Giant ridges on the surface of landslides on Mars could have formed without ice, challenging their use by some as unequivocal evidence of past ice on the red planet, finds a new study using state-of-the-art satellite data.
Read moreMuch like some snakes use infrared to 'see' at night, researchers are working to create similar viper vision to improve the sensitivity of night-vision cameras.
Read moreScientists report an imaging technique that gives finer details of blood vessels in live patients in real time than current diagnostic machines used in the clinic. The technique depends on capturing and analyzing non-epipolar light, which carries scattering information useful for detailing objects under the skin's surface.
Read moreSmart bulbs are expected to be a popular purchase this holiday season. But could lighting your home open up your personal information to hackers? Now researchers have conducted a review of the security holes that exist in popular smart-light brands. According to the analysis, the next prime target could be that smart bulb that shoppers buy this coming holiday season.
Read moreEngineers have developed dynamic porous polymer coatings that enable inexpensive and scalable ways to control light and heat in buildings. They took advantage of the optical switchability of PPCs in the solar wavelengths to regulate solar heating and daylighting, and extended the concept to thermal infrared wavelengths to modulate heat radiated by objects.
Read moreTo understand the fundamental nature of our universe, scientists would like to build particle colliders that accelerate electrons and their antimatter counterparts (positrons) to extreme energies (up to tera electron volts, or TeV). With conventional technology, however, this requires a machine that is enormously big and expensive (think 20 miles long). To shrink the size and cost of these machines, the acceleration of the particles — how much energy they gain in a given distance — must be increased.
Read moreFusion combines light elements in the form of plasma — the hot, charged state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei — to generate massive amounts of energy. One of the ways that scientists help heat the plasma is by injecting beams of energetic particles into tokamaks to provide enough energy for plasma particles to overcome mutual repulsion and fuse together.
Read morePhysicists have demonstrated the first next-generation 'time scale' — a system that incorporates data from multiple atomic clocks to produce a single highly accurate timekeeping signal for distribution. The new time scale outperforms the best existing hubs for disseminating official time worldwide and offers the possibility of providing more accurate time to millions of customers such as financial markets and computer and phone networks.
Read moreResearchers have developed ultrasensitive nanoscale optical probes to monitor the bioelectric activity of neurons and other excitable cells. This novel readout technology could enable scientists to study how neural circuits function at an unprecedented scale by monitoring large numbers of individual neurons simultaneously. It could also lead to high-bandwidth brain-machine interfaces with dramatically enhanced precision and functionality.
Read moreA molecule that protects plants from overexposure to harmful sunlight thanks to its flamenco-style twist could form the basis for a new longer-lasting sunscreen, chemists have found.
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