2016

Dynamic Duo: USU Biochemists Peg Tandem Halves of Life-Critical Enzyme

Utah State University biochemists and colleagues report a tenacious enzyme that uses a similar principle to break nitrogen’s unrelenting bonds and convert the life-critical gas into ammonia to fuel the world’s food supply.

UChicago Physicists First to See Behavior of Quantum Materials in Curved Space

Interplay of light and matter is of potential technological interest.

UCI Physicists Confirm Possible Discovery of Fifth Force of Nature

A new theory proposed by theoretical physicists at the University of California, Irvine indicates the possible discovery of a previously unknown subatomic particle as evidence of a fifth fundamental force of nature and a key to understanding dark matter in the universe.

Perovskite, Potential Solar Cell Material Unsuited for Real-World Use

Solar cells made from perovskites have sparked great excitement in recent years because the crystalline compounds boast low production costs and high energy efficiencies. Now UC Davis scientists have found that some promising compounds — the hybrid lead halide perovskites — are chemically unstable and may be unsuited for solar cells.

Probing Giant Planets’ Dark Hydrogen

Carnegie’s Alexander Goncharov and University of Edinburgh’s Stewart McWilliams measures the conditions under which hydrogen undergoes this transition in the lab and finds an intermediate state between gas and metal, which they’re calling “dark hydrogen.”

Penn Engineers Develop First Transistors Made Entirely of Nanocrystal ‘Inks’

A new study by University of Pennsylvania engineers opens the door for electrical components to be built into flexible or wearable applications, as the lower-temperature process is compatible with a wide array of materials and can be applied to larger areas.

A comeback for incandescent bulbs?

Incandescent bulbs have always suffered from one major problem: More than 95 percent of the energy that goes into them is wasted, most of it as heat. Now, researchers at MIT and Purdue University may have found a way to make them just as efficient as some LED bulbs.

Decoding Cement’s Shape Promises Greener Concrete

Scientists at Rice University have decoded the kinetic properties of cement and developed a way to “program” the microscopic, semicrystalline particles within.

Scientists Detect a Quantum Crystal of Electrons and “Watch” it Melt

For the first time, MIT physicists have observed a highly ordered crystal of electrons in a semiconducting material and documented its melting, which confirm a fundamental phase transition in quantum mechanics that was theoretically proposed more than 80 years ago but not experimentally documented until now.