Engineers Develop Bone-Like Metal Foam That Can Be ‘Healed’ At Room Temperature

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: Now, for the first time, Penn Engineers have developed a way to repair metal at room temperature. They call their technique “healing” because of its similarity to the way bones heal, recruiting raw material and energy from an external source. The study was conducted by James Pikul, assistant professor in the Department of…

Quantum criticality could be a boon for qubit designers

Physicists studying the strange behavior of metal alloys called heavy fermions have made a surprising discovery that could be useful in safeguarding the information stored in quantum bits, or qubits, the basic units of encoded information in quantum computers. …

New theory draws connections between Planckian metals and black holes

Two researchers at Harvard University, Aavishkar A. Patel and Subir Sachdev, have recently presented a new theory of a Planckian metal that could shed light on previously unknown aspects of quantum physics. Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, introduces a lattice model of fermions that describes a Planckian metal at low temperatures (Tà0). …

Researchers observe spontaneous occurrence of skyrmions in atomically thin cobalt films

Since their experimental discovery, magnetic skyrmions—tiny magnetic knots—have moved into the focus of research. Scientists from Hamburg and Kiel have now been able to show that individual magnetic skyrmions with a diameter of only a few nanometers can be stabilized in magnetic metal films even without an external magnetic field. They report on their discovery in the journal Nature Communications. …

The US Army Wants To Microwave Drones in Midair

“The U.S. Army, as part of a broad counter-unmanned aerial systems strategy, is pushing forward with the U.S. Air Force to develop a high-powered microwave weapon,” reports Popular Mechanics: Microwave radiation can disrupt or destroy electronic equipment exposed to them, “cooking” internal circuits much in the same way a fork or other metal objects placed in a microwave oven will cause…

Meet WASP-121b, a hot ‘heavy metal’ exoplanet

For the first time, heavy metal gases like magnesium and iron have been detected floating away from an exoplanet, a planet orbiting a distant sun. Why? Because the planet – which is about as big as Jupiter – is orbiting perilously close to its star. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/wasp-121b-exoplanet-football-shaped-heavy-metal…

Giving Seeds What They Need to Survive in Stasis

Being able to provide food for yourself is a good idea for a variety of reasons. In case of disaster, shortage, or something less catastrophic like job loss, planning out how you’d feed your family long term is a smart plan. In my opinion, knowing how to grow food for just one season just doesn’t…Continue Reading
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Researchers propose new topological phase of atomic matter hosting ‘photonic skyrmions’

The field of topology or the study of how surfaces behave in different dimensions has profoundly influenced the current understanding of matter. The prime example is the topological insulator, which conducts electricity only on the surface while being completely insulating inside the bulk. Topological insulators behave like a metal, i.e., silver on the surface, but inside, it would behave like glass….