Solar cells are slowly becoming more efficient. But the newest, most promising light-absorbing material used in solar cells, organic lead halide perovskites, doesn’t last very long. After just a few days, it can lose its efficiency advantages. Researchers at Imperial College London have identified the mechanism that causes perovskite cells to degrade so quickly. Their […]
Scientists Look for Life’s Building Blocks in Outer Space
Scientists have long theorized comets delivered key ingredients for life on Earth. Scientists in Germany are currently testing the theory. Researchers at Ruhr-University Bochum are replicating the conditions of outer space to test whether cometary chemical reactions could have yielded complex molecules like amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The average comet hosts all […]
Virtual Reality to Help Seniors Stave Off Cognitive Decline
Scientists in Finland want to curb cognitive decline among seniors using virtual reality. Activities like hiking and birdwatching can bolster the cognitive abilities, but getting out and about is often too difficult for aging adults. Virtual reality can offer cognitive stimulation inside a senior’s bedroom — no travel required. “I think we can help people […]
Researchers Create Star Wars ‘Superlaser’ in the Lab
Scientists at Macquarie University have developed a laser similar to the sci-fi superlaser used by the Death Star in Star Wars. A superlaser combines the multiple laser beams into a single beam. “Researchers are developing high power lasers to combat threats to security from the increased proliferation of low-cost drones and missile technology,” Rich Mildren, an […]
GPS Navigation Turns Off Part of the Brain
Following GPS or satnav instructions turns off part of the brain normally used for navigation, according to a new study. Researchers at University College London scanned the brains of 24 volunteers as they navigated a simulated version of the neighborhood of Soho in central London. Scientists focused their attention on the hippocampus, a brain region […]
Scientists Successfully Store Computer Files in DNA
DNA is nature’s hard drive, capable of storing, replicating and transmitting massive amounts of information. Researchers in New York found a way to use DNA like an actual computer hard drive, successfully storing, replicating and retrieving several digital files. A pair of scientists from Columbia University and the New York Genome Center selected five files […]
Scientists Developing Robots to Work in Nuclear Facilities
A new crop of robots are being prepared to do a job too dangers for humans — cleaning up and decommissioning aging nuclear facilities. Cleaning up nuclear facilities is an expensive proposition; it’s also a dangerous one, involving a variety of tasks too dangerous for humans. Conditions in nuclear facilities are harsh and toxic, and […]
Scientists Use Nanoparticles, Ultraviolet Light to Turn CO2 into Fuel
Scientists at Duke University have developed a new method for catalyzing the conversion of carbon dioxide into methane, a component of many alternative fuels. The reaction is bolstered by the presence of rhodium nanoparticles and ultraviolet light. Rhodium is known to accelerate, or catalyze, a variety of reactions used for industrial processes, but the energy boost offered […]
Scientists Train Drones to Land on Moving Targets
Scientists at the University of Cincinnati successfully trained drones to autonomously land on moving targets. Researchers say “fuzzy logic” was the key to their success. Landing a drone on a moving target requires precision. “It has to land within a designated area with a small margin of error,” Manish Kumar, associate professor of mechanical engineering […]
A Computer’s LED Light Can Smuggle Out Data from the Hard Drive
As experiments showed, a computer’s LED light could be used to smuggle out data from the hard drive to a remote receiver with cameras or light sensors, like a drone. Just because a computer isn’t connected to a wireless network, doesn’t mean it’s immune to invasion. As researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev proved, if a […]