Anomalous plasma burning heats-up fusion research

24 Nov 2022

Suprathermal effect: researchers at NIF have discovered that ions involved in nuclear fusion are not moving as expected. (Courtesy: John Jett/Jake Long/LLNL)

Last year and after about a decade of trying, physicists working at the mammoth National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the US finally succeeded in generating a self-sustaining fusion reaction. But having since struggled to reproduce the feat, they have been busy trying to work out what makes the results of their experiments so variable. Now, a new finding at NIF may provide a clue – ions in what is known as a burning plasma have an unexpected kinetic energy distribution, which encourages fusion.

 

Chiral orbit currents create new quantum state

25 Nov 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Loop currents in a honeycomb. (Courtesy: Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

Physicists have discovered a new quantum state in a material with the chemical formula Mn3SiTe6. The new state forms due to long-theorized but never previously observed internal currents that flow in loops around the material’s honeycomb-like structure. According to its discoverers, this new state could have applications for quantum sensors and memory storage devices for quantum computers.

 

COVID-19 lockdowns boosted astronomy publications but worsened the gender gap, finds study

28 Nov 2022 Laura Hiscott

Mind the gap: A study found that women published 8.9 papers for every 10 published by men before the COVID-19 pandemic, but this has now dropped to 8.8 papers (courtesy: iStock_FOTOGRAFIA-INC)

Astronomers published more papers per year during the COVID-19 pandemic than they did beforehand – but men enjoyed a disproportionate share of the increase. The change, which has widened the gender gap in astronomy, has been revealed in a study carried out by two physicists (Nature Astronomy doi:10.1038/s41550-022-01830-9). They also found that lockdowns may have created barriers for new researchers entering the field.

 

Red supergiant stars get dimmer before they explode

26 Nov 2022 Isabelle Dumé

An artist's impression of the star Betelgeuse going supernova. (Courtesy: European Southern Observatory/L. Calçada)

Massive stars in their “red supergiant” phase become around 100 times fainter in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum in the last few months before they collapse and explode as a supernova. This is the finding of researchers from Liverpool John Moores University in the UK and the University of Montpelier in France, who simulated what a massive star would look like just before it blows up and when it is nestled in its pre-explosion “cocoon”. The work could help astrophysicists figure out what causes these stars to explode, as well as enabling astronomers to catch the explosion in action.

 

Nanoparticle-modified microrobots treat bacterial pneumonia in mice

23 Nov 2022 Rojin Jafari

Medication delivery Illustration showing nanoparticle-coated algae cells making their way through the lungs. (Courtesy: Wang Lab/UC San Diego)

Biohybrid microrobots, which combine the motility of natural micro-organisms with the multifunctionality of synthetic components, are being studied as an alternative to purely synthetic microrobots. Designs based on biocompatible and deformable materials serve as novel platforms for use in vivo, enhancing the potential of microrobots for biomedical applications. In a recent study reported in Nature Materials, researchers describe a bioinspired microrobot platform consisting of nanoparticle-modified algae for active delivery of antibiotics to treat lung disease.

Articular cartilage diseases: Newer therapeutic developments

 

Articular cartilage diseases: Newer therapeutic developments

 

 

The newest therapeutic developments for articular cartilage diseases are significant and relieve the patient from pain and suffering.

Articular cartilage is a thin, soft, and elastic membrane that covers the articular surfaces of bones and allows smooth and minimal friction movement of the articular surfaces. Its primary function is the distribution of loads and the reduction of pressures on the subchondral bone (the bone below the cartilage).

It consists of water, collagen, proteoglycans, proteins, and chondrocytes. This unique composition ensures special mechanical properties: it can be deformed during loading and, after removal, regain its original shape and return to its actual thickness.

Παθήσεις αρθρικού χόνδρου: Νεότερες θεραπευτικές εξελίξεις

 Παθήσεις αρθρικού χόνδρου: Νεότερες θεραπευτικές εξελίξεις

Οι νεότερες θεραπευτικές εξελίξεις για τις παθήσεις αρθρικού χόνδρου είναι πολύ σημαντικές και απαλλάσσουν τον ασθενή από πόνο και ταλαιπωρία.

Ο αρθρικός χόνδρος είναι ένας λεπτός, λείος, μαλακός και ελαστικός υμένας, ο οποίος καλύπτει τις αρθρικές επιφάνειες των οστών και επιτρέπει την ομαλή και με ελάχιστη τριβή κίνηση των αρθρικών επιφανειών. Βασική του λειτουργία είναι η κατανομή των φορτίων και η μείωση των πιέσεων στο υποχόνδριο οστό (το οστό κάτω από τον χόνδρο).

 

Fusion-reactor instabilities can be optimized by adjusting plasma density and magnetic fields

04 Nov 2022

On edge: illustrative drawing of the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. (Courtesy: IPP/Mathias Dibon)

A way of controlling the size of instabilities in the plasma of fusion reactors has been discovered by an international team of researchers. Large instabilities can damage a reactor, while small instabilities could prove useful for removing waste helium from the plasma. Therefore, the discovery could provide important guidance for the operation of large-scale fusion reactors.

 

A periodic table for topological materials

01 Nov 2022 Margaret Harris

Materials that conduct electricity on their outsides, but not their insides, were once thought to be unusual. In fact, they’re ubiquitous, as Maia Vergniory of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, Germany, and colleagues recently demonstrated by identifying tens of thousands of them. She spoke to Margaret Harris about how the team created the Topological Materials Database and what it means for the field

Diagnosing topology: Materials simulation expert Maia Vergniory.

 

Humane solutions for the massive human migration caused by climate catastrophe

14 Nov 2022

Kate Gardner reviews Nomad Century: How to Survive the Climate Upheaval by Gaia Vince

Crisis times The Bangladeshi capital Dhaka is confronted by thousands of people who arrive every day, displaced by monsoons and flooding caused by climate change. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/SM AKBAR ALI PJ)

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is home to 10 million climate refugees – people who have been internally displaced as monsoons and flooding destroy homes and farmland. With another 2000 arriving in the city every day, it’s proof that human migration caused by climate catastrophe is already a reality and accelerating fast.

 

Replacing a pacemaker with a device the width of a human hair

01 Nov 2022

Cardiac patch: Schematic of the device, which comprises an array of pressure-sensitive transistors and biocompatible pacing electrodes with encapsulation layers. The device is attached to the epicardium using a hydrogel adhesive patch. (Courtesy: J C Hwang et al Sci. Adv. 10.1126/sciadv.abq08/CC BY-NC)

Scientists have fabricated and successfully tested an ultrathin patch-type cardiac device that can monitor a heartbeat and apply stimulations as necessary.

Currently, these functions are performed by bulky and intrusive devices such as pacemakers. While these were miracle machines for many decades, the surgery required to implant pacemakers is complicated and can be risky. The new device, on the other hand, has a unique adhesive that allows it to stick directly to a wet organ such as the heart.

 

Non-invasive neuromodulation improves motor function in children with cerebral palsy

09 Nov 2022 Natalie Rhodes

Non-invasive therapy: The set-up of the SCiP device, demonstrating the placement of the non-invasive electrodes over the cervical and thoracic regions of the spinal cord. (Courtesy: CC BY 4.0/Nat. Commun. 10.1038/s41467-022-33208-w)

Cerebral palsy (CP), a lifelong condition that impairs sensory and motor function, is the most common motor disability in childhood, affecting about one in 345 children in the US. The standard-of-care treatment for CP often includes activity-based neurorehabilitation therapy, orthopaedic exercises to strengthen groups of muscles and general exercise to sustain motor function through development.

 

Simulations shed light on fluid dynamics of the gut

14 Oct 2022

Balance the flow: Simulations reveal that the gut alternates between different patterns of contraction to optimize nutrient absorption while regulating the growth of bacteria inside the gut. (Courtesy: iStock/Oleksandra-Troian)

To maintain a healthy balance between nutrient absorption and bacteria populations, the human gut likely alternates between two distinct patterns of muscle contraction, according to a study by researchers in Germany and the US. Through simulations, a team led by Karen Alim at the Technical University of Munich showed that these patterns are intrinsically linked to the speed of fluid flowing through the gut.

 

Nanoparticles levitated by light exhibit non-reciprocal interactions

18 Oct 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Jakob Rieser works on the experiment that showed non-reciprocal optical interactions between two optically trapped nanoparticles. (Courtesy: Iurie Coroli, University of Vienna)

When two particles are levitated in the focus of a laser beam, light reflects back and forth between them to form standing waves. The interaction with these standing waves causes the particles to self-align in a phenomenon known as optical binding. Now, for the first time, researchers at the University of Vienna, the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany have succeeded in fully controlling this binding between two optically levitated nanoparticles in parallel laser beams.

 

Nanoconfined water enters intermediate solid-liquid phase

27 Oct 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Trapped The study of nanoconfined water has important real-world applications in biology, engineering and geology. (Courtesy: Christoph Schran, Cambridge University)

When water is trapped in narrow, nanoscale cavities, it enters an intermediate phase that is neither solid nor liquid, but somewhere in between. This is the finding of an international team of researchers who used statistical physics, quantum mechanics and machine learning to study how the properties of water change when it is confined in such small spaces.

 

The uncharted territories of scientific history

07 Nov 2022

Anita Chandran reviews Horizons: a Global History of Science by James Poskett

Aztec botany The Aztec city of Tenochtitlan featured botanical gardens a century before European examples, but now only ruins remain in the centre of Mexico City. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/WitR)

“Modern science – we are told – is a product of Europe alone,” begins James Poskett in his new book Horizons: a Global History of Science. “This story is a myth.”

 

Responding to extraterrestrials, better lab coats for all, space shuttle debris found off Florida

11 Nov 2022 Hamish Johnston

Good listeners: the St Andrews SETI Post-Detection Hub team, from left: Derek Ball, Emily Finer, Martin Dominik, John Elliott, Emma Johanna Puranen, and Adam Bower. (Courtesy: University of St Andrews)

If extraterrestrials ever got in touch, what would you say in return? It’s not clear as there are no procedures in place if a radio signal from ET ever did get picked up. The only agreed “contact” protocols, which were originally drawn up in 1989 by the SETI community, were last revised in 2010.

 

Laser pioneer Margaret Murnane bags 2022 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize

25 Oct 2022 Michael Banks

Laser focus: Margaret Murnane and colleagues developed tabletop X-ray lasers

The optical physicist Margaret Murnane has won the 2022 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize “for pioneering and sustained contributions to the development of ultrafast lasers and coherent X-ray sources and the use of such sources to understand the quantum nature of materials”. Presented by the Institute of Physics (IOP), which publishes Physics World, the international award is given annually for “world-leading contributions to physics”.

 

New neutral-atom qubit offers advantages for quantum computing

13 Oct 2022 Ali Lezeik

Near-deterministic loading: The neutral-atom qubit setup at JILA. (Courtesy: Kaufman lab)

Two US-based research teams have developed quantum information processors that use neutral ytterbium (Yb) atoms as qubits – the first time this atomic species has been employed for this purpose. Trapping 100 Yb atoms in a 10 × 10 array, the researchers showed that they could perform entangled two-qubit gate operations on them, paving the way towards quantum computers based on this choice of qubit.

 

Bacteria-based microrobots show potential for cancer drug delivery

08 Nov 2022 Tami Freeman

Enhanced drug delivery: Magnetic bacteria (grey) can squeeze through narrow intercellular spaces to cross the blood vessel wall and infiltrate tumours. (Courtesy: Yimo Yan/ETH Zurich)

Scientists have explored the use of bacteria for cancer treatment for more than a century, with some strains progressing onto clinical trials. More recently, the idea has emerged of using modified bacteria as “ferries” to carry anti-cancer drugs through the bloodstream to the tumours.

 

Proton therapy planning: how to minimize LET in organs-at-risk

14 Nov 2022

Treatment plan comparisons CT images overlaid with dose-weighted LET distributions for three planning strategies: the base clinical distribution (left), a three-beam orientation (centre) and an alternate-beam-angle setup (right). The clinical target volume is outlined in red and the brainstem in blue. (Courtesy: CC BY 4.0/J. Appl. Clin. Med. Phys. 10.1002/acm2.13782)

Proton therapy can deliver highly conformal dose distributions to a tumour target while minimizing dose to tissues outside the target volume. Creating treatment plans that realize this strength is a top priority for dosimetrists and medical physicists.

Protons deposit dose in a fundamentally different way to X-rays, another type of external-beam radiation therapy. As a proton reaches the end of its trajectory, the rate at which its energy is transferred to tissue – its linear energy transfer (LET), expressed in keV/µm – increases.

 

RHK Technology plays the ‘long game’ in SPM

07 Nov 2022 Sponsored by RHK Technology

Customer-centric product innovation is helping US manufacturer RHK Technology to prosper at the cutting edge of surface science

Listening to the customer: RHK Technology’s latest commercial SPM, the PanScan Freedom Lumin-SLT, is the result of a collaborative R&D effort with Luiz Zagonel and colleagues in the department of applied physics at UNICAMP, Brazil. (Courtesy: Luiz Zagonel)

Customer service, collaborative innovation, continuous improvement: these are the organizational reference points, writ large, for the scientists and engineers of RHK Technology, a Michigan-based technology company specializing in the design and manufacture of advanced scanning probe microscope (SPM) systems and associated instrumentation, controllers and accessories.

 

Superconductors strengthen signals in scanning-tunnelling microscopy

10 Nov 2022 Isabelle Dumé

The demonstration relies on a quantum-mechanical effect known as inelastic tunnelling. (Courtesy: A Weismann/Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel)

The sensitivity of a scanning-tunnelling microscope improves by up to a factor of 50 when the microscope’s usual tip is replaced by a superconducting one. The technique, developed by researchers at Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel, Germany, could provide unprecedented levels of detailed data about molecules on the surface of a material. Such data could help scientists test and improve theoretical methods for understanding and even predicting a material’s properties.

 

Making graphene nanoribbons stable

11 Nov 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Scanning probe microscopy image of a reactive (left) and protected (right) graphene nanoribbon. (Courtesy: DIPC | CFM | FZU | CiQUS | CATRIN)

Graphene nanostructures with zigzag-shaped edges show much technological promise thanks to their excellent electronic and magnetic properties. Unfortunately, the highly reactive edges of these so-called graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) degrade quickly when exposed to air, limiting their practical applications. A team in Spain and the Czech Republic have now come up with two new strategies for protecting them.

 

‘Inherited nanobionics’ makes its debut

03 Nov 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Light-harvesting bacteria infused with nanoparticles can produce electricity in a "living photovoltaic" device. (Courtesy: Giulia Fattorini)

Bacteria that take up single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) continue to divide as normal and even pass on the resulting extra capabilities to their descendants. This result, which was recently demonstrated by researchers at the EPFL in Switzerland, forms the basis of a new field they call “inherited nanobionics”. The researchers believe the modified bacteria could be used to make living photovoltaics – energy-producing devices that they say could provide “a real solution to our ongoing energy crisis and efforts against climate change”.

 

Half-light, half-matter quasiparticle appears in a van der Waals magnet

14 Nov 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Realization of half-light half-matter magnetic quasiparticles in an optical cavity embedded with a van der Waals magnet. (Courtesy: Rezlind Bushati)

A new quasiparticle that is part matter, part light has emerged in experiments by researchers at the City College of New York, US, who observed it by coupling light to a stack of ultrathin two-dimensional antiferromagnets. The work could have implications for devices like lasers or for digital data storage.

 

Modified gravity describes how open star clusters ‘dissolve’

09 Nov 2022

Modifying gravity: Pavel Kroupa and colleagues have shown that Modified Newtonian Dynamics does a good job at describing the properties of open clusters of stars. (Courtesy: Volker Lannert/University of Bonn)

An alternative description of gravity does a very good job of predicting how newly formed star clusters break apart – according to an international team of astronomers. They used new mathematical techniques to show that Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) can reproduce the asymmetry and lifetime of open stellar clusters that have been observed by the Gaia space telescope.

 

Early stages of an ancient supernova observed using gravitational lensing

11 Nov 2022

Cooling down: false-colour representation of the three images of the supernova, showing how the object cooled over a period of eight days. (Courtesy: Wenlei Chen/NASA)

Light from a supernova that was emitted just six hours after the initial stellar explosion has been observed along with light emitted two and eight days later. The observation was made by an international team using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The supernova is also notable for having occurred around 11.5 billion years ago when the universe was in its relative infancy.

 

Rubidium vapour makes a good quantum memory

10 Nov 2022 Pradeep Niroula

Remember me: The University of Basel lab where the rubidium vapour cell quantum memory was developed. The vapour cell is at the centre, protected by magnetic shielding. (Courtesy: Gianni Buser)

Finding a reliable way to store quantum information is at the heart of efforts to build a quantum­ Internet. Unlike classical data, quantum information cannot be copied or amplified, and while the classical Internet transmits data via mature technologies like routers and switches that link cobwebs of wires and cables, the building blocks of the quantum Internet are still under construction.

 

Spin-based amplifier searches for axions

19 Sep 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Bridging the gap between previous laboratory searches and astrophysical observations. (Courtesy: X Peng)

A sensitive new way of detecting particle interactions in the laboratory has been used for the first time to search for axions, a hypothetical form of dark matter. Using a so-called spin-based amplifier, an international team of physicists succeeded in constraining the axion mass within the predicted “axion window” of 0.01 meV to 1 meV, thereby bridging the gap between previous laboratory searches and astrophysical observations.

 

Waving coral synchronizes according to temperature and light conditions

13 Sep 2022

Waving below the waves A study has provided insights into the synchronized motions of coral. (Courtesy: iStock/entwicklungsknecht)

Correlations between the waving motions of individual coral polyps have been observed – a discovery that could boost our understanding of coral reefs. Through a carefully-controlled experiment, Shuaifeng Li and Jinkyu Yang at the University of Washington, Seattle and colleagues found that the random swaying of the animals became more synchronized at cooler temperatures, and under red light.

 

Cosmic muons probe the interiors of tropical cyclones

18 Oct 2022

Peering inside: the image on the right shows the interior of a cyclone. The redder areas are regions of lower pressure, and the greener areas are higher pressure. (Courtesy: Hiroyuki KM Tanaka)

Cosmic muons have been used to image structures deep within tropical storms, according to an international team of researchers. Led by Hiroyuki Tanaka at the University of Tokyo, the team used a network of muon detectors to identify differences in air density within several typhoons. Through further improvements, their approach could provide important information for early warning systems for severe storms.

 

Engineered DNA nanotubes form tiny pipes into cells

06 Oct 2022 Simon Lichtinger

Nano plumbing: An artistic rendering showing how DNA nanotubes could connect artificial cells. (Courtesy: Schulman Lab, Johns Hopkins University)

Synthetic cells, engineered to mimic some of the functions performed by living cells, hold promise for applications in biotechnology and medicine. Even the smallest biological cells, however, are extremely complex and the construction of living artificial cells faces numerous roadblocks. Researchers in the Schulman Lab at Johns Hopkins University have recently made progress towards one of these challenges: the exchange of matter and information across cell boundaries.

 

Tiny beam shaper fabricated on the tip of a fibre creates twisted light

31 Oct 2022

Beam shaping device: Scanning electron microscopy image of the micro-optical element that’s 3D laser printed directly on the end of an optical fibre, showing the helical axicon (top) and the parabolic lens. (Courtesy: Shlomi Litman, Soreq Nuclear Research Center)

Physicists in Israel have printed a micro-optical element that generates a twisted Bessel beam on the end of an optical fibre. The polymer device consists of a parabolic lens for light collimation and a helical axicon that twists the light.

 

How the Stern–Gerlach experiment made physicists believe in quantum mechanics

01 Nov 2022 Hamish Johnston

A century ago, the German physicists Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach carried out an experiment that gave an important credibility boost to the new-fangled notion of quantum mechanics. But as Hamish Johnston discovers, their now-famous experiment succeeded even if the physics on which it was based wasn’t quite right

Quantum test Beams of silver atoms proved crucial to the Stern–Gerlach experiment. (Courtesy: istock/Denis Pobytov)

Despite its counterintuitive weirdness, quantum mechanics ranks as one of the most successful scientific theories of all time.

 

Ultrasound-induced gas bubbles reduce optical scattering

27 Oct 2022 Isabelle Dumé

Evaluating the imaging performance of US-OCM. (Courtesy: Jin Ho Chang)

Optical scattering is a real problem for biological imaging. By preventing light from being focused deeply into biological tissue, scattering effects limit imaging depths to around 100 microns, producing only blurred images beyond. A new technique called ultrasound-induced optical clearing microscopy could increase this distance by more than a factor of six, thanks to the somewhat counterintuitive step of inserting a layer of gaseous bubbles in the area being imaged. Adding this bubble layer ensures that the photons do not deviate as they propagate through the sample.

 

Laughing gas could point to alien life on Earth-like planets

31 Oct 2022

Habitable zone: artist’s impression of the TRAPPIST-1 system, where four exoplanets are considered prime targets in the search for extraterrestrial life. (Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The presence of nitrous oxide in the atmospheres of Earth-like exoplanets could be a signature of the presence of extraterrestrial life – according to a study done by researchers in the US led by Edward Schwieterman at the University of California, Riverside.

 

First trial in humans reveals promise of FLASH proton therapy

25 Oct 2022 Tami Freeman

First-in-human: FAST-01 is the first clinical trial of ultrahigh-dose rate radiotherapy and the first human treatment using FLASH proton therapy. (Courtesy: iStock/Dr_Microbe)

FLASH radiotherapy – in which therapeutic radiation is delivered at ultrahigh dose rates – shows promise as a new treatment for hard-to-kill tumours. Preclinical studies in animals suggest that the FLASH technique causes less damage to normal tissue than standard radiotherapy, while still effectively killing cancer cells.

 

Oscillating polaritonic condensate could be used for magnetometry

01 Nov 2022

Up and down: Fourier analysis reconstruction of a polariton condensate at time intervals of about 50 ps showing the observed oscillation. (Courtesy: H Sigurdsson et al/Physical Review Letters)

The quantum coherence of a polariton condensate has been seen to oscillate as the condensate decays. The discovery was made by researchers in Russia, the UK, and Iceland who were led by Alexis Askitopoulos at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology. The oscillations are magnetic in nature and the team suggests that the phenomenon could be used to develop new instruments for measuring magnetic fields.