ECE GYAN

Scientists at the University of Leeds have created a new form of gold which is just two atoms thick -- the thinnest unsupported gold ever created. Gold, periodic table symbol The researchers measured the thickness of the gold to be 0.47 nanometres -- that is one million times thinner than a human finger nail. The material is regarded as 2D because it comprises just two layers of atoms sitting on top of one another. All atoms are surface atoms -- there are no 'bulk' atoms hidden beneath the surface. The material could have wide-scale applications in the medical device and electronics industries -- and also as a catalyst to speed up chemical reactions in a range of industrial processes. Laboratory tests show that the ultra-thin gold is 10 times more efficient as a catalytic substrate than the currently used gold nanoparticles, which are 3D materials with the majority of atoms residing in the bulk rather than at the surface. Scientists believe the new material could...

Afflicting more than one billion adults worldwide, migraine is the third most prevalent illness in the world. In addition to severe headache, symptoms of migraine can include nausea, changes in mood, sensitivity to light and sound, as well as visual and auditory hallucinations. People who suffer from migraine report that weather patterns, sleep disturbances, hormonal changes, stress, medications and certain foods or beverages can bring on migraine attacks. However, few studies have evaluated the immediate effects of these suspected triggers. In a study published today in the  American Journal of Medicine , researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) evaluated the role of caffeinated beverages as a potential trigger of migraine. Led by Elizabeth Mostofsky, ScD, an investigator in BIDMC's Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit and a member of the Department of Epidemiolo...

Astronomers used the combined power of multiple astronomical observatories around the world and in space to discover a treasure-trove of previously unknown ancient massive galaxies. This is the first multiple discovery of its kind and such an abundance of this type of galaxy defies current models of the universe. These galaxies are also intimately connected with supermassive black holes and the distribution of dark matter. ALMA radio telescope antennas The Hubble Space Telescope gave us unprecedented access to the previously unseen universe, but even it is blind to some of the most fundamental pieces of the cosmic puzzle. Astronomers from the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Tokyo wanted to see some things they long suspected may be out there but which Hubble could not show them. Newer generations of astronomical observatories have finally revealed what they sought. "This is the first time that such a large population of massive galaxies was confirmed during ...

In the midst of an unprecedented Zika crisis in Brazil, there were a few flickers of hope: Some babies appeared to be normal at birth, free of devastating birth defects that affected other Brazilian children exposed to the virus in utero. But according to a study published online July 8, 2019, in  Nature Medicine  and an accompanying commentary co-written by a Children's National clinician-researcher, the reality for Zika-exposed infants is much more complicated. Study authors led by Karin Nielsen-Saines at David Geffen UCLA School of Medicine followed 216 infants in Rio de Janeiro who had been exposed to the Zika virus during pregnancy, performing neurodevelopmental testing when the babies ranged in age from 7 to 32 months. These infants' mothers had had Zika-related symptoms themselves, including rash. Although many children had normal assessments, 29% scored below average in at least one domain of neurological development, including cognitive performance, fine and gr...

The concept of implicit bias has made its way into the general consciousness, most often in the context of racial bias. More broadly, however, implicit biases can affect how people think of anything -- from their thoughts about cookies to those about white men. "All the little ways in which our everyday thinking about social stuff is unconscious or uncontrollable," wrote Calvin Lai, assistant professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, in an article in DCist. "The stuff that we don't realize is influencing us when we make decisions." Along with a broader cultural awareness of implicit bias is idea that the actions that they influence can be changed by eliminating the bias itself. Change the bias, changes in the behavior will follow. It seems logical enough. If true, reducing implicit bias could be put to practical use for anything from ending discrimination (removing a bias in favor of white males) to losing w...

Wearable human-machine interfaces -- devices that can collect and store important health information about the wearer, among other uses -- have benefited from advances in electronics, materials and mechanical designs. But current models still can be bulky and uncomfortable, and they can't always handle multiple functions at one time. Researchers reported Friday, Aug. 2, the discovery of a multifunctional ultra-thin wearable electronic device that is imperceptible to the wearer. The device allows the wearer to move naturally and is less noticeable than wearing a Band-Aid, said Cunjiang Yu, Bill D. Cook Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston and lead author for the paper, published as the cover story in  Science Advances . "Everything is very thin, just a few microns thick," said Yu, who also is a principal investigator at the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH. "You will not be able to feel it." It has the pote...

Scientists have long suspected that a quantum phenomenon might play a role in photosynthesis and other chemical reactions of nature, but don't know for sure because such a phenomenon is so difficult to identify. Purdue University researchers have demonstrated a new way to measure the phenomenon of entanglement in chemical reactions -- the ability of quantum particles to maintain a special correlation with each other over a large distance. Uncovering exactly how chemical reactions work could bring ways to mimic or recreate them in new technologies, such as for designing better solar energy systems. The study, published on Friday (Aug. 2) in  Science Advances , generalizes a popular theorem called "Bell's inequality" to identify entanglement in chemical reactions. In addition to theoretical arguments, the researchers also validated the generalized inequality through a quantum simulation. "No one has experimentally shown entanglement in chemical reactions...