Bizarre Things: Matter & Energy

June 2, 2024

Top Headlines

Study Is Step Towards Energy-Efficient Quantum Computing in Magnets

May 29, 2024 — Researchers have managed to generate propagating spin waves at the nanoscale and discovered a novel pathway to modulate and amplify them. Their discovery could pave the way for the development of dissipation free quantum information technologies. As ...

Electrochromic Films -- Like Sunglasses for Your Windows?

May 29, 2024 — Advances in electrochromic coatings may bring us closer to environmentally friendly ways to keep inside spaces cool. Like eyeglasses that darken to provide sun protection, the optical properties of these transparent films can be tuned with ...

Public Have No Difficulty Getting to Grips With an Extra Thumb, Study Finds

May 29, 2024 — Researchers have shown that members of the public have little trouble in learning very quickly how to use a third thumb -- a controllable, prosthetic extra thumb -- to pick up and manipulate objects. The team tested the robotic device on a diverse ...

Close to 1 in 2 Surveyed Say They Would Use Air Taxis in the Future

May 28, 2024 — Through a study of 1,002 participants, scientists have found that almost half (45.7 per cent) say they intend to use air taxis when they become available, with over one-third (36.2 per cent) planning to do so regularly. According to the findings, ...

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What Are the Risks of Hydrogen Vehicles in Tunnels?

May 28, 2024 — A team has analyzed the risk and damage potential of hydrogen vehicles in tunnels and derived recommendations. Their conclusion? Any damage would be extensive, but its occurrence is ...

Imperceptible Sensors Made from 'Electronic Spider Silk' Can Be Printed Directly on Human Skin

May 24, 2024 — Researchers have developed a method to make adaptive and eco-friendly sensors that can be directly and imperceptibly printed onto a wide range of ...

'Fossilizing' Cracks in Infrastructure Creates Sealing That Can Even Survive Earthquakes

May 22, 2024 — In a new study, a team of researchers used research on fossilizing techniques to create a new method for sealing cracks and fractures in rocks and ...

3D Printing Robot Creates Extreme Shock-Absorbing Shape, With Help of AI

May 21, 2024 — See how an autonomous robot created a shock-absorbing shape no human ever could -- and what it means for designing safer helmets, packaging, car bumpers, and ...

Strings That Can Vibrate Forever (Kind Of)

May 22, 2024 — Researchers have engineered string-like resonators capable of vibrating longer at ambient temperature than any previously known solid-state object -- approaching what is currently only achievable ...

Spider Silk Sound System

May 16, 2024 — Researchers have investigated how spiders listen to their environments through webs and found that the webs match the acoustic particle velocity for a wide range of sound frequencies. Playing sound ...

Physicists Propose Path to Faster, More Flexible Robots

May 17, 2024 — Physicists revealed a microscopic phenomenon that could greatly improve the performance of soft devices, such as agile flexible robots or microscopic capsules for drug ...

Diamond Glitter: A Play of Colors With Artificial DNA Crystals

May 17, 2024 — Using DNA origami, researchers have built a diamond lattice with a periodicity of hundreds of nanometers -- a new approach for manufacturing semiconductors for visible ...

Jet-Propelled Sea Creatures Could Improve Ocean Robotics

May 15, 2024 — Scientists have discovered that colonies of gelatinous sea animals swim through the ocean in giant corkscrew shapes using coordinated jet propulsion, an unusual kind of locomotion that could inspire ...

Robotic 'SuperLimbs' Could Help Moonwalkers Recover from Falls

May 15, 2024 — SuperLimbs, a system of wearable robotic limbs, can physically support an astronaut and lift them back on their feet after a fall, helping them conserve energy for other essential ...

Animal Brain Inspired AI Game Changer for Autonomous Robots

May 15, 2024 — A team of researchers has developed a drone that flies autonomously using neuromorphic image processing and control based on the workings of animal brains. Animal brains use less data and energy ...

Robots' and Prosthetic Hands' Sense of Touch Could Be as Fast as Humans

May 15, 2024 — Research could pave the way for a prosthetic hand and robot to be able to feel touch like a human hand. The technology could also be used to help restore lost functionality to patients after a ...

A Simple Quantum Internet With Significant Possibilities

May 15, 2024 — It's one thing to dream up a quantum internet that could send hacker-proof information around the world via photons superimposed in different quantum states. It's quite another to ...

Virtual Reality Becomes More Engaging When Designers Use Cinematic Tools

May 14, 2024 — Cinematography techniques can significantly increase user engagement with virtual environments and, in particular, the aesthetic appeal of what users see in virtual ...

Creating a Green Composite Material from Japanese Washi Paper

May 14, 2024 — Japanese washi paper is renowned for its aesthetic beauty and its wide-array of usages. Now, a group of researchers have made a green composite material from washi which boasts a 60% increase in ...

Cats Purrfectly Demonstrate What It Takes to Trust Robots

May 13, 2024 — Would you trust a robot to look after your cat? New research suggests it takes more than a carefully designed robot to care for your cat, the environment in which they operate is also vital, as well ...

Good Vibrations: New Tech May Lead to Smaller, More Powerful Wireless Devices

May 9, 2024 — What if your earbuds could do everything your smartphone can, but better? A new class of synthetic materials could allow for smaller devices that use less ...

A Better Way to Control Shape-Shifting Soft Robots

May 9, 2024 — A new machine-learning technique can train and control a reconfigurable soft robot that can dynamically change its shape to complete a task. The researchers also built a simulator that can evaluate ...

Discover Optimal Conditions for Mass Production of Ultraviolet Holograms

May 9, 2024 — Scientists delve into the composition of nanocomposites for ultraviolet metasurface ...

Generative AI That Imitates Human Motion

May 9, 2024 — Walking and running is notoriously difficult to recreate in robots. Now, a group of researchers has overcome some of these challenges by creating an innovative method that employs central pattern ...

This Sound-Suppressing Silk Can Create Quiet Spaces

May 7, 2024 — Researchers developed a silk fabric, which is barely thicker than a human hair, that can suppress unwanted noise and reduce noise transmission in a large ...

Seeking Medical Insights in the Physics of Mucus

May 7, 2024 — Understanding how mucus changes, and what it changes in response to, can help diagnose illnesses and develop treatments. Researchers develop a system to grow mucus-producing intestinal cells and ...

Caterbot? Robatapillar? It Crawls With Ease Through Loops and Bends

May 6, 2024 — Engineers created a catapillar-shaped robot that splits into segments and reassembles, hauls cargo, and crawls through twisting ...

Stretchable E-Skin Could Give Robots Human-Level Touch Sensitivity

May 3, 2024 — A stretchy electronic skin could equip robots and other devices with the same softness and touch sensitivity as human skin, opening up new possibilities to perform tasks that require a great deal of ...

Random Robots Are More Reliable

May 2, 2024 — New algorithm encourages robots to move more randomly to collect more diverse data for learning. In tests, robots started with no knowledge and then learned and correctly performed tasks within a ...

Significant New Discovery in Teleportation Research -- Noise Can Improve the Quality of Quantum Teleportation

May 2, 2024 — Researchers succeeded in conducting an almost perfect quantum teleportation despite the presence of noise that usually disrupts the transfer of quantum ...

This Highly Reflective Black Paint Makes Objects More Visible to Autonomous Cars

May 2, 2024 — Driving at night might be a scary challenge for a new driver, but with hours of practice it soon becomes second nature. For self-driving cars, however, practice may not be enough because the lidar ...

Marriage of Synthetic Biology and 3D Printing Produces Programmable Living Materials

May 1, 2024 — Scientists are harnessing cells to make new types of materials that can grow, repair themselves and even respond to their environment. These solid 'engineered living materials' are made by ...

Time Zones and Tiredness Strongly Influence NBA Results, Study of 25,000 Matches Shows

May 1, 2024 — The body clock has a significant impact on the performance of NBA players. Data shows vastly better win ratio for home teams from the Western Time Zone Area (PDT) when playing an EDT team, compared ...

Trotting Robots Reveal Emergence of Animal Gait Transitions

Apr. 30, 2024 — A four-legged robot trained with machine learning has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking -- a milestone for roboticists as well as biologists ...