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Category: engineering

White light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the semiconductor devices underpinning the functioning of countless lighting technologies on the market today, were first released to the public in 1996. Following their commercial debut, these devices have fueled significant advancements within the electronics and lighting industry, due to their remarkable energy efficiencies and extended lifespans.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge and ETH Zurich recently carried out a study aimed at re-tracing the development of white LEDs over the past three decades, as well as trends in their costs and innovations in other engineering fields that fueled their advancement. Their paper, published in Nature Energy, was part of a larger research project that investigated the factors driving innovation in the clean energy sector.

“As part of our research, we looked at three key technologies at the forefront of the ongoing energy transition: solar photovoltaics for , lithium-ion batteries for , and white LEDs for efficient energy use in lighting,” Michael P. Weinold, first author of the paper, told Tech Xplore.

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Millions of years of evolution have enabled some marine animals to grow complex protective shells composed of multiple layers that work together to dissipate physical stress. In a new study, engineers have found a way to mimic the behavior of this type of layered material, such as seashell nacre, by programming individual layers of synthetic material to work collaboratively under stress. The new material design is poised to enhance energy-absorbing systems such as wearable bandages and car bumpers with multistage responses that adapt to collision severity.

Many past studies have focused on reverse engineering to replicate the behavior of natural materials like bone, feathers and wood to reproduce their nonlinear responses to mechanical stress. A new study, led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign civil and environmental engineering professor Shelly Zhang and professor Ole Sigmund of the Technical University of Denmark, looked beyond reverse engineering to develop a framework for programmable multilayered materials capable of responding to local disturbances through microscale interconnections.

The study findings are published in the journal Science Advances.

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Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), a bioactive lipid derived from arachidonic acid, mediates a broad range of physiological processes through four G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) subtypes: EP1–EP4. While the high-resolution structures of EP2, EP3 and EP4 have been resolved, EP1 remained structurally uncharacterized due to its intrinsic instability, hindering detailed understanding of its Gq-mediated signaling.

In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a research team led by Eric H. Xu (Xu Huaqiang) and Xu Youwei from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported the cryo– (cryo-EM) structure of the human EP1 receptor in complexes with PGE2 and the heterotrimeric Gq protein, completed structural atlas of EP receptor family, and revealed EP1-specific mechanisms of ligand recognition and signal transduction.

To overcome the instability of EP1, the researchers employed a multi-pronged engineering strategy, including BRIL fusion, truncation of flexible loops, incorporation of a mini-Gq chimera, and NanoBiT-assisted complex stabilization. They resolved the structure of the EP1–PGE2–Gq complex at 2.55 Å resolution using single-particle cryo-EM, enabling detailed analysis of both ligand binding and G protein coupling interfaces.

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A research team from the School of Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has developed a new computational model to study the movement of granular materials such as soils, sands and powders. By integrating the dynamic interactions among particles, air and water phases, this state-of-the-art system can accurately predict landslides, improve irrigation and oil extraction systems, and enhance food and drug production processes.

The flow of granular materials—such as soil, sand and powders used in pharmaceuticals and food production—is the underlying mechanism governing many natural settings and industrial operations. Understanding how these particles interact with surrounding fluids like water and air is crucial for predicting behaviors such as soil collapse or fluid leakage.

However, existing models face challenges in accurately capturing these interactions, especially in partially saturated conditions where forces like and viscosity come into play.

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Quantum entanglement—a connection between particles that produces correlations beyond what is classically possible—will be the backbone of future quantum technologies, including secure communication, cloud quantum computing, and distributed sensing. But entanglement is fragile; noise from the environment degrades entangled states over time, leaving scientists searching for methods to improve the fidelity of noisy entangled states.

Now, researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Microsoft have shown that it is fundamentally impossible to design a single one-size-fits-all protocol to counteract that noise.

“In , we often hope for a protocol that works in all scenarios—a kind of cure-all,” said Asst. Prof. Tian Zhong, senior author of the new work published in Physical Review Letters. “This result shows that when it comes to purifying entanglement, that’s simply too good to be true.”

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A biotech startup from the U.S. is aiming to reshape the construction industry with the launch of a groundbreaking new material that mimics the look and feel of natural wood while outperforming high-grade steel in strength and durability.

Maryland-based firm InventWood, revealed that their engineering wood product called Superwood is a result of molecular-level transformation that turns natural wood into a material up to a dozen times stronger and 10 times tougher than its original form.

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Anyone who speculates on likely events ahead of time and prepares accordingly can react quicker to new developments. What practically every person does every day, consciously or unconsciously, is also used by modern computer processors to speed up the execution of programs. They have so-called speculative technologies which allow them to execute instructions on reserve that experience suggests are likely to come next. Anticipating individual computing steps accelerates the overall processing of information.

However, what boosts computer performance in normal operation can also open up a backdoor for hackers, as recent research by computer scientists from the Computer Security Group (COMSEC) at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich shows.

The computer scientists have discovered a new class of vulnerabilities that can be exploited to misuse the prediction calculations of the CPU (central processing unit) in order to gain unauthorized access to information from other processor users. They will present their paper at the 34th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX 2025), to be held August 13–15, 2025, in Seattle.

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Researchers from the University of Oklahoma have made significant advances in a promising technology for efficient energy conversion and chemical processing. Two recent studies involving protonic ceramic electrochemical cells, called PCECs, address significant challenges in electrochemical manufacturing and efficiency. These innovations are a crucial step toward reliable and affordable solutions for hydrogen production and clean energy storage.

The studies were led by Hanping Ding, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma.

PCECs have traditionally struggled to maintain performance under the required for commercial use. In a study featured in Nature Synthesis, Ding and his colleagues reported a new approach that eliminates the need for cerium-based materials, which are prone to breakdown under high steam and heat.

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