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Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 10:03

How football-shaped molecules occur in the universe
For a long time it has been suspected that fullerene and its derivatives could form naturally in the universe. These are large carbon molecules shaped like a football, salad bowl or nanotube. An international team of researchers using the Swiss SLS synchrotron light source at PSI has shown how this reaction works.

Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 24.03.2023

Team detects first neutrinos made by particle collider
An international team of scientists has for the first time detected neutrinos created by a particle collider. The discovery, announced March 19 by the Forward Search Experiment - or FASER collaboration - at the 57th Rencontres de Moriond Electroweak and Unified Theories conference in Italy, promises to deepen scientists- understanding of the nature of neutrinos, which are the most abundant particle in the cosmos.

Chemistry - Physics - 24.03.2023

Soaking up sunlight with a microscopic molecular device
A Yale-led team of chemists has identified a tiny -device- that helps certain photosynthetic organisms collect sunlight. A Yale-led research team has discovered a molecular -device- found in nature that harvests a particular sliver of the sunlight spectrum in order to convert it into chemical energy.

Life Sciences - Physics - 22.03.2023

How vision begins
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have deciphered the molecular processes that first occur in the eye when light hits the retina. The processes - which take only a fraction of a trillionth of a second - are essential for human sight. The study has now been published in the scientific journal Nature .

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 22.03.2023

NASA’s Webb Spots Swirling, Gritty Clouds on Remote Planet
In just a few hours of observations, the space telescope revealed a dynamic atmosphere on a planet 40 light-years from Earth. Researchers observing with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have pinpointed silicate cloud features in a distant planet's atmosphere. The atmosphere is constantly rising, mixing, and moving during its 22-hour day, bringing hotter material up and pushing colder material down.

Innovation - Physics - 21.03.2023

The IFIC develops a technology to better visualise the distribution of radiopharmaceuticals in the patient’s body
A team from the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC/UV-CSIC) is developing a photon detection and imaging system that will allow visualising, during a medical treatment, the distribution of the radiopharmaceutical in the patient's body. This technology verifies the final destination of the drug and allows a better estimate of the radiation dose received by both the tumour itself and the vital organs.

Physics - Chemistry - 21.03.2023

Surprise in the Quantum World
Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat have achieved a significant milestone in the pursuit of energy-efficient quantum technologies by designing a ferromagnetic topological insulator. In 2019, an international research team headed by materials chemist Anna Isaeva, at that time a junior professor at ct.qmat (Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter), caused a stir by fabricating the world's first antiferromagnetic topological insulator - manganese bismuth telluride (MnBi 2 Te4).

Physics - 21.03.2023

Scientists open door to manipulating ’quantum light’
Light particles, also called photons, do not normally interact with each other. An international research team has now demonstrated for the first time that a few photons can be manipulated and made to interact in a controlled manner. This could advance both medical imaging and quantum computing. Photons do not interact with each other in a vacuum; they can fly through each other undisturbed.

Physics - Chemistry - 21.03.2023

Surprise from the quantum world
The Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat has designed a ferromagnetic topological insulator - a milestone on the way to energy-efficient quantum technologies. Back in 2019, an international research team led by materials chemist Anna Isaeva - then a junior professor at the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat - Complexity and Topology in Quantum Materials - achieved a minor sensation with the fabrication of the first antiferromagnetic topological insulator manganese bismuth telluride (MnBi 2 Te4).

Chemistry - Physics - 21.03.2023

Smart light traps
Synthesis gas and battery power from sunlight energy Plants use photosynthesis to harvest energy from sunlight. Now researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have applied this principle as the basis for developing new sustainable processes which in the future may produce syngas (synthetic gas) for the large-scale chemical industry and be able to charge batteries.

Physics - Electroengineering - 20.03.2023

Sculpting quantum materials for the electronics of the future
An international team led by the University of Geneva has developed a quantum material in which the fabric of space inhabited by electrons can be curved on-demand. The development of new information and communication technologies poses new challenges to scientists and industry. Designing new quantum materials - whose exceptional properties stem from quantum physics - is the most promising way to meet these challenges.

Physics - Chemistry - 14.03.2023

Magnifier for quantum excitations
Scientists at TU Ilmenau have succeeded in realizing and understanding in detail a molecular magnifying glass for the lattice vibrations of a two-dimensional material. The results of the work, which are the result of many years of intensive joint research with theoretical physicist Mads Brandbyge from TU Denmark, have just been published in Physical Review Letters , the most important journal for physics research.

Physics - Chemistry - 14.03.2023

Nanorippled graphene becomes a catalyst
A team of researchers led by Prof. Andre Geim from the National Graphene Institute (NGI) have discovered that nanoripples in graphene can make it a strong catalyst, contrary to general expectations that the carbon sheet is as chemically inert as the bulk graphite from which it is obtained. Published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the research has shown that graphene with nanoscale corrugations of its surface can accelerate hydrogen splitting as well as the best metallic-based catalysts.

Physics - Chemistry - 14.03.2023

Breaking it down, carbon nanotube style
When it comes to studying particles in motion, experimentalists have followed a 100-year-old theory that claims the microscopic motion of a particle is determined by random collisions with molecules of the surrounding medium, regardless of the macroscopic forces that drive that motion.

Physics - Health - 13.03.2023

Laser-driven creation of high-energy ions boosts next-gen accelerators
A new way to create high-energy ions could speed up their applications in treating cancer and probing the fundamental nature of matter. The new technique, created by researchers at Imperial College London with collaborators in Japan and Germany, will help deliver beams of ions that could treat cancers with high doses of more targeted radiation.

Physics - 13.03.2023

Understanding quantum mechanics with active particles
Physicists discover unexpected connection between active particles and quantum-mechanical systems The study of active particles is one of the fastest-growing areas of physics. With "active particles" physicists refer to objects which move by themselves as a result of internal self-propulsion. These include living things such as bacteria and fish swimming, birds flying or humans walking around - as well as artificial nano-robots which can be inserted into the body to transport medication.

Physics - Computer Science - 13.03.2023

High-performance detectors to combat spies
A team from the University of Geneva and ID Quantique has developed single-photon detectors with unprecedented performance. These results open new perspectives for quantum cryptography. How can we combat data theft, which is a real issue for society? Quantum physics has the solution. Its theories make it possible to encode information (a qubit) in single particles of light (a photon) and to circulate them in an optical fibre in a highly secure way.

Physics - Chemistry - 13.03.2023

Mining the right transition metals in a vast chemical space
Computational chemists design better ways of discovering and designing materials for energy applications. Close Swift and significant gains against climate change require the creation of novel, environmentally benign, and energy-efficient materials. One of the richest veins researchers hope to tap in creating such useful compounds is a vast chemical space where molecular combinations that offer remarkable optical, conductive, magnetic, and heat transfer properties await discovery.

Physics - 10.03.2023

Ultraefficient white light laser on a chip
A team of researchers from the University of Twente has made a breakthrough in ultraefficient on-chip supercontinuum generation. The findings, published in the journal Advanced Photonics Research , represent a major step forward in the field of integrated photonics and enable applications in portable medical imaging devices, chemical sensing and LiDAR.

Physics - 10.03.2023

Hotter than infinity - Light pulses can behave like an exotic gas
In our modern society huge amounts of data are transmitted every day, mainly as short optical pulses propagating through glass fibres. With the steadily increasing density of such optical signals, their interaction grows, which can lead to data loss. Physicists at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the College of Optics and Photonics in Orlando, Florida are investigating how to control large numbers of optical pulses as precisely as possible to reduce the effect of such interactions.