Thermoelectric energy harvesters could potentially provide energy for different small electronic devices by converting temperature differences into electrical energy. An international team of researchers have investigated a thermoelectric energy harvester design based on quantum wells. Quantum wells are made of semiconducting materials, but are easier to make than quantum dots (nano-sized semiconducting crystals) and may be operated at room temperature.
Explanation of quantum wells: http://bit.ly/17gQ0cC
Read more: http://bit.ly/1fXaGJf
The image is a drawing of the proposed quantum well energy harvester, showing the central hot region in red, the quantum wells in green, and the cold electrodes in blue.
The team of scientists named the single electron a leviton, in honour of physicist Leonid Levitov. It is hoped it will be possible to scale up the circuit so larger structures that could carry quantum information can be built. The technique could also be applied to cold atomic gases, leading to the possibility of atomic levitons.
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Paper: http://bit.ly/1a4ay2e
The sulphur-based molecule that gives the ocean its characteristic smell also protects corals from rising seawater temperatures and is important for the formation of water droplets in the atmosphere. If the production of this compound declines, fewer clouds would be produced and less heat would be reflected, which could lead to even warmer sea surface temperatures.
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Physicists in the last few years have been discussing whether time can be an emergent property derived from quantum correlations. The new experiment confirmed that time is an emergent phenomenon for ‘internal’ observers but absent for external ones.
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Explanation of quantum entanglement: http://abt.cm/1abVv8Z
Paper: http://bit.ly/18dUQB7
Maxwell's equations are a group of partial differential equations that have been used as the basis for developing most modern electrical circuits and optic devices. Physicists have now used Maxwell’s equations to describe field lines that encode torus knots and links.
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The “magic number” is a quantity of protons or neutrons that makes an atomic nucleus unusually stable. Protons and neutrons fill up separate shells inside nuclei and each shell can accommodate only a certain number of particles. A nucleus holds a ‘magic number’ of protons or neutrons when the particles completely fill the shells without any room left for adding more. This renders the nucleus more stable and longer-lived than other nuclei.
Researchers smashed beams of nuclei together at high speeds and discovered that calcium-54, which has 20 protons and 34 neutrons in its nucleus is stable – for a few milliseconds. This isotope is a radioactive variant of calcium and is not regularly found in nature. The new magic number could help scientists understand how atomic nuclei are formed in stars.
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BREAKING NEWS: The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Peter Higgs and François Englert for the theory of how particles acquire mass. In 1964, they proposed the theory independently of each other, and last year their ideas were confirmed by the discovery of a so called Higgs particle at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland.
Read more: http://bit.ly/18M1CRV and find out more about the Higgs boson in this fantastic Minutephysics video:http://bit.ly/LqIpgS
Lepidosaurs were reptiles closely related to lizards, snakes and tuatara, and roamed the planet during the Middle Triassic period. The two skull fossils, unearthed in Germany, were dated using a technique known as a ‘molecular clock’ and were found to predate all other lepidosaur records by 12 million years. The fossils are most closely related to the tuatara, a lizard-like reptile endemic to New Zealand and the sole survivors of a group that was once as globally widespread as lizards are today.
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This skull fossil was found in a mudstone layer at the top of the Untere Graue Mergel of the Lower Keuper, Vellberg, Germany. Scale bar – 1 mm.
The team of researchers have observed that two large components of nuclear quantum effects (NQEs) somewhat cancel each other out, resulting in a small net effect on the boiling and melting points of water. They measured the competing quantum effects by using deep inelastic neutron scattering (DINS), and found that the melting and boiling points of light water differ very little from those of heavy water (which contains deuterium).The results further support the concept of competing quantum effects.
Read more: http://bit.ly/17HgVf4
The brain was found in a Bronze Age settlement in western Turkey which is thought to have been flattened in an earthquake, with people buried before fire spread through the rubble. The flames would have consumed all oxygen and boiled the brains in their own fluids. The lack of moisture and oxygen then prevented tissue breakdown, and the chemistry of the soil also aided the preservation of the shape of the soft brain tissue.
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Forensic scientists may soon have a powerful new tool for estimating a victim's time of death: a microbial clock. A study in mice is proving that by monitoring the bacterial changes that occur postmortem as the body decays, we can work out when someone died.
Love forensic science? Find out more about studying at theNational Centre for Forensic Studies (NCFS) at the University of Canberra. You can take their online Master program from anywhere in the world: http://bit.ly/19lmthH.
Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/17a2W1l
The Golden Spiral in rose petals is quite functional, as it allows the petals to be very close together while in the bud phase.
As they wrap around the center point, the petals are not on the same vertical line as their neighbors and do not draw up water from the same part of the stem. Splitting the stem will draw up the color and stain the petals based on their position in the spiral.
More info: http://bit.ly/19QUfrz
While scientists have been able to generate biodiesel from bacteria, biogasoline has been much more elusive. A team in Korea have successfully engineered E. coli bacteria that produce the short-chain alkanes of gasoline.
More info: http://bit.ly/17ka3UI
The Golden Tortoise beetle is found in the Americas. They feed on the leaves of plants related to the sweet potato, including the morning glory and bindweed, though they rarely eat enough to cause serious damage to the plant.
More info: http://bit.ly/1aFmHNU
This technology could be used to create smaller medical devices. The technique used to make these accelerators is low cost and could easily be mass produced.
More info: http://bit.ly/15GxAvz
By stimulating the area of the brain that controls eating behavior in the lateral hypothalamus, researchers could potentially treat obesity as well as eating disorders.
More info: http://bit.ly/17kYgWg
