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Mar 13, 2024

How to upcycle low-energy light: A new design for highly efficient conversion materials

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, materials

To combine two low-energy photons into one high-energy photon efficiently, the energy must be able to hop freely, but not too quickly, between randomly oriented molecules of a solid. This Kobe University discovery provides a much-needed design guideline for developing materials for more efficient PV cells, displays, or even anti-cancer therapies.

Light of different colors has different energies and is therefore useful for very different things. For the development of more efficient PV cells, OLED displays, or anti-cancer therapies, it is desirable to be able to upcycle two low-energy photons into a high-energy , and many researchers worldwide are working on materials for this up-conversion.

During this process, light is absorbed by the material, and its energy is handed around among the material’s as a so-called “triplet exciton.” However, it was unclear what allows two triplet excitons to efficiently combine their energies into a different excited state of a single molecule that then emits a high-energy photon, and this knowledge gap has been a serious bottleneck in the development of such materials.

Mar 13, 2024

Unraveling the origins of life: Scientists discover ‘cool’ sugar acid formation in space

Posted by in categories: biological, nanotechnology, space

A critical molecule for the metabolism of living organisms has been synthesized for the first time by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers at low temperatures (10 K) on ice coated nanoparticles mimicking conditions in deep space, marking a “cool” step in advancing our understanding of the origins of life.

Mar 13, 2024

The LIFE telescope passed its first test, detecting biosignatures on Earth

Posted by in category: space

We know that there are thousands of exoplanets out there, with many millions more waiting to be discovered. But the vast majority of exoplanets are simply uninhabitable. For the few that may be habitable, we can only determine if they are by examining their atmospheres. LIFE, the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets, can help.

Mar 13, 2024

Researchers achieve quantum key distribution for cybersecurity in novel experiment

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, quantum physics

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated that advanced quantum-based cybersecurity can be realized in a deployed fiber link.

Mar 13, 2024

A new ion trap for larger quantum computers

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Researchers at ETH have managed to trap ions using static electric and magnetic fields and to perform quantum operations on them. In the future, such traps could be used to realize quantum computers with far more quantum bits than have been possible up to now.

Mar 13, 2024

Bear Robotics, a robot waiter startup, just picked up $60M from LG

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, robotics/AI

LG Electronics may no longer be a household name in smartphones, but it still sees a big future in gadgets like robots. Today, the company confirmed a $60 million investment in Bear Robotics, the California startup that makes artificial intelligence–powered server robots (autonomous tray towers on wheels that are meant to replace waiters) for restaurants and other venues. With the investment, LG Electronics becomes Bear’s largest shareholder.

Bear’s last fundraise in 2022 valued the company at just over $490 million post-money, per PitchBook data. It’s not clear what the valuation is for this latest investment, but the last year has not been a great one for startups in the space.

On the other hand, the current vogue for all things AI, and the general advances that are coming with that, are giving robotics players a fillip — see yesterday’s Covariant news, for another example. Still, it’s not clear what Bear hopes to tackle next with the basic trays-on-wheels form factor that it has adopted for its flagship Servi robots.

Mar 13, 2024

Scientists Discover Method To Stop Active Cancer Cells in Their Tracks

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry

Researchers have found a way to stop active cancer cells in their tracks – meaning they can then be eliminated by new drug treatments.

A collaborative research project between the University of Dundee’s Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) and Queen Mary University of London, has identified chemical compounds, called tool molecules, that can halt active cancer cells.

Mar 13, 2024

Man Dies After Living in Iron Lung for 70 Years

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

A 78-year-old man who had been living inside an iron lung since surviving polio in the 1950s has passed away.

As CBS News reports, Paul “Polio Paul” Alexander garnered a huge following on social media, getting millions of views on TikTok as he answered questions about his unusual life.

The medical device didn’t stop Alexander from becoming a lawyer and opening his own successful practice. He also published a book about his life.

Mar 13, 2024

Quantum-mechanical ‘molecules’ spotted in superconducting devices

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Electronic states that resemble molecules and are promising for use in future quantum computers have been created in superconducting circuits by physicists at RIKEN.

Mar 13, 2024

Unveiling Mars’ Hidden Giant: The Discovery of the Noctis Volcano

Posted by in category: space

Sourabh Shubham: “This area of Mars is known to have a wide variety of hydrated minerals spanning a long stretch of Martian history. A volcanic setting for these minerals had long been suspected. So, it may not be too surprising to find a volcano here. In some sense, this large volcano is a long-sought ‘smoking gun’.”


The planet Mars is known for its vast array of inactive shield volcanoes, and a new volcano could be added to the family with a recent study presented at the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, as a team of researchers announced the discovery of a massive volcano on Mars that is buried underneath the surface and could even possess a base comprised of glacier ice. This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand past volcanism and glaciation on the Red Planet that could provide clues to Mars’ geologic history.

For the study, the researchers used images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera and data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), which are both onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), along with data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) that was onboard the Mars Global Surveyor to analyze “Noctis Mons” (official name pending), which is located southeast of Mars’ Tharsis volcanic region and in the western region of Valles Marineris, known as the largest and deepest canyon in the solar system.

Continue reading “Unveiling Mars’ Hidden Giant: The Discovery of the Noctis Volcano” »

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