3D printers can be used to make a variety of useful objects by building up a shape, layer by layer. Scientists have used this same technique to “bioprint” living tissues, including muscle and bone. Bioprinting is a relatively new technology that has advanced mostly by trial and error. Scientists are now using the laws of…

Nanodiamonds, bits of crystalline carbon hundreds of thousands of times smaller than a grain of sand, have intriguing surface and chemical properties with potential applications in medicine, optoelectronics and quantum computing. To forge these nanoscopic gemstones, researchers expose organic explosive molecules to powerful detonations in a controlled environment. These explosive forces, however, make it difficult…

IBM researchers are developing a new computer architecture, better equipped to handle increased data loads from artificial intelligence. Their designs draw on concepts from the human brain and significantly outperform conventional computers in comparative studies. They report on their recent findings in the Journal of Applied Physics, from AIP Publishing. Today’s computers are built on…

Silicon carbide (SiC), a material known for its toughness with applications from abrasives to car brakes, to high-temperature power electronics, has enjoyed renewed interest for its potential in quantum technology. Its ability to house optically excitable defects, called color centers, has made it a strong candidate material to become the building block of quantum computing.…

The earth’s rotation causes the Coriolis effect, which deflects massive air and water flows toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This phenomenon greatly impacts global wind patterns and ocean currents, and is only significant for large-scale and long-duration geophysical phenomena such as hurricanes. The magnitude of…

Iron oxide nanoparticles are used in sentinel node detection, iron replacement therapy and other biomedical applications. New work looks to understand how these materials age, and how aging may change their functional or safety profiles. For the first time, by combining lab-based Mössbauer spectroscopy with “center of gravity” analysis, researchers can quantify the diffusive oxidation…

In the search for abundant clean energy, scientists around the globe look to fusion power, where isotopes of hydrogen combine to form a larger particle, helium, and release large amounts of energy in the process. For fusion power plants to be effective, however, scientists must find a way to trigger the low-to-high confinement transition, or…

Epidemiological studies have established a strong correlation between inhaling ultrafine particles from incomplete combustion and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Still, relatively little is known about the mechanisms behind how air particulates affect human health. New work with carbon nanodots seeks to provide the first model of how ultrafine carbon-based particles interact with the lung tissues.…

Modern communication systems often employ optical fibers to carry signals across or between devices. The integrated optics in these devices combine more than one function into a single circuit. However, signal transmission requires long optical fibers, which makes it difficult to miniaturize the device. Instead of long optical fibers, scientists have started testing planar waveguides.…

The emerging field of spintronics leverages electron spin and magnetization. This could enhance the storage capacity of computer hard drives and potentially play an important role in quantum computing’s future. Superconductor-ferromagnet (SF) structures are widely regarded as the building blocks of this superconducting spintronic technology. More conventional spintronic devices typically require large currents, so researchers…

Solar energy is clean and abundant. But when the sun isn’t shining, you must store the energy in batteries or through a process called photocatalysis — in which solar energy is used to make fuels. In photocatalytic water splitting, sunlight separates water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen and oxygen can then be recombined in…

Embolization—the use of various techniques to cut off the blood vessels that feed tissue growth—has gained traction over the past few decades to treat cancerous tumors. This method of starving tumors of blood supply and nutrients is less invasive than surgery and typically involves injecting drugs (chemoembolization) or lodging nanoscopic beads directly into blood vessels.…