ECE GYAN

Warming waters in the western tropical Pacific Ocean have significantly increased thunderstorms and rainfall, which may affect the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and global sea-level rise, according to a Rutgers University-New Brunswick study. Since the mid-1990s, West Antarctica -- a massive ice sheet that sits on land -- has been melting and contributing to global sea-level rise. That melting has accelerated this century. Wind and weather patterns play a crucial role in governing the melting: Winds push warm ocean water toward the ice sheet and melt it from below, at the same time as winds bring warm air over the ice sheet surface and melt it from above. The study, in the journal  Geophysical Research Letters , found that the South Pacific Convergence Zone, a region of the western tropical Pacific, is a major driver of weather variability across West Antarctica. "With so much at stake -- in coastal communities around the globe, including in New Jersey -- it i...

Fossils of a giant new species from the long-extinct group of sea creatures called trilobites have been found on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. The finding is adding important insights to our knowledge of the Cambrian 'explosion', the greatest diversification event in the history of life on Earth, when almost all animal groups suddenly appeared over half-a-billion years ago. Trilobites, which had hard, calcified, armour-like skeletons over their bodies, are related to modern crustaceans and insects. They are one of the most successful fossil animal groups, surviving for about 270 million years (521 to 252 million years ago). Because of their abundance in the fossil record, they are considered a model group for understanding this evolutionary period. "We decided to name this new species of trilobite  Redlichia rex (similar to  Tyrannosaurus rex ) because of its giant size, as well as its formidable legs with spines used for crushing and shredding food -- which m...

A new method of discovering materials using data analytics and electron microscopy has found a new class of extremely hard alloys. Such materials could potentially withstand severe impact from projectiles, thereby providing better protection of soldiers in combat. Researchers from Lehigh University describe the method and findings in an article, "Materials Informatics For the Screening of Multi-Principal Elements and High-Entropy Alloys," that appears today in  Nature Communications . "We used materials informatics -- the application of the methods of data science to materials problems -- to predict a class of materials that have superior mechanical properties," said primary author Jeffrey M. Rickman, professor of materials science and engineering and physics and Class of '61 Professor at Lehigh University. Researchers also used experimental tools, such as electron microscopy, to gain insight into the physical mechanisms that led to the observed behavior ...

The carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) produced when fossil fuels are burned is normally released into the atmosphere. Researchers working on synthetic fuels -- also known as carbon-neutral fuels -- are exploring ways to capture and recycle that CO 2 . At EPFL, this research is spearheaded by a team led by Professor Xile Hu at the Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Catalysis (LSCI). The chemists have recently made a landmark discovery, successfully developing a high-efficiency catalyst that converts dissolved CO 2  into carbon monoxide (CO) -- an essential ingredient of all synthetic fuels, as well as plastics and other materials. The researchers published their findings in  Science  (June 14). Replacing gold with iron The new process is just as efficient as previous technologies, but with one major benefit. "To date, most catalysts have used atoms of precious metals such as gold," explains Professor Hu. "But we've used iron atoms instead. At extremely low currents, ...

As mysterious as the Italian scientist for which it is named, the Majorana particle is one of the most compelling quests in physics. Its fame stems from its strange properties -- it is the only particle that is its own antiparticle -- and from its potential to be harnessed for future quantum computing. In recent years, a handful of groups including a team at Princeton have reported finding the Majorana in various materials, but the challenge is how to manipulate it for quantum computation. In a new study published this week, the Princeton team reports a way to control Majorana quasiparticles in a setting that also makes them more robust. The setting -- which combines a superconductor and an exotic material called a topological insulator -- makes Majoranas especially resilient against destruction by heat or vibrations from the outside environment. What is more, the team demonstrated a way to turn on or off the Majorana using small magnets integrated into the device. The report ...

For 10 years, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has scanned the sky for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the universe's most luminous explosions. A new catalog of the highest-energy blasts provides scientists with fresh insights into how they work. Green dots show the locations of 186 gamma-ray bursts observed by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on NASA's Fermi satellite during its first decade. Some noteworthy bursts are highlighted and labeled. Background: Constructed from nine years of LAT data, this map shows how the gamma-ray sky appears at energies above 10 billion electron volts. The plane of our Milky Way galaxy runs along the middle of the plot. Brighter colors indicate brighter gamma-ray sources. "Each burst is in some way unique," said Magnus Axelsson, an astrophysicist at Stockholm University in Sweden. "It's only when we can study large samples, as in this catalog, that we begin to understand the common features of GRBs. These in turn giv...

The timing of a hurricane is one of the primary factors influencing its impact on the spread of mosquito-borne infectious diseases such as West Nile Virus, dengue, chikungunya and Zika, according to a study led by Georgia State University. Hurricane image Researchers from Georgia State and Arizona State University developed a mathematical model to study the impact of heavy rainfall events (HREs) such as hurricanes on the transmission of vector-borne infectious diseases in temperate areas of the world, including the southern coastal U.S. In the aftermath of this type of extreme weather event, the mosquito population often booms in the presence of stagnant water. At the same time, the breakdown of public and private health infrastructure can put people at increased risk of infection. The study, which was published in  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B , found that the risk of a disease outbreak is highest if the HRE occurs early in the transmission season, or...