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Berkeley Lab Researchers Create a Nonlinear Light-generating Zero-Index MetaMaterial

By Guest PostJanuary 3, 2014Scienceberkeley lab, chemical composition, efficient light generation, first plasmonic nanolasers, four wave mixing, future quantum networks, haim suchowski, information age, kevin obrien, light generating, multidirectional emission, nonlinear, nonlinear optics, photon direction, quantum processors, silicon nitride membrane, supercomputers, technique, vacuum, xiang zhang, zero index metamaterial, zero refractive index

Holds Promise for Future Quantum Networks and Light Sources

The Information Age will get a major upgrade with the arrival of quantum processors many times faster and more powerful than today’s supercomputers. For the benefits of this new Information Age 2.0 to be fully realized, however, quantum computers will need fast and efficient multi-directional light sources. While quantum technologies remain grist for science fiction, a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have taken an important step towards efficient light generation, the foundation for future quantum networks. (more…)

Researchers Find Simple, Cheap Way to Increase Solar Cell Efficiency

By Guest PostJanuary 3, 2014Sciencechinese academy, donor:acceptor morphology, electron acceptor, electron donor, electronic structure, energy particles, energy source, fabrication costs, harald ade, highest, homo, jianhui hou, light, lijun huo, lowest, lumo, maojie zhang, molecular structure, north Carolina, occupied molecular orbit, pbt op, polymer, researcher, sciences, solar cells, state university, unoccupied molecular orbit, xray analysis

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found an easy way to modify the molecular structure of a polymer commonly used in solar cells. Their modification can increase solar cell efficiency by more than 30 percent.

Polymer-based solar cells have two domains, consisting of an electron acceptor and an electron donor material. Excitons are the energy particles created by solar cells when light is absorbed. In order to be harnessed effectively as an energy source, excitons must be able to travel quickly to the interface of the donor and acceptor domains and retain as much of the light’s energy as possible. (more…)

UChicago researchers use Hubble Telescope to reveal cloudy weather on alien world

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2014Sciencealien world, astronomers, atmosphere, bjorn benneke, clouds, constellation ophiuchus, drake deming, earth, exoplanets, gj 1214b, heavy molecule, high altitude clouds, hubble telescope, jacob bean, jacob l bean, jean michel desert, laura kreidberg, milky way galaxy, NASA, neptune, university of chicago, water vapor

Weather forecasters on exoplanet GJ 1214b would have an easy job. Today’s forecast: cloudy. Tomorrow: overcast. Extended outlook: more clouds.

That’s the implication of a study led by researchers in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago who have definitively characterized the atmosphere of a super-Earth class planet orbiting another star for the first time. (more…)

Water in cells behaves in complex and intricate ways

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2014Sciencealbert einstein, biological action, cell machinery, charles brooks, computer simulation, dexter, distance, kevin kubarych, liquid, manhattan, phenomenon, picosecond timescale, protein, protein surface, proteins are hydrophobic, quantum entanglement, spooky action, university of michigan, water in cells

ANN ARBOR — In a sort of biological “spooky action at a distance,” water in a cell slows down in the tightest confines between proteins and develops the ability to affect other proteins much farther away, University of Michigan researchers have discovered.

On a fundamental level, the findings show some of the complex and unexpected ways that water behaves inside cells. In a practical sense, they could provide insights into how and why proteins clump together in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Understanding how proteins aggregate could help researchers figure out how to prevent them from doing so. (more…)

Sinuous skeletons, glowing blue and crimson, leap from lab to art world

By Guest PostJanuary 1, 2014Scienceadam summers, asian apothecary shops, biomimicry, butterfly ray, cartilage, crimson dye, devil ray species, manta ray, manta ray skeleton, mechanics of movement, scalyhead sculpin, seattle aquarium, seattle poet, sierra nelson, sinuous skeletons, skin, tissue, university of washington

A scalyhead sculpin is a small, rather drab, nondescript fish.

But “stripped” to its skeleton and stained, it suddenly becomes a striking specimen in vivid blues and crimson.

Striking enough to be among the 14 photos by Adam Summers, University of Washington professor of biology, in his “Cleared: The Art of Science” on display now through spring 2014 at the Seattle Aquarium. (more…)

New Look Inside Cell Nucleus Could Improve Cancer Diagnostics

By Guest PostDecember 31, 2013Sciencebrain cells, cancer diagnostics, cell nucleus, cytoplasm, david galbraith, DNA, enzyme, genetic information, genetic photocopies, genome, genome sequence, messenger rna, organ functions, plant cell, roger lasken, single cell, tumor, types of cancer

Researchers have sequenced the entire messenger RNA – the “genetic photocopies” – contained in the nucleus of a single cell, a long-anticipated step toward better cancer diagnostics and other medical applications.

Researchers have successfully isolated and sequenced the entire messenger RNA – the “genetic photocopies” – contained in the nucleus of a single brain cell. This research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will help researchers better understand how organs function in health and disease and provide another stepping stone toward personalized medicine. (more…)

New Spectroscopic Technique Could Accelerate the Push for Better Batteries

By Guest PostDecember 31, 2013Scienceadvanced light source, berkeley lab, better batteries, charge, charge dynamics, electrochemical state, electrolyte, electron, gao liu, ion migration, lithium ion batteries, new spectroscopic technique, phenomenon, theoretical simulations, wanli yang, xray spectroscopy

Method developed at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source measures electronic changes in a working battery electrode

A new technique developed at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source could help scientists better understand and improve the materials required for high-performance lithium-ion batteries that power EVs and other applications.

The technique, which uses soft X-ray spectroscopy, measures something never seen before: the migration of ions and electrons in an integrated, operating battery electrode. (more…)

MU Researchers Develop Advanced Three-Dimensional “Force Microscope”

By Guest PostDecember 29, 2013Scienceadvanced, biology class, cell, develop, dynamic changes, force microscope, gatekeepers, gavin king, justin grayer, krishna sigdel, molecules, mu researchers, pharmaceutical companies, real-time, studying membrane proteins, three-dimensional, trajectory, university of missouri

Innovation could lead to faster drug therapies and increased understanding of proteins on the microscopic level

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Membrane proteins are the “gatekeepers” that allow information and molecules to pass into and out of a cell. Until recently, the microscopic study of these complex proteins has been restricted due to limitations of “force microscopes” that are available to researchers and the one-dimensional results these microscopes reveal. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have developed a three-dimensional microscope that will yield unparalleled study of membrane proteins and how they interact on the cellular level. These microscopes could help pharmaceutical companies bring drugs to market faster. (more…)

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