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New Technique for Understanding the Nature of Neutrinos Demonstrates an Important Technological Milestone

David Bale3 days ago05 mins

The Science Newswise — The nature of the neutrino’s mass is no small matter. It is directly connected with major questions in nuclear physics, particle physics, cosmology, and the origins of matter in the universe. To determine the mechanism by which neutrinos obtain their mass, experiments search for a hypothetical radioactive process called neutrinoless double beta decay. Current techniques are…

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A New Twist in Data Storage? Magnetic Whirlpools in Energy Materials

David Bale4 days ago06 mins

The Science Newswise — Olivines are common minerals that have magnetic and electrical properties useful for many applications. For example, olivines can be durable cathodes that improve the safety of lithium-ion batteries. However, these materials are magnetic only at very low temperatures (below -200° Fahrenheit). This makes it hard to use them in common applications. Scientists…

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Hot on the Trail of a Thermoelectric Material with High-Conductivity but Slow Thermal Transfer

David Bale7 days ago05 mins

The Science Newswise — Thermoelectric materials convert heat directly into electricity. They offer a promising way to produce energy from waste heat. But first, scientists need a better understanding of these materials’ properties and how to control them. The thermoelectric material germanium telluride (GeTe) has interesting properties that can be modified. GeTe has a crystal…

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Scientists Calculate Predictions for Electron-Ion Collider Measurements

David Bale2 weeks ago05 mins

The Science Newswise — Mesons are subatomic particles made of a quark and an antiquark that interact with the strong force. In this research, nuclear theorists used supercomputer calculations to accurately predict the distribution of electric charges in mesons. The predictions match well with measurements from low-energy experiments. They also apply to future high-energy experiments. The calculations helped validate a…

Watching Magnetic Materials Get Organized in Real Time

David Bale3 weeks ago04 mins

The Science Newswise — Scientists have developed a new method called Coherent Correlation Imaging to directly produce images of the changing structure in magnetic materials. This structure is a central component in many next-generation computing devices. The method can deliver information about a device in real time and with high spatial resolution. This allowed the…

Detecting 3D-Printing Defects in Real Time

David Bale3 weeks ago04 mins

The Science Newswise — Structural defects that form during additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, are a barrier to some applications of this technology. Researchers used diagnostic tools and machine learning to develop a new method for detecting and predicting defects in 3D printed materials. This method could transform the 3D printing process. The…

Rare Isotopes Shed Light on the Size of a Neutrino Wavepacket

David Bale4 weeks ago04 mins

The Science Newswise — Neutrinos are among the most abundant yet least understood particles in the universe. Now, nuclear scientists have measured the tiny energy of lithium atoms recoiling from the emission of neutrinos from radioactive decay. The study used advanced superconducting sensor technology that operates at near absolute-zero temperatures. This new technique provided the first direct quantum size limits on neutrino…

More Hydrogen from Hot Water Splitting

David Bale1 month ago04 mins

The Science Newswise — Solar hydrogen generation is a promising technology for using sunlight to convert water into hydrogen fuel. This technology could be both efficient and economical. One approach uses materials called metal oxides, including one that combines the elements bismuth and vanadium. To make hydrogen, cells made of these materials, called photoelectrodes, are…

Action! Attosecond X-rays Produce Ultrafast Movies

David Bale1 month ago05 mins

The Science Newswise — The ultrafast motion of electrons is the fundamental mechanism for chemical reactions. These reactions are at the core of many natural processes, including photosynthesis and radiation damage to DNA. Observing the motion of electrons at the atomic scale requires precisely synchronized flashes of X-ray radiation shorter than a femtosecond, or one quadrillionth of a second….

Fresh Direct Evidence for Tiny Drops of Quark-Gluon Plasma

David Bale1 month ago05 mins

The Science Newswise — A new analysis of data from collisions of small nuclei made of just one proton and one neutron—known as deuterons—with much larger gold nuclei provides fresh evidence that these small collisions generate drops of quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The QGP is a soup of visible matter’s most fundamental building blocks. Using photons,…