Size Matters in Nanoconfinement
A research team from the Université libre de Bruxelles shows that it is possible to estimate how nanoconfinement affects the number of contacts formed by two materials placed in intimate contact and, hence, the interfacial interactions. They considered wafers of silicon, as those largely used in microelectronics, coated by thin polymer layers of different thickness.…
Archaeologists Discover a 1,000-Year-Old Mummy in Peru
A team from the Université libre de Bruxelles’s centre for archaeological research (CReA-Patrimoine) has completed a significant excavation in Pachacamac, Peru, where they have discovered an intact mummy in especially good condition. Pachacamac’s status as a Pre-Colombian pilgrimage site under the Inca empire. is confirmed by further evidence. Peter Eeckhout and his team’s latest campaign…
Self-Reconfiguring Modular Robots Can Merge, Split and Self-Heal
Researchers at the Université libre de Bruxelles have developed self-reconfiguring modular robots that can merge, split and even self-heal while retaining full sensorimotor control. The work may take us closer to producing robots that can autonomously change their size, shape and function. The study is published in the scientific review Nature Communications. Many robots are controlled…
Heating Quantum Matter: A Novel View on Topology
In physical sciences, certain quantities appear as integer multiples of fundamental and indivisible elements. This quantization of physical quantities, which is at the heart of our description of Nature, made its way through the centuries, as evidenced by the antique concept of the atom. Importantly, the discovery of quantized quantities has often been associated with…