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Researchers Shinjiro Takano, Yuya Hamasaki, and Tatsuya Tsukuda of the University of Tokyo have successfully visualized the geometric structure of growing gold nanoclusters in their earliest stages. During this process, they also successfully “grew” a novel structure of elongated nanoclusters, which they named “gold quantum needles.” Thanks to their responsiveness to light in the near-infrared…

Scientists transform plastic waste into efficient CO2 capture materials From waste to valuable resource: Chemists at the University of Copenhagen have developed a method to convert plastic waste into a climate solution for efficient and sustainable CO2 capture. This is killing two birds with one stone as they address two of the world’s biggest challenges:…

Two MRI scans, showing the person on left with more visceral fat (in red) and subcutaeous fat (in blue). Credit: AMRA Medical Excessive amounts of visceral fat — the hidden fat surrounding organs — is linked with faster aging of the heart, a new study has found. Aging is the biggest risk factor for heart…

The cause of death for two baby pterosaurs has been revealed by University of Leicester paleontologists in a post-mortem 150 million years in the making. Detailed in a new study in the journal Current Biology, their findings show how these flying reptiles were tragically struck down by powerful storms that also created the ideal conditions…

Owning a smartphone before age 13 is associated with poorer mind health and wellbeing in early adulthood, according to a global study of more than 100,000 young people. Published recently in the peer-reviewed Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, the study found that 18- to 24-year-olds who had received their first smartphone at age 12…

An international team led by researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics, has uncovered microbial DNA preserved in woolly and steppe mammoth remains dating back more than one million years. The analyses reveal some of the world’s oldest microbial DNA ever recovered, as well as the identification of bacteria that possibly caused disease in mammoths. The…

Seagrass has the potential to be one of the world’s most effective sponges at soaking up and storing carbon, but we don’t yet know how nutrient pollution affects its ability to sequester carbon. In a pair of studies, U-M researchers evaluated the impact of nitrogen and phosphorus on seagrass, short, turf-like grasses that live in…

How can data be processed at lightning speed, or electricity conducted without loss? To achieve this, scientists and industry alike are turning to quantum materials, governed by the laws of the infinitesimal. Designing such materials requires a detailed understanding of atomic phenomena, much of which remains unexplored. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE),…

A research team led by Nanjing University has introduced a transparent, colorless, and unidirectional solar concentrator that can be directly coated onto standard window glass. Utilizing cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) multilayers with submicron lateral periodicities, this diffractive-type solar concentrator (CUSC) selectively guides sunlight toward the edge of the window where photovoltaic cells are installed. The…