In 1934, physicist Eugene Wigner made a theoretical prediction based on quantum mechanics that for 87 years went unseen. The theory suggested how a metal that normally conducts electricity could turn into a nonconducting insulator when the density of electrons is reduced. Wigner theorized that when electrons in metals are brought to ultra-cold temperatures, these electrons would be frozen in their tracks and form a rigid, non-electricity conducting structure – a crystal – instead...
Researchers have introduced an autonomous excavator system (AES) that can perform material loading tasks for long duration without human intervention while offering performance almost equivalent to that of an experienced human operator, Tech Xplore reports. AES is among the world's first uncrewed excavation systems to have been deployed in real-world scenarios and continuously operating for over 24 hours, bringing about industry-leading benefits in terms of enhanced safety and productivity. The researchers described their methodology...
The death of dinosaurs is widely accepted to have been caused by the impact of an asteroid on the Earth about 66 million years ago. However, palaeontologists have long debated whether they were in decline before the mass extinction. In a study published today in the journal Nature Communications, an international team of scientists suggests that they were in decline for as much as ten million years before the death blow, reports Phys.org. Lead author Fabien...
Research using machine learning on images of everyday items is improving the accuracy and speed of detecting respiratory diseases, reports Tech Xplore. Researchers from Edith Cowan University in Australia trained algorithms on a database of more than 1 million commonplace images and transferred this knowledge to identify characteristics of medical conditions that can be diagnosed with an X-ray. Results of this technique, known as transfer learning, achieved a 99.24 percent success rate when detecting COVID-19...
Researchers have found a low-cost way for backscatter radios to support high-throughput communication and 5G-speed Gb/sec data transfer using a single transistor. Employing a unique modulation approach in the 5G 24/28 Gigahertz (GHz) bandwidth, the researchers have shown that these passive devices can transfer data safely and robustly from virtually any environment. The findings were reported earlier this month in the journal Nature Electronics. "Typically, it was simplicity against cost. You could either do very...
Quick, accurate and easy-to-use, CRISPR-Cas9 has made genomic editing more efficient — and in so doing has erased many ethical barriers to editing the genes of heredity, reports Medical Xpress. "The ethical debate about what is now called human gene editing has gone on for more than 50 years," writes Dr. John H. Evans, co-director of the Institute for Practical Ethics at the University of California, San Diego. "For nearly that entire time, there...
The highly anticipated U.S. Pentagon report on UFOs released Friday reveals that all the bizarre sightings over the years fall into several categories, require more study, and remain largely unexplained and unidentified, reports CNET. "The limited amount of high-quality reporting on unidentified aerial phenomena hampers our ability to draw firm conclusions about the nature or intent of UAP," reads the summary of a report posted online by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. "... UAP clearly pose a...
Researchers have created an artificial tactile sensing system that mimics the way in which humans recognize objects in their surroundings via their sense of touch, reports Tech Xplore. This system uses sensors to capture data associated with the tactile properties of objects. Biological sensory systems convert tactile stimuli into action potentials through a process known as somatosensory transduction. Subsequently, they transmit these signals to the brain via afferent nerves. To emulate the human tactile system, the...
Cosmic dawn, when stars formed for the first time, occurred 250 million to 350 million years after the beginning of the universe, according to a new study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge. The U.K.-led team examined six of the most distant known galaxies, whose light has taken most of the universe's lifetime to reach us, reports Phys.org. They found that the distance of these galaxies away from...
Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a technology that allows them to harvest water around the clock, with no energy input, even under the blazing sun, reports Tech Xplore. The new device consists of a coated glass pane, which reflects solar radiation and radiates away its own heat through the atmosphere to outer space. It thus cools itself to as much as 15 degrees Celsius below the ambient temperature. On the underside of this pane, water...
