Lifeboat Foundation

Topology has become a critical factor in the field of modern condensed matter physics and beyond. It explains the way solid materials may possess two distinct and seemingly conflicting characteristics. An example of this is topological insulators, materials whose bulk acts as an insulator, and can still conduct electricity at their surfaces and edges.

Over the past several decades, the idea of topology has revolutionized the understanding of electronic structure and the overall properties of materials. Additionally, it has opened doors to technological advancements by facilitating the integration of topological materials into electronic applications.

At the same time, topology is quite tricky to measure, often requiring combinations of multiple experimental techniques such as photoemission and transport measurements. A method known as high harmonic spectroscopy has recently emerged as a key technique to observe the topology of a material. In this approach a material is irradiated by intense laser light.

“A place for everything and everything in its place”—making sense of order, or disorder, helps us understand nature. Animals tend to fit nicely into categories: Mammals, birds, reptiles, whatever an axolotl is, and more. Sorting also applies to materials: Insulator, semiconductor, conductor, and even superconductor. Where exactly a material lands in the hierarchy depends on a seemingly invisible interplay of electrons, atoms, and their surroundings.

Unlike animals, the boundaries are less sharp, and tweaking a material’s environment can force it to bounce between categories. For example, dialing down the temperature will turn some materials into superconductors. Snapping on a magnetic field might reverse this effect. Within a single category, different types of order, or phases, can emerge from the sea of particles.

Unfortunately, we can’t see this nanoscopic universe with our eyes, but scientists can use advanced imaging tools to visualize what’s going on. Every once in a while, they uncover unexpected and surprising behaviors.

The main ring is surrounded by a faint halo and with many delicate structures. The interior of the ring is filled with hot gas. The star which ejected all this material is visible at the very center. It is extremely hot, with a temperature in excess (NASA, ESA, CSA, JWST Ring Nebula Team photo; image processing by Roger Wesson)

The images were released Thursday by an international team of astronomers, including three from the Canadian Western University’s Institute for Earth and Space Exploration.

For a company the size of Amazon, it takes a lot to move the needle. It’s hard to enter new businesses that have enough upside to make a material difference. Advertising is one of them. With its recent change to break out results for its advertising business, Amazon is signaling it’s all in on staking its claim to as much of the market as it can.

That market is growing, but Amazon’s business is growing much faster. That means it’s taking share away from its competitors. Amazon is already the third-largest advertising platform. I wouldn’t bet against it someday soon becoming the biggest.

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Macquarie University engineers have developed a new technique to make the manufacture of nanosensors far less carbon-intensive, much cheaper, more efficient, and more versatile, substantially improving a key process in this trillion-dollar global industry.

The team has found a way to treat each sensor using a single drop of ethanol instead of the conventional process that involves heating materials to high temperatures.

Their research, published in Advanced Functional Materials, is titled, ‘Capillary-driven self-assembled microclusters for highly performing UV detectors.’

A research team consisting of the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and the Tokyo University of Science has developed the fastest electric double layer transistor using a highly ion-conductive ceramic thin film and a diamond thin film.

This transistor may be used to develop energy-efficient, high-speed edge AI devices with a wide range of applications, including future event prediction and pattern recognition/determination in images (including facial recognition), voices and odors. This research was published in the June 16, 2023, issue of Materials Today Advances.

An electric double layer transistor works as a switch using electrical resistance changes caused by the charge and discharge of an electric double layer formed at the interface between the electrolyte and semiconductor. Because this transistor is able to mimic the electrical response of human cerebral neurons (i.e., acting as a neuromorphic transistor), its use in AI devices is potentially promising.

A common metal paper clip will stick to a magnet. Scientists classify such iron-containing materials as ferromagnets. A little over a century ago, physicists Albert Einstein and Wander de Haas reported a surprising effect with a ferromagnet. If you suspend an iron cylinder from a wire and expose it to a magnetic field, it will start rotating if you simply reverse the direction of the magnetic field.

“Einstein and de Haas’s experiment is almost like a magic show,” said Haidan Wen, a physicist in the Materials Science and X-ray Science divisions of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. “You can cause a cylinder to rotate without ever touching it.”

In Nature, a team of researchers from Argonne and other U.S. national laboratories and universities now report an analogous yet different effect in an “anti”-ferromagnet. This could have important applications in devices requiring ultra-precise and ultrafast motion control. One example is high-speed nanomotors for biomedical applications, such as use in nanorobots for minimally invasive diagnosis and surgery.

Space is a dangerous place. From micro-meteorites and electromagnetic interference to fires in space and extreme heat and cold, we need to develop new materials to enable the next generation of space travel and intergalactic travel.

New Swinburne research published in Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials highlights the cutting-edge materials that are solving these problems, including those being developed by Swinburne’s Multifunctional Materials and Composites team.

These include self-healing polymers, fire and thermally resistant materials, materials for thermal management, self-cleaning materials, EMI shielding materials and multifunctional carbon fiber composites.

Chinese researchers have announced in a video that they’ve verified LK-99’s ability to conduct current with zero resistance, but questions still linger.