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Category: mobile phones

Scientists catch classical space-time crystals moving like Majorana quasiparticles

A research team from Hiroshima University, the University of Colorado, and other collaborators have demonstrated that space-time crystals—exotic structures that, under external drive, loop endlessly through both space and time—can be created using everyday liquid-crystal materials.

For the past decade, physicists have been fascinated by time crystals. Unlike normal crystals (such as salt or diamonds), which have repeating molecular patterns in space, time crystals have patterns that repeat at regular intervals in time. Previously, scientists believed these bizarre structures could exist only in highly complex, fragile quantum systems at near-absolute-zero temperatures, such as trapped ions or quantum simulators. However, in a collaborative study published in Nature Communications, researchers successfully created them in a classical, room-temperature liquid-crystal system.

To achieve this, the team took a liquid-crystal material—similar to the fluid used in smartphones and television screens—and doped it with ionic substances. They then applied a rhythmic, repeating electrical signal to the fluid. Using advanced computer models and optical microscopes, the researchers observed a surprising phenomenon known as period-doubling. Even though the electrical drive pumped energy into the fluid at a set internal rhythm, the liquid crystals spontaneously locked into a pattern that repeated only every two cycles of the electricity.

Electric ‘nose’ can smell when your food’s gone bad

Most of us have used the sniff test to decide whether a slightly expired bottle of milk or a week-old box of takeout is still good to eat. But while the human nose can be quite astute, it doesn’t always catch everything. Each year, millions of people in the U.S. are sickened by food-borne pathogens that thrive in undercooked or spoiled food.

Luckily for our collective stomachs, a new “electronic nose” developed at UC Berkeley can detect the scents associated with spoiled food much more accurately than the human nose. It can also sniff out the presence of common food allergens, like walnuts and peanuts, which can be deadly for those with sensitivities. The nose is described in a new study published in the journal Science Advances.

“I think ‘smart’ fridges—which come with sensors that you can control on your phone—would be a great application for this kind of technology,” said study lead author Carla Bassil, a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering and computer sciences at Berkeley and a member of the Javey Research Group. “How great would it be if your fridge could tell you, ‘Hey, your broccoli’s going to go bad soon, so you should probably eat that,’ Or, ” Your chicken is on its last day’?”

New Rokarolla Android malware targets 217 banking, crypto apps

A new Android banking trojan named Rokarolla is targeting 217 banking and cryptocurrency applications using an extensive set of 137 commands.

The malware is distributed via malicious websites purporting to provide the Google Chrome or TikTok app, and can take complete administrative control of a compromised device.

Its capabilities include stealing lock screen credentials, contact lists, and SMS data, as well as using keyloggers to continuously record user input.

Organic molecule with ultranarrow emission spectrum could lead to better LEDs

Over the past several decades, light sources have gradually transitioned to light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, and inorganic LEDs are now used across a wide range of applications. In parallel, organic LEDs, or OLEDs, have become widely used in display technologies.

OLEDs in particular offer significant advantages in devices such as smartphones, including higher resolution and lower power consumption. All LEDs operate based on spontaneous emission, which is inherently broadband, and OLEDs in particular produce broad emission spectra.

Narrowing this spontaneous emission toward a monochromatic limit would greatly increase its utility, a goal that has long been a central pursuit in photonics. For example, a narrower emission would achieve more highly saturated colors in LED-based displays.

Semiconductors enter ‘multi-tasking’ era: New device cuts required components by 75% and quadruples processing speed

Less than two decades after smartphones fit into the palm of our hands, artificial intelligence is now running on devices worn on our wrists. The challenge is that while devices continue to shrink, the amount of data they must process and the number of functions they must perform are growing exponentially. A research team at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) has found a promising way to address this contradiction.

A team led by Professor Byoung Hun Lee of the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Semiconductor Engineering at POSTECH, together with Dr. Jae Hyeon Jun of the Department of Electrical Engineering, has developed a transistor technology that enables a single semiconductor device to perform multiple circuit functions simultaneously. The new approach significantly simplifies circuit design and increases data processing speed fourfold compared with conventional methods. The findings were published in Advanced Functional Materials.

One of the key challenges in the semiconductor industry is integrating more functions into smaller chips. As the number of functions increases, so do the number of circuits and transistors required. However, when adding new functions to previously fabricated semiconductor chips, back-end-of-line processing must be conducted at temperatures below 400 C to protect the existing chip structure.

Microsoft claims new quantum chip 1,000 times better than before

At the heart of quantum computing are qubits, which offer the promise of answering questions that defeat today’s machines, but are notoriously delicate and unstable.

Microsoft says the qubits on Majorana 2, its new chip, survive for an average of 20 seconds, rather than the milliseconds of Majorana 1.

That means the new chip is 1,000 times more reliable — an improvement in performance the tech giant compares to the difference between a phone that needs charging every day to one which needs charging every few years.

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