Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed

Researchers have expanded the potential of carbon capture technology that plucks CO2 directly from the air by demonstrating that there are multiple suitable and abundant materials that can facilitate direct air capture. Researchers present new, lower-cost materials to facilitate moisture-swing to catch and then release CO2 depending on the local air's moisture content, calling it 'one of the most promising approaches for CO2 capture.'

The same dirt that clings to astronauts' boots may one day keep their lights on. Researchers created solar cells made out of simulated Moon dust. The cells convert sunlight into energy efficiently, withstand radiation damage, and mitigate the need for transporting heavy materials into space, offering a potential solution to one of space exploration's biggest challenges: reliable energy sources.

An international team has merged two lab-synthesized materials into a synthetic quantum structure once thought impossible to exist and produced an exotic structure expected to provide insights that could lead to new materials at the core of quantum computing.

Scientists have repurposed smartphone camera sensors to create a detector capable of tracking antiproton annihilations in real time with unprecedented resolution. This new device can pinpoint antiproton annihilations with a resolution of about 0.6 micrometers, a 35-fold improvement over previous real-time methods.

New York City's automated speed cameras reduced traffic crashes by 14% and decreased speeding violations by 75% over time, according to new research. The research revealed most cameras achieve their safety purpose within six months, with violations dropping and staying low -- showing drivers have changed behavior to drive more slowly and the cameras are working as intended, to deter speeding.

When we move, it's harder for existing wearable devices to accurately track our heart activity. But researchers found that a starfish's five-arm shape helps solve this problem. Inspired by how a starfish flips itself over -- shrinking one of its arms and using the others in a coordinated motion to right itself -- scientists have created a starfish-shaped wearable device that tracks heart health in real time.

Applied physicists have created a photon router that could plug into quantum networks to create robust optical interfaces for noise-sensitive microwave quantum computers.

Chemists report that radiation-induced chemical reactions may help mitigate the corrosion of metals in a new type of nuclear reactor cooled by molten salts.

An international research team has developed mechanical metamaterials with a high elastic energy density. Highly twisted rods that deform helically provide these metamaterials with a high stiffness and enable them to absorb and release large amounts of elastic energy. The researchers conducted simple compression experiments to confirm the initial theoretical results.

Researchers have developed an innovative method to study ultrafast magnetism in materials. They have shown the generation and application of magnetic field steps, in which a magnetic field is turned on in a matter of picoseconds.

A new kind of press-on nails come in all shapes and colors -- and when you're done with them, you can melt them down and reuse the materials to make your next look.

Scientists are working to create a new light-activated 'smart' bomb to treat aggressive breast cancer. The new light-sensitive chemicals called cyanine-carborane salts are used in photodynamic therapy, or PDT, to destroy metastatic breast cancer tumors in mice with minimal side effects.

Based on their findings, the researchers noted there are practical solutions that could have prevented collapse of the embankment slope investigated in this study. Their recommendations include using stabilizing agents, like cement, to reduce the impact of moisture and the placement of perforated pipes to drain the water quickly.

Smaller than a grain of rice, new pacemaker is particularly suited to the small, fragile hearts of newborn babies with congenital heart defects. Tiny pacemaker is paired with a small, soft, flexible wearable patch that sits on the patient's chest. The wearable patch detects irregular heartbeats and automatically emits pulses of light. The light then flashes on and off at a rate that corresponds to the correct pacing. After the tiny pacemaker is no longer needed, it dissolves inside the body.

When spring arrives and the heating season comes to an end, keeping warm becomes less of an issue. However, scientists remind us that it is not just a seasonal necessity -- heat is also a valuable energy resource that can be stored and used when needed most. Researchers have discovered an innovative solution beneath our feet: using soil as an efficient thermal energy storage system.

A collaboration between chemical engineers and animal scientists has created a system for recovering valuable industrial chemicals from animal waste, representing a major step towards circularity and environmental sustainability.

Researchers report their insights on the emerging field of complex frequencies excitations, a recently introduced scheme to control light, sound and other wave phenomena beyond conventional limits. Based on this approach, they outline opportunities that advance fundamental understanding of wave-matter interactions and usher wave-based technologies into a new era.

Researchers have created a bilayer metasurface made of two stacked layers of titanium dioxide nanostructures, opening new possibilities for structuring light.

A team of chemists found a way to see into battery interfaces -- tight, tricky spots buried deep inside the cell have long frustrated battery designers.

While the threat that microplastics pose to human and ecological health has been richly documented and is well known, nanoplastics, which are smaller than one micrometer (1/50th the thickness of an average human hair), are far more reactive, far more mobile and vastly more capable of crossing biological membranes. Yet, because they are so tiny and so mobile, researchers don't yet have an accurate understanding of just how toxic these particles are.