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New research uses protons to shine a light on the structure and imperfections of this two-dimensional wonder material.

Graphene is a two-dimensional wonder material that has been suggested for a wide range of applications in energy, technology, construction, and more since it was first isolated from graphite in 2004.

This single layer of carbon atoms is tough yet flexible, light but with high resistance, with graphene.

Massive implications with this one.

It’s been a rough few days in the condensed matter physics realm following claims of the world’s first room-temperature superconductor being achieved. However, work to verify and replicate the results.

“They come off as real amateurs,” Michael Norman, a theorist at Argonne National Laboratory told Science. “They don’t know much about superconductivity and the way they’ve presented some of the data is fishy.”

Nadya Mason, a condensed matter physicist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said “the data seems a bit sloppy.”

The topic has kept Science Twitter tittering for days, with many researchers—and wannabe researchers— sharing their hot takes.

Earth’s oldest craters could give scientists critical information about the structure of the early Earth and the composition of bodies in the solar system as well as help to interpret crater records on other planets. But geologists can’t find them, and they might never be able to, according to a new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

Geologists have found evidence of impacts, such as ejecta (material flung far away from the impact), melted rocks, and high-pressure minerals from more than 3.5 billion years ago. But the actual craters from so long ago have remained elusive. The planet’s oldest known impact structures, which is what scientists call these massive craters, are only about 2 billion years old. We’re missing two and a half billion years of mega-craters.

The steady tick of time and the relentless process of erosion are responsible for the gap, according to Matthew S. Huber, a planetary scientist at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa who studies impact structures and led the new study.

Energy storing building materials could make on-demand power from renewables affordable worldwide.

Separation processes are essential in the purification and concentration of a target molecule during water purification, removal of pollutants, and heat pumping, accounting for 10–15% of global energy consumption. To make the separation processes more energy efficient, improvement in the design of porous materials is necessary. This could drastically reduce energy costs by about 40–70%. The primary approach to improving the separation performance is to precisely control the pore structure.

In this regard, porous carbon materials offer a distinct advantage as they are composed of only one type of atom and have been well-used for separation processes. They have large pore volumes and surface areas, providing high performance in gas separation, water purification, and storage. However, pore structures generally have high heterogeneity with low designability. This poses various challenges, limiting the applicability of carbon materials in separation and storage.

Now, a team of researchers from Japan, led by Associate Professor Tomonori Ohba from Chiba University and including master’s students, Mr. Kai Haraguchi and Mr. Sogo Iwakami, has fabricated fullerene-pillared porous graphene (FPPG)—a carbon composite comprising nanocarbons—using a bottom-up approach with highly designable and controllable pore structures.

Queen guitarist Brian May and Dante Lauretta, the chief scientist of NASA’s asteroid-sampling OSIRIS-REx mission, have collaborated on a book about the asteroid Bennu — and it’s not a PR stunt.

OSIRIS-REx snagged a sample of Bennu in October 2020 and is currently speeding toward Earth with the precious space-rock material, which is scheduled to touch down here on Sept. 24.

Technological advancements like autonomous driving and computer vision are driving a surge in demand for computational power. Optical computing, with its high throughput, energy efficiency, and low latency, has garnered considerable attention from academia and industry. However, current optical computing chips face limitations in power consumption and size, which hinders the scalability of optical computing networks.

Thanks to the rise of nonvolatile integrated photonics, optical computing devices can achieve in-memory computing while operating with zero static power consumption. Phase-change materials (PCMs) have emerged as promising candidates for achieving photonic memory and nonvolatile neuromorphic photonic chips. PCMs offer high refractive index contrast between different states and reversible transitions, making them ideal for large-scale nonvolatile optical computing chips.

While the promise of nonvolatile integrated optical computing chips is tantalizing, it comes with its share of challenges. The need for frequent and rapid switching, essential for online training, is a hurdle that researchers are determined to overcome. Forging a path towards quick and efficient training is a vital step on the journey to unleash the full potential of photonic computing chips.

A new study reveals that biomimetic materials, when pulsed with low-energy blue light, can reshape damaged corneas, including increasing their thickness. The findings have the potential to affect millions of people.

A team of University of Ottawa researchers and their collaborators have uncovered the immense potential of an injectable biomaterial that is triggered by low-energy blue light pulses for immediate repair of the eye’s domed outer layer.

Following a design approach guided by biomimicry—innovation that takes inspiration from nature—the multidisciplinary researchers’ compelling results show that a novel light-activated material can be used to effectively reshape and thicken damaged corneal tissue, promoting healing and recovery.