Lifeboat Foundation

Enhancing quantum features compensates for environmental losses, amplifying particle interactions, achieving entanglement at higher scales.

One of the oldest topics of contemporary science is where to draw the line between classical and quantum physics.

Abstract

Continue reading “Scientists create dancing nanoparticles to explore quantum limitations” »

The key revelation from this study is the dual impact of the passivation process.

MIT’s research is set to make solar panels lighter, cheaper, and more efficient by addressing key challenges associated with perovskite solar panels.

A process that leverages capillary interactions between oligomers in an elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane substrate and deposited Ga enables the formation of Ga nanodroplets with nanoscale gaps in a single step. Gap-plasmon resonances excited within the nanogaps give rise to structural colours that can be tuned by changing the oligomer content in the substrate or by mechanical stretching.

Nanoparticles (NPs) administered in the human body will undergo rapid surface modification upon contact with biological fluids driven by their interfacial interaction with a diverse range of biomolecules. Such spontaneous self-assembly and adsorption of proteins and other biomolecules onto the NP surface constitute what is commonly known as the protein or biomolecule corona. This surface biotransformation of the NPs modulates their biological interactions and impact on physiological systems and can influence their overall pharmacological profile. Here, we comment on how the initially considered ‘nuisance’ of the in vivo corona formation can now be considered a nanoparticle engineering tool for biomedical use, such as in endogenous tissue targeting, personalized biomarker discovery and immunomodulation.

The question of where the boundary between classical and quantum physics lies is one of the longest-standing pursuits of modern scientific research, and in new research published today, scientists demonstrate a novel platform that could help us find an answer.

The laws of quantum physics govern the behavior of particles at miniscule scales, leading to phenomena such as quantum entanglement, where the properties of entangled particles become inextricably linked in ways that cannot be explained by classical physics.

Research in quantum physics helps us to fill gaps in our knowledge of physics and can give us a more complete picture of reality, but the tiny scales at which quantum systems operate can make them difficult to observe and study.

In a new study, scientists have been able to leverage a machine learning algorithm to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing cancer researchers — predicting when cancer will resist chemotherapy.

But in what could be a game-changer, scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine revealed today in a study that a high-tech machine learning tool might just figure out when cancer is going to give the cold shoulder to chemotherapy.

Teaming up against cancer

Continue reading “AI could find out when cancer cells will resist chemotherapy” »

Perovskites, a broad class of compounds with a particular kind of crystal structure, have long been seen as a promising alternative or supplement to today’s silicon or cadmium telluride solar panels. They could be far more lightweight and inexpensive, and could be coated onto virtually any substrate, including paper or flexible plastic that could be rolled up for easy transport.

In their efficiency at converting sunlight to electricity, perovskites are becoming comparable to silicon, whose manufacture still requires long, complex, and energy-intensive processes. One big remaining drawback is longevity: They tend to break down in a matter of months to years, while silicon solar panels can last more than two decades. And their efficiency over large module areas still lags behind silicon.

Now, a team of researchers at MIT and several other institutions has revealed ways to optimize efficiency and better control degradation, by engineering the nanoscale structure of perovskite devices.

The miniaturization of electronic components, including transistors, has hit a plateau, presenting obstacles in the production of semiconductors. Nonetheless, a group of researchers, led by experts in materials science from the City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), has unveiled a novel approach for creating highly versatile and high-performing electronics using transistors made of mixed-dimensional nanowires and nanoflakes. This breakthrough facilitates easier chip circuitry design and promotes the development of future electronic devices that are both flexible and energy-efficient.

In recent decades, as the continuous scaling of transistors and integrated circuits has started to reach physical and economic limits, fabricating semiconductor devices in a controllable and cost-effective manner has become challenging. Further scaling of transistor size increases current leakage and thus power dissipation. Complex wiring networks also have an adverse impact on power consumption.

Multivalued logic (MVL) has emerged as a promising technology for overcoming increasing power consumption. It transcends the limitations of conventional binary logic systems by greatly reducing the number of transistor components and their interconnections, enabling higher information density and lower power dissipation. Significant efforts have been devoted to constructing various multivalued logic devices, including anti-ambipolar transistors (AAT).

Vanderbilt researchers have developed a new nanoparticle that can more get drugs inside cells to boost the immune system and fight diseases such as cancer.

The research is led by John Wilson, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and biomedical engineering, as well as a corresponding author on the paper about the research that was recently published in the journal Nanoscale.

Wilson, who is Principal Investigator of the Immunoengineering Lab at Vanderbilt and a Chancellor Faculty Fellow, and his team created a polymeric nanoparticle that can penetrate cell membranes and get drugs into the cytosol—or liquid—inside cells.