Scientists found that biochar doesn’t just capture pollutants, it actively destroys them using direct electron transfer. This newly recognized ability accounts for up to 40% of its cleaning power and remains effective through repeated use. The discovery opens the door to cheaper, greener, and more efficient water treatment methods worldwide.
Read moreBio-tar, once seen as a toxic waste, can be transformed into bio-carbon with applications in clean energy and environmental protection. This innovation could reduce emissions, create profits, and solve a major bioenergy industry problem.
Read moreA Hiroshima University team has designed a feasible way to detect the Unruh effect, where acceleration turns quantum vacuum fluctuations into observable particles. By using superconducting Josephson junctions, they can achieve extreme accelerations that create a detectable Unruh temperature. This produces measurable voltage jumps, providing a clear signal of the effect. The breakthrough could transform both fundamental physics and quantum technology.
Read morePrimordial magnetic fields, billions of times weaker than a fridge magnet, may have left lasting imprints on the Universe. Researchers ran over 250,000 simulations to show how these fields shaped the cosmic web, then validated the results with observations. Their study sets a stricter upper limit on the fields’ strength, aligning with other data and suggesting important consequences for early star and galaxy formation.
Read moreSneezing from cats, dust mites, or mold may one day be preventable with a flip of a switch. Researchers at CU Boulder found that UV222 light can alter allergen proteins, reducing allergic reactions without dangerous side effects. Within 30 minutes, airborne allergens decreased by up to 25%. The team imagines portable devices that could shield people in homes, schools, and workplaces from harmful triggers.
Read moreWater, though familiar, still hides astonishing secrets. When squeezed into nanosized channels, it can enter a bizarre “premelting state” that is both solid and liquid at once. Using advanced NMR techniques, Japanese researchers directly observed this strange new phase, revealing that confined water molecules move like a liquid while maintaining solid-like order.
Read moreScientists have developed a new multi-layered metalens design that could revolutionize portable optics in devices like phones, drones, and satellites. By stacking metamaterial layers instead of relying on a single one, the team overcame fundamental limits in focusing multiple wavelengths of light. Their algorithm-driven approach produced intricate nanostructures shaped like clovers, propellers, and squares, enabling improved performance, scalability, and polarization independence.
Read moreScientists have discovered that ordinary ice is a flexoelectric material, capable of generating electricity when bent or unevenly deformed. At very low temperatures, it can even become ferroelectric, developing reversible electric polarization. This could help explain lightning formation in storms and inspire new technologies that use ice as an active material.
Read moreResearchers at UNSW have found a way to make atomic nuclei communicate through electrons, allowing them to achieve entanglement at scales used in today’s computer chips. This breakthrough brings scalable, silicon-based quantum computing much closer to reality.
Read moreCHESS thin-film materials nearly double refrigeration efficiency compared to traditional methods. Scalable and versatile, they promise applications from household cooling to space exploration.
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