Researchers unlock potential of 2D magnetic devices for future computing
A research team has created an innovative method to control tiny magnetic states within ultrathin, two-dimensional van der Waals magnets -- a process akin to how flipping a light switch controls a bulb.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Marriage of synthetic biology and 3D printing produces programmable living materials
Scientists are harnessing cells to make new types of materials that can grow, repair themselves and even respond to their environment. These solid 'engineered living materials' are made by embedding cells in an inanimate matrix that's formed in a desired shape. Now, researchers have 3D printed a bioink containing plant cells that were then genetically modified, producing programmable materials. Applications could someday include biomanufacturing and sustainable construction.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Time zones and tiredness strongly influence NBA results, study of 25,000 matches shows
The body clock has a significant impact on the performance of NBA players. Data shows vastly better win ratio for home teams from the Western Time Zone Area (PDT) when playing an EDT team, compared to vice versa.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Activity in a room stirs up nanoparticles left over from consumer sprays
Common household products containing nanoparticles -- grains of engineered material so miniscule they are invisible to the eye -- could be contributing to a new form of indoor air pollution, according to a new study.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Missing link in species conservation: Pharmacists, chemists could turn tide on plant, animal extinction
As the world faces the loss of a staggering number of species of animals and plants to endangerment and extinction, one scientist has an urgent message: Chemists and pharmacists should be key players in species conservation efforts.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Researchers develop an AI model to reduce uncertainty in evapotranspiration prediction
Evapotranspiration (ET) includes evaporation from soil and open water pools such as lakes, rivers, and ponds, as well as transpiration from plant leaves. The difference between precipitation and ET indicates the water balance available for societal needs, including agricultural and industrial production. However, measuring ET is challenging. A new study presents a computer model that uses artificial intelligence (AI) for ET prediction based on remote sensing estimates.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Scientists solve chemical mystery at the interface of biology and technology
Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) allow current to flow in devices like implantable biosensors. But scientists long knew about a quirk of OECTs that no one could explain: When an OECT is switched on, there is a lag before current reaches the desired operational level. When switched off, there is no lag. Current drops immediately. Researchers report that they have discovered the reason for this activation lag, and in the process are paving the way to custom-tailored OECTs for a growing list of applications in biosensing, brain-inspired computation and beyond.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Methane emissions from landfill could be turned into sustainable jet fuel in plasma chemistry leap
Researchers have developed a chemical process using plasma that could create sustainable jet fuel from methane gas emitted from landfills, potentially creating a low-carbon aviation industry.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Big data reveals true climate impact of worldwide air travel
A new study that looked at nearly 40 million flights in 2019 calculated the greenhouse gas emissions from air travel for essentially every country on the planet. At 911 million tons, the total emissions from aviation are 50 per cent higher than the 604 million tons reported to the United Nations for that year.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Under examination: Buckling -- when structures suddenly collapse
An engineer has designed a model to guide better design of thin-walled structures, like planes, cars and submersibles, to avoid catastrophe like sudden collapse due to buckling.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Biodegradable 'living plastic' houses bacterial spores that help it break down
A new type of bioplastic could help reduce the plastic industry's environmental footprint. Researchers have developed a biodegradable form of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) filled with bacterial spores that, when exposed to nutrients present in compost, germinate and break down the material at the end of its life cycle.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Innovation promises to prevent power pole-top fires
Engineers in Australia have found a new way to make power-pole insulators resistant to fire and electrical sparking, promising to prevent dangerous pole-top fires and reduce blackouts. Pole-top fires pose significant challenges to power providers and communities worldwide. In March, pole-top fires cut power from 40,000 homes and businesses in Perth, Australia. The 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements found that power outages experienced by 280,000 customers from various energy providers during Black Summer fires in Australia were mainly triggered by events involving insulators and poles.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
A virus could help save billions of gallons of wastewater produced by fracking
An estimated 168 billion gallons of wastewater -- or produced water -- is generated annually by the Permian Basin fracking industry, according to a 2022 report. The major waste stream has proved both difficult and costly to treat because of the chemical complexity of the water.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Discovery of mechanism plants use to change seed oil could impact industrial, food oils
Researchers have discovered a new mechanism of oil biosynthesis and found a way to genetically engineer a type of test plant to more efficiently produce different kinds of seed oil that it otherwise wouldn't make. While the engineering is proof-of-concept, this discovery could lead to improved production of valuable oils used in food and by a range of industries. The modified plant overcame metabolic bottlenecks and produced significant amounts of an oil similar to castor oil that it doesn't naturally produce.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
New technology makes 3D microscopes easier to use, less expensive to manufacture
3D microscopes are used in applications from the life sciences to semiconductor manufacturing. Now engineers are developing patented and patent-pending innovations making them work faster to capture even more 3D images and less expensive to manufacture.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Trotting robots reveal emergence of animal gait transitions
A four-legged robot trained with machine learning has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking -- a milestone for roboticists as well as biologists interested in animal locomotion.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
E-bike incentives prove to be worth the investment
Electric bicycle rebates have exploded in popularity in North America as transportation planners try to get people out of their cars and into healthier, more climate-friendly alternatives. However, questions remain: Are new cycling habits sustainable? Who benefits most from these incentives? And are they worth the cost? Researchers now have some answers.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Astronomers' simulations support dark matter theory
Computer simulations by astronomers support the idea that dark matter -- matter that no one has yet directly detected but which many physicists think must be there to explain several aspects of the observable universe -- exists, according to the researchers.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Research on RNA editing illuminates possible lifesaving treatments for genetic diseases
The research explores how CRISPR can be used to edit RNA.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Scientists harness the wind as a tool to move objects
Researchers have developed a technique to move objects around with a jet of wind. The new approach makes it possible to manipulate objects at a distance and could be integrated into robots to give machines ethereal fingers.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)