Nord Stream methane spread across the southern Baltic Sea
Methane from the destroyed Nord Stream pipelines spread over a large part of the southern Baltic Sea and remained for several months.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Sensor tech and water filtration: Graphene made permeable for ions
A milestone in graphene research: Chemists have succeeded in controlling the passage of halide ions by deliberately introducing defects into a two-layer nanographene system. Their paper shows new perspectives for applications in water filtration or sensor technology.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Researchers invent soft, bioelectronic sensor implant
Scientists describe their construction of complementary, internal, ion-gated, organic electrochemical transistors that are more amenable chemically, biologically and electronically to living tissues than rigid, silicon-based technologies. The medical device based on these transistors can function in sensitive parts of the body and conform to organ structures even as they grow. The result is a biocompatible sensor that can monitor brain functions in pediatric patients as they develop and grow.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Researchers unlock new insights into tellurene, paving the way for next-gen electronics
Researchers have published a study describing how quasiparticles called polarons behave in tellurene, a nanomaterial first synthesized in 2017 that is made up of tiny chains of tellurium atoms and has properties useful in sensing, electronic, optical and energy devices.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Floating solar panels could support US energy goals
Federal reservoirs could help meet the country's solar energy needs, according to a new study. Geospatial scientists and senior legal and regulatory analyst quantified exactly how much energy could be generated from floating solar panel projects installed on federally owned or regulated reservoirs.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Diamond continues to shine: New properties discovered in diamond semiconductors
Diamond, often celebrated for its unmatched hardness and transparency, has emerged as an exceptional material for high-power electronics and next-generation quantum optics. Diamond can be engineered to be as electrically conductive as a metal, by introducing impurities such as the element boron. Researchers have now discovered another interesting property in diamonds with added boron, known as boron-doped diamonds. Their findings could pave the way for new types of biomedical and quantum optical devices -- faster, more efficient, and capable of processing information in ways that classical technologies cannot.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
SCP-Nano: A new technology to visualize nanocarriers in cells and tissues
How can we ensure that life-saving drugs or genetic therapies reach their intended target cells without causing harmful side effects? Researchers have taken an important step to answer this question. They have developed a method that, for the first time, enables the precise detection of nanocarriers -- tiny transport vehicles -- throughout the entire mouse body at a single-cell level.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Direct discharge electrical pulses for carbon fiber recycling
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are used in the aerospace, automotive, and sports equipment industries. However, their recycling remains a major problem. In a recent study, researchers demonstrated a novel direct discharge electrical pulse method for the efficient, effective, and environmentally friendly separation of CFRPs to recover high-quality carbon fibers. This work is expected to pave the way for a more sustainable world.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
This metaphorical cat is both dead and alive -- and it will help quantum engineers detect computing errors
Engineers have demonstrated a well-known quantum thought experiment in the real world. Their findings deliver a new and more robust way to perform quantum computations and they have important implications for error correction, one of the biggest obstacles standing between them and a working quantum computer.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Just as Gouda: Improving the quality of cheese alternatives
Scientists are working to produce plant-based cheese with all the characteristics of real cheese, but with better health benefits. To create a cheesy product with the same texture as the real thing, they looked at a variety of physical attributes such as the melting, stretching, and oil-release upon grilling and heating and studied isolates from three proteins and how they interacted with the oil and with the starch matrix of the cheese alternative. Using a blend of sunflower and coconut oil decreased the saturated fat content of the cheese, creating a healthy and sustainable alternative to dairy cheeses and other plant-based cheeses.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Uncurling a single DNA molecule and gluing it down helps sharpen images
Using advanced imaging techniques and precise microfluidics control to stretch out curly DNA into a straight line, new research demonstrates techniques for stretching and immobilizing DNA with minimum thermal fluctuation to enable detailed analysis. A team at Nagoya University experimented with ways to uncurl a DNA molecule using pressure applied to liquid flowing in a channel, with the pressure flow providing shear force that uncurled the DNA molecule. They found that controlling the flow velocity of the liquid helps fine-tune the shear force applied and allows precise adjustments of the stretch ratio of the DNA.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Green hydrogen: Big gaps between ambition and implementation
In recent years, more than 60 countries have developed strategies to stimulate the market ramp-up of hydrogen, particularly in the industrial sector. However, in 2023, less than ten percent of the originally announced green hydrogen production was realized, shows a new study. The main reason: hydrogen remains expensive and there is little willingness to pay the cost.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Self-stimulated ejection of freezing droplets, unlocking cost-effective applications in de-icing
Water droplets under freezing conditions do not spontaneously detach from surfaces as they do at room temperature due to stronger droplet-surface interaction and lack of an energy transformation pathway. Since accumulated droplets or ice have to be removed manually or with mechanical equipment, which is costly and inefficient, preventing droplet accretion on surfaces is both scientifically intriguing and practically important. Researchers have now invented a ground-breaking self-powered mechanism of freezing droplet ejection that allows droplets to shoot themselves away, paving the way for cost-efficient and promising technological applications.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Bill Adams’ scholarship has profoundly changed the way conservationists see the world
It is unusual for academic writing, in and of itself, to fundamentally change policy and practice. However, Bill Adams' highly original and influential writing about conservation has demonstrated how this can be done. Bill retired as the Moran Professor of Conservation and Development at the University of Cambridge in 2022 and this year he stands down as a Senior Editor of Oryx after more than 25 years. Now is a good time to reflect on his extraordinary body of work and, we hope, introduce a new audience to his writing. Read the editorial celebrating the career and contribution of Bill Adams.
Engineering quantum entanglement at the nanoscale
Researchers have developed a drastically smaller and more energy efficient method of creating coveted photon pairs that influence each other from any distance. The technology could transform computing, telecommunications, and sensing.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Researchers develop breakthrough one-step flame retardant for cotton textiles
Although extremely flammable, cotton is one of the most commonly used textiles due to its comfort and breathable nature. However, in a single step, researchers can reduce the flammability of cotton using a polyelectrolyte complex coating.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Wind turbines impair the access of bats to water bodies in agricultural landscapes
Bats depend on open bodies of water such as small ponds and lakes for foraging and drinking. Access to water is particularly important for survival in the increasingly hot and dry summers caused by climate change, the time when female bats are pregnant and rear their young. A scientific team has now shown that access to drinking sites is hampered by wind turbines in agricultural landscapes: Many bat species avoid the turbines and water bodies located close to the turbines for several kilometers.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
DNA nanorobots can alter artificial cells
Scientists have succeeded in controlling the structure and function of biological membranes with the help of 'DNA origami'. The system they developed may facilitate the transportation of large therapeutic loads into cells. This opens up a new way for the targeted administration of medication and other therapeutic interventions. Thus, a very valuable instrument can be added to the toolbox of synthetic biology.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Researchers unveil 'surprising' breakthrough in carbon nanotube recycling, paving way for sustainable materials
In a significant step toward creating a sustainable and circular economy, researchers have demonstrated that carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers can be fully recycled without any loss in their structure or properties. This discovery positions CNT fibers as a sustainable alternative to traditional materials like metals, polymers and the much larger carbon fibers, which are notoriously difficult to recycle.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)
Sodium-ion batteries need breakthroughs to compete
A thorough analysis of market, technological, and supply chain outcomes for sodium-ion batteries finds that significant advances are needed before commercialization.
Categories: Global Energy News (news-and-events/news)