ORIGINS Excellence Cluster, investigates the fundamental principles of this self-organization.

The rapid development of technologies such as the internet, mobile communications, and artificial intelligence has dramatically increased the demand for high-capacity communication systems. Among various solutions, mode-division multiplexing (MDM) has emerged as a crucial technique, utilizing spatial modes like orbital angular momentum (OAM) to enhance communication capacity.

Solution-processed semiconductor nanocrystals are also called colloidal quantum dots (QDs). While the concept of size-dependent quantum effects had long been known to physicists, a sculpture of the theory into real nanodimensional objects remained impossible till the discovery of QDs. The size-dependent colors of QDs are essentially naked-eye, ambient-condition visualizations of the quantum size effect.

Related: These nearby star systems could be good targets in the search for alien life (video)

“Both TOI-1408 b and TOI-1408 c are incredibly close to their parent star compared to the planets in our solar system,” research lead author Judith Korth of Lund University told Space.com. “Imagine our solar system, but instead, Jupiter is orbiting very close to the sun nearly every four days, one-twentieth of the period of Mercury.

This is already very close to the star, and still, we detected another planet even closer to the star that interacts strongly with its big neighbor, causing their orbits to wobble in ways we’ve never seen before.

Jupiter Power, an Austin-based energy developer, owns and operates the project at Hiram Clarke Road and U.S. 90 at the site of the former H.O. Clarke gas-fired power plant. It’s a 200-megawatt facility, enough to power 50,000 Texas homes during the hottest summer days, with the ability to discharge power at maximum capacity for two hours.

On any given day, the Houston area must import about 60% of its needed electricity from other parts of the state where power plants are more plentiful. This often results in a phenomenon known as congestion: Low-cost electrons are clogged on power lines into Houston much like commuters on the highway during rush hour, which raises the wholesale cost of electricity in the region. These wholesale price spikes are initially paid by retail electric providers and can eventually be passed onto consumers.