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IMAGE: The above diagram shows part of the molecular assembly process from individually trapped atoms to ground state molecule using optical tweezers (lasers). view more
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Ni group
In 2018, Kang-Kuen Ni and her lab earned the cover of Science with an impressive feat: They took two individual atoms, a sodium and a cesium, and forged them into a single dipolar molecule, sodium cesium.
Sodium and cesium normally ignore each other in the wild; but in the Ni lab s carefully calibrated vacuum chamber, she and her team captured each atom using lasers and then forced them to react, a capability that gifted scientists with a new method to study one of the most basic and ubiquitous processes on Earth: the formation of a chemical bond. With Ni s invention, scientists could not only discover more about our chemical underpinnings, they could start creating bespoke molecules for novel uses like qubits for quantum computers.
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IMAGE: ORNL researchers used electron beam powder bed fusion to produce refractory metal molybdenum, which remained crack free and dense, proving its viability for additive manufacturing applications. view more
Credit: ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy
Manufacturing - Mighty Mo
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists proved molybdenum titanium carbide, a refractory metal alloy that can withstand extreme temperature environments, can also be crack free and dense when produced with electron beam powder bed fusion. Their finding indicates the material s viability in additive manufacturing.
Molybdenum, or Mo, as well as associated alloys, are difficult to process through traditional manufacturing because of their high melting temperature, reactivity with oxygen and brittleness.
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An interdisciplinary team led by KU Leuven and Stanford has identified 76 overlapping genetic locations that shape both our face and our brain. What the researchers didn t find is evidence that this genetic overlap also predicts someone s behavioural-cognitive traits or risk of conditions such as Alzheimer s disease. This means that the findings help to debunk several persistent pseudoscientific claims about what our face reveals about us.
There were already indications of a genetic link between the shape of our face and that of our brain, says Professor Peter Claes from the Laboratory for Imaging Genetics at KU Leuven, who is the joint senior author of the study with Professor Joanna Wysocka from the Stanford University School of Medicine. But our knowledge on this link was based on model organism research and clinical knowledge of extremely rare conditions, Claes continues. We set out to map the genetic link between individuals face and brain shape much more broadly,
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Credit: RMIT University
A new study, out this week, could pave the way to revolutionary, transparent electronics.
Such see-through devices could potentially be integrated in glass, in flexible displays and in smart contact lenses, bringing to life futuristic devices that seem like the product of science fiction.
For several decades, researchers have sought a new class of electronics based on semiconducting oxides, whose optical transparency could enable these fully-transparent electronics.
Oxide-based devices could also find use in power electronics and communication technology, reducing the carbon footprint of our utility networks.
A RMIT-led team has now introduced ultrathin beta-tellurite to the two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting material family, providing an answer to this decades-long search for a high mobility p-type oxide.