Researchers develop method to probe phase transitions in 2-D materials
Phase transitions play an important role in materials. However, in two-dimensional materials, the most famous of which is graphene, phase transitions can be very...
Global glacier melt raises sea levels and depletes once-reliable water source
The melting of glaciers and ice caps in places as diverse as the Himalayas and Andes mountain ranges, the Svalbard island group and the...
Loss of land-based vertebrates is accelerating, study finds
In 2015, Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich coauthored a study declaring the world's sixth mass extinction was underway. Five years later, Ehrlich and colleagues at...
Class of stellar explosions found to be galactic producers of lithium
A team of researchers, led by astrophysicist Sumner Starrfield of Arizona State University, has combined theory with both observations and laboratory studies and determined...
Geometry of intricately fabricated glass makes light trap itself
Laser light traveling through ornately microfabricated glass has been shown to interact with itself to form self-sustaining wave patterns called solitons. The intricate design...
‘Black nitrogen’: Researchers discover new high-pressure material and solve a puzzle of the periodic...
In the periodic table of elements there is one golden rule for carbon, oxygen and other light elements: Under high pressures, they have similar...
Particles trapped in twisted materials and quantum fingerprints identified
A paper by the Quantum Photonics Lab at Heriot-Watt, published today in top-tier Nature Materials, identifies how to trap interlayer excitons (IXs) and their quantum...
Long childhoods and extended parenting help young crows grow smarter
Humans are unusual, even among primates, in the length of our "extended childhood." Scientists think that this period of childhood and adolescence, which gives...
Researchers create active material out of microscopic spinning particles
At the atomic level, a glass of water and a spoonful of crystalline salt couldn't look more different. Water atoms move around freely and...
The most common organism in the oceans harbors a virus in its DNA
The most common organism in the oceans, and possibly on the entire planet, is a family of single-celled marine bacteria called SAR11. These drifting...
Making matter out of light: high-power laser simulations point the way
A few minutes into the life of the universe, colliding emissions of light energy created the first particles of matter and antimatter. We are...
