The future of LED displays?

Small and efficient micro-LEDs are a promising technology for the next generation of displays. A new red light micro-LED developed at KAUST promises to boost the future of full-colour displays based on just a single semiconductor.

Details of their device can be found in Optics Letters: https://www.osapublishing.org/ol/fulltext.cfm?uri=ol-46-8-1912&id=450025

#sciencenews #physics #light #optics

Improving optical fiberss.

Distortions in the signals passed through optical fibers are a massive challenge for modern communications infrastructure. University of Rochester researchers have devised a novel technique where pre-shaping the wave front and polarization of the optical signal reduces distortions during transmission.

The results can be viewed in Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22071-w

#sciencenews #optics #physics #smartmaterials

Why are women under-represented in science?

Women are in the minority in scientific disciplines, but it shouldn’t be that way. What are the barriers that prevent women from gaining equal representation? What solutions should be implemented? How do the challenges vary around the world?

STEMM Global gathered a diverse international panel of Women in Science at the SNAIA 2020 conference to discuss and debate the issues they’ve seen in their careers so far. Joining Anna and Kate from STEMM Global are:
Monica Craciun (University of Exeter)
Yue Wang (University College London)
Silvia Giordani (Dublin City University)
Olga Smolyanskaya (ITMO University)
Madhu Bhaskaran (RMIT University)
Sophie Mancha (University of Wisconsin)

Subscribe STEMM Global Audio Learning Podcast and join the STEMM Global Scientific Community

#podcast #womeninstemm #mothersinstemm #equality

Enhanced Raman scattering.

Devices at the single nanometre scale require characterisation at the atomic level. A team at the Japanese Institute for Molecular Science and the Fritz-Haber Institute has demonstrated a huge enhancement of Raman scattering at the atomic point contact of a plasmonic silver tip.

The results are available in ACS Nano Letters: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c00998

#sciencenews #spectroscopy

AI-powered‌ ‌microscopes.‌ ‌

Light‌ ‌field‌ ‌microscopy‌ ‌allows‌ ‌the‌ ‌neuronal‌ ‌signals‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌brain‌ ‌to‌ ‌be‌ ‌imaged‌ ‌in‌ ‌real‌ ‌time,‌ ‌but‌ ‌the‌ ‌images‌ ‌are‌ ‌often‌ ‌lacking‌ ‌quality‌ ‌and‌ ‌take‌ ‌a‌ ‌long‌ ‌time‌ ‌to‌ ‌process‌ ‌for‌ ‌visualisation.‌ ‌European‌ ‌Molecular‌ ‌Biology‌ ‌Laboratory‌ ‌scientists‌ ‌are‌ ‌using‌ ‌artificial‌ ‌intelligence‌ ‌to‌ ‌boost‌ ‌the‌ ‌image‌ ‌processing‌ ‌speeds‌ ‌from‌ ‌days‌ ‌to‌ ‌seconds.‌ ‌

Learn‌ ‌about‌ ‌their‌ ‌technique‌ ‌in‌ ‌Nature‌ ‌Methods:‌ ‌
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-021-01136-0‌

#sciencenews #AI #science #microscopy

Liquid light.

Researchers at St. Petersburg State University have experimentally observed the formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate in molybdenum diselenide. The condensate contains thousands of exciton polaritons, or ‘liquid light’ quanta, which can be used to carry information in quantum computing applications.

The work has recently been published in Nature Materials: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-021-01000-8

#sciencenews #physics #light #Quantum

Writing with graphene.

A Rice University laboratory can fabricate high resolution conductive patterns at the micron-scale using a laser-induced graphene synthesis process. The graphene patterns can be formed on surfaces including wood, paper, and even food.

Their work has been published in ACS Nano: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.1c01843

#sciencenews #graphene #physics

STEMM Global & Engineering Seminars Series (University of Exeter)

Recent advances in microrobotics have demonstrated remarkable locomotive capabilities such as hovering flights, impulsive jumps, and fast running in insect-scale robots. However, most microrobots that are powered by power-dense rigid actuators have not achieved insect-like collision resilience. Meanwhile, the agility of most soft-actuated microrobots remains limited compared to that of rigid-actuated robots.

In this talk, Prof Kevin Chen will present their recent effort in developing a new class of microrobots – ones that are powered by high bandwidth soft actuators and equipped with rigid appendages for effective interactions with environments. Their work demonstrates for the first time that soft aerial robots can achieve agile and robust flight capabilities absent in rigid-powered micro-aerial vehicles, thus showing the potential of a new class of hybrid soft-rigid robots.

Prof. Chen is currently the D. Reid Weedon, Jr. ’41 Career Development Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- He received his PhD in Engineering Sciences at Harvard University in 2017 and his bachelor’s degree in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University in 2012.
- His work focuses on developing multifunctional and multimodal insect-scale robots.
- His research interests also include developing high bandwidth and robust soft actuators for microrobot manipulation and locomotion.
- He is a recipient of the best student paper award at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2015 and a Harvard Teaching Excellence Award.
- He was named to the “Forbes 30 Under 30” list in the category of Science.

Join us right now on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc1wzprifPQ

Quantum bits in 2D materials.

Researchers at the University of Stuttgart have identified quantum bits in 2D materials. The bits could be robustly generated, read, and controlled opening a route to their exploitation in quantum computers.

The results are presented in Nature Materials: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-021-00979-4

#sciencenews #quantum #2DMaterials #Quantum

Understanding biology with light.

A team at Aston University has shown how light can be used to assess structures and changes in biological tissues. By looking at changes in the polarisation of light passing through the tissues, maps can be produced that correlate with the tissue structures.

The results can be viewed in Scientific Reports: www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-83017-2
#sciencenews #light

Better batteries.

Solid-state batteries pack a lot of energy into a small space, but their electrodes are not good at keeping in touch with their electrolytes. University of Illinois researchers demonstrate how controlling the atomic alignment of solid materials can improve the electrolyte interface and stability in solid-state batteries.

The results are published in the journal Nature Materials: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-021-01016-0

#sciencenews #energy

The oldest spiral galaxy.

Data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) has shown a galaxy with a spiral morphology formed just 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang - the most ancient of its kind in the known universe.

The report is published in Science: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/05/19/science.abe9680
#sciencenews #astronomy

Low power microchips.

The progress of technology demands ever-faster microchips to be developed. To maintain or improve battery lifetimes of faster devices, the microchips must also be less power-hungry. Brigham Young University researchers have built the world’s most power efficient high speed analogue-to-digital converter.

Details of their device can be found in IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9360313
#sciencenews #energy

Quantifying oceanic plastic pollution.

Microplastics in the ocean are one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time, but they are hard to both measure and quantify. An intercontinental team has developed a novel method using filter-feeding marine species to extract the tiny particles from seawater for further analysis.

Their method is published in Microplastics and Nanoplastics: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s43591-021-00005-z
#sciencenews #environment

A new spintronic phenomenon.

Researchers at Tohoku University have discovered a new spintronic phenomenon in the form of a persistent rotation of the chiral spin structure. They studied the properties of an antiferromagnetic thin film and found that the chiral spin structure shows rotation even with no applied magnetic field.

The phenomenon is described in Nature Materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-01005-3
#sciencenews #physics

Rotating terahertz polarisation.

Rice University physicists have demonstrated the ability of ultrathin, highly-aligned carbon nanotube films to efficiently rotate the polarisation vector of terahertz waves. They suggest that the thin films are ideal for making compact wave plates with reduced dimensions.

Learn about their work in Optica: https://www.osapublishing.org/optica/viewmedia.cfm?uri=optica-8-5-760&html=true
#sciencenews #THz

Clearing the air.

Fossil fuel reliance has pushed air pollution to record levels. Nitrogen oxides are particularly harmful pollutants for human health. Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology researchers hope to reduce pollution by using novel catalysts to selectively convert nitrogen oxides to hydroxylamine which can be further applied as an alternate energy source.

The results can be viewed in Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22147-7
#sciencenews #environment #healthcare

Biosensing breast cancer.

Researchers at Universitat Politècnica de Valencia have developed a new biosensor device that can help detect breast cancer at its earliest stages. They use a liquid biopsy approach to rapidly, cheaply, and accurately analyse breast cancer biomarkers in blood samples.

Their work has been published in ACS Sensors: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssensors.0c02222
#sciencenews #health #cancer

Today is the International Women in Engineering Day.

Before engineering was recognized as a formal profession, women with engineering skills often sought recognition as inventors. During the Islamic Golden Period from the 8th century until the 15th century there were many Muslim women who were inventors and engineers, such as the 10th-century astrolabe maker Al-ʻIjliyyah.

In the 18th and 19th century, there were few formal training opportunities for women to train as engineers and frequently women were introduced to engineering through family companies or their spouses. Some women did have more formal educations in the late 19th century and early 20th century, normally in mathematics or science subjects.

In the early years of the 20th century, greater numbers of women began to be admitted to engineering programs, but they were generally looked upon as anomalies by the men in their departments.

Women's roles in the workforce, specifically in engineering fields, changed greatly during the Post–World War II period. The War created a serious shortage of engineering talent, as men were drafted into the armed forces.

As women started to marry at later ages, have fewer children, divorce more frequently and stopped depending on male breadwinners for economic support, they started to become even more active in the engineering labor force despite the fact that their salaries were less than men's.

During this time, there were few public attacks on female engineers. Chiefly, these attacks were kept quiet inside institutions due to the fact that women did not pressure aggressively to shift the gender gap between men and women in the engineering field. Another reason why these “attacks” were kept private is due to how men believed that it was impossible for engineering to stop being a male-dominated field.

Gender stereotypes, low rates of female engineering students, and engineering culture are factors that contribute to the current situation where men are dominated in the engineering field.

Today is the International Women in Engineering Day.

We would like to thank all the brilliant female Engineers for being our mothers, sisters, friends, to work with us and be there for us in need!

We wish all the ladies in Engineering to enjoy studying and working the field they have chosen, to achieve tremendous success in education and career, and lots of support from their friends and colleagues.

Happy International Women in Engineering Day!

Deep learning in disease diagnosis.

Heart disease and cancer are two of the leading causes of death in the world. A team of engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a deep learning algorithm that enables simultaneous dual screening for both cardiovascular disease and lung cancer from a single CT scan.

Details of their method have been published in Nature Communication: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23235-4