Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed

Scientists use devices known as frequency comb lasers to search for methane in the air above oil and gas operations and to screen for signs of infection in human breath. A new study could help make these sensors even more precise.

Researchers have developed an adhesive polymer that is stronger than current commercially available options while also being biodegradable, tunable, and reusable. The findings show how the common, naturally occurring polymer P3HB can be chemically re-engineered for use as a strong yet sustainable bonding agent.

Engineering researchers have developed carbon capture systems that use molecules called quinones, dissolved in water, as their capturing compounds. A new study provides critical insights into the mechanisms of carbon capture in these safer, gentler, water-based electrochemical systems, paving the way for their further refinement.

The chemical composition of a material alone sometimes reveals little about its properties. The decisive factor is often the arrangement of the molecules in the atomic lattice structure or on the surface of the material. Materials science utilizes this factor to create certain properties by applying individual atoms and molecules to surfaces with the aid of high-performance microscopes. Using artificial intelligence, a new research group now wants to take the construction of nanostructures to a new level.

The robotics industry should be creating robots that could be reprogrammed and repurposed for other tasks once its life span is completed, researchers have advised.

Scientists have used deep learning to design new proteins that bind to complexes involving other small molecules like hormones or drugs, opening up a world of possibilities in the computational design of molecular interactions for biomedicine.

Paper-thin optical lenses simple enough to mass produce like microchips could enable a new generation of compact optical devices. Researchers have fabricated and tested flat lenses called Fresnel zone plates (FZPs), but did so for the first time using only common semiconductor manufacturing equipment, the i-line stepper, for the first time. These flat lenses currently lack the efficiency of in-production lenses, but have the potential to reshape optics for industries ranging from astronomy to health care and consumer electronics.

Data collected by wearable technology can identify disease flare-ups up to seven weeks in advance.

Researchers have developed a novel 6D pose dataset designed to improve robotic grasping accuracy and adaptability in industrial settings. The dataset, which integrates RGB and depth images, demonstrates significant potential to enhance the precision of robots performing pick-and-place tasks in dynamic environments.

For decades there has been near constant progress in reducing the size, and increasing the performance, of the circuits that power computers and smartphones. But Moore's Law is ending as physical limitations -- such as the number of transistors that can fit on a chip and the heat that results from packing them ever more densely -- are slowing the rate of performance increases. Computing capacity is gradually plateauing, even as artificial intelligence, machine learning and other data-intensive applications demand ever greater computational power.

Engineers have found a way to eliminate the fluid flow 'dead zones' that plague the types of electrodes used for battery-based seawater desalination. The new technique uses a physics-based tapered flow channel design within electrodes that moves fluids quickly and efficiently, potentially requiring less energy than reverse osmosis techniques currently require.

New insect-scale microrobots can fly more than 100 times longer than previous versions. The new bots, also significantly faster and more agile, could someday be used to pollinate fruits and vegetables.

Researchers have demonstrated new wearable technologies that both generate electricity from human movement and improve the comfort of the technology for the people wearing them. The work stems from an advanced understanding of materials that increase comfort in textiles and produce electricity when they rub against another surface.

Researchers have designed process that uses ultrasound to modify the behavior of cancer-fighting T cells by increasing their cell permeability. They targeted freshly isolated human immune cells with tightly focused ultrasound beams and clinically approved contrast agent microbubbles. When hit with the ultrasound, the bubbles vibrate at extremely high frequency, acting as a push-pull on the walls of the T cell's membranes. This can mimic the T cell's natural response to the presence of an antigen. The T cell then begins to secrete vital signalling molecules that would otherwise be restricted by the tumor's hostile microenvironment. The process does not damage the cell itself.

A new initiative is challenging the conversation around the direction of artificial intelligence (AI). It charges that the current trajectory is inherently biased against non-Western modes of thinking about intelligence -- especially those originating from Indigenous cultures. Abundant Intelligences is an international, multi-institutional and interdisciplinary program that seeks to rethink how we conceive of AI. The driving concept behind it is the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems to create an inclusive, robust concept of intelligence and intelligent action, and how that can be embedded into existing and future technologies.

Astronomers have detected an intensely brightening and dimming quasar that may help explain how some objects in the early universe grew at a highly accelerated rate. The discovery is the most distant object detected by the NuSTAR X-ray space telescope (which launched in 2012) and stands as one of the most highly 'variable' quasars ever identified.

Night-time collisions with robotic lawnmowers are a significant animal welfare and conservation problem for hedgehogs as these often suffer serious or even fatal injuries. In order to make the operation of robotic lawnmowers hedgehog-safe, researchers are developing special hedgehog dummies and standardized tests to prevent fatal collisions.

A team of researchers has succeeded in exploring the limits of the so-called island of stability within the super-heavy nuclides more precisely by measuring the super-heavy rutherfordium-252 nucleus, which is now the shortest-lived known super-heavy nucleus.

An international team of engineers has developed an innovative, scalable method for creating topography-patterned aluminum surfaces, enhancing liquid transport properties critical for applications in electronics cooling, self-cleaning technologies and anti-icing systems.

Methane from the destroyed Nord Stream pipelines spread over a large part of the southern Baltic Sea and remained for several months.