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Physicists sifting through old particle accelerator data have found evidence of a highly-elusive, never-before-seen process: a so-called triangle singularity.

First envisioned by Russian physicist Lev Landau in the 1950s, a triangle singularity refers to a rare subatomic process where particles exchange identities before flying away from each other. In this scenario, two particles — called kaons — form two corners of the triangle, while the particles they swap form the third point on the triangle.

Black holes are regions of space-time with huge amounts of gravity. Scientists originally thought that nothing could escape the boundaries of these massive objects, including light.

The precise nature of black holes has been challenged ever since Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity gave rise to the possibility of their existence. Among the most famous findings was English physicist Stephen Hawking’s prediction that some particles are actually emitted at the edge of a black hole.

Physicists have also explored the workings of vacuums. In the early 1970s, as Hawking was describing how light can escape a black hole’s gravitational pull, Canadian physicist William Unruh proposed that a photodetector accelerated fast enough could “see” light in a vacuum.

Info for those who may need it.

The Editors of BMC Cancer and BMC Medicine invite of submissions to our ‘Targeted Therapy’ cross journal collection. Guest edited by Prof. Min Li (University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, USA) and Dr. Yanis Boumber (The Northwestern University, USA).

We advise to submit by 1st August 2021 if you would like your manuscript to be ready for the launch date.

Continue reading “BMC Cancer” »

A new Yale study provides important insights into breakthrough COVID-19 cases — instances where fully vaccinated individuals are infected by SARS-CoV-2 — and who is particularly vulnerable to serious illness.

In a study of hospitalized patients in the Yale New Haven Health System, researchers identified 969 individuals who tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 infection during a 14-week period between March and July 2021. Of that group, 54 were fully vaccinated.

“These cases are extremely rare, but they are becoming more frequent as variants emerge and more time passes since patients are vaccinated,” said Hyung Chun, associate professor of medicine (cardiology) at Yale and senior author of the study published Sept. 7 in Lancet Infectious Diseases.

U of M researchers have developed a novel virus-like particle vaccine against COVID-19. Having been successfully tested in animals, the novel vaccine — created as part of a study whose findings were recently published in the scientific journal PLOS Pathogens — offers a new approach in the global battle against COVID-19 and its emerging variants.

The researchers combined the advantages of the two types of traditional vaccines — virus-based vaccines and protein-based vaccines — by preparing a bacterial protein that self-assembles into a virus-like particle. By displaying a COVID-19 protein on the surface of this virus-like particle, researchers produced a novel vaccine that is well recognized by the mammalian immune system, but yet does not have any viral infectivity.

Some electronics can bend, twist and stretch in wearable displays, biomedical applications and soft robots. While these devices’ circuits have become increasingly pliable, the batteries and supercapacitors that power them are still rigid. Now, researchers in ACS’ Nano Letters report a flexible supercapacitor with electrodes made of wrinkled titanium carbide — a type of MXene nanomaterial — that maintained its ability to store and release electronic charges after repetitive stretching.

One major challenge stretchable electronics must overcome is the stiff and inflexible nature of their energy storage components, batteries and supercapacitors. Supercapacitors that use electrodes made from transitional metal carbides, carbonitrides or nitrides, called MXenes, have desirable electrical properties for portable flexible devices, such as rapid charging and discharging. And the way that 2D MXenes can form multi-layered nanosheets provides a large surface area for energy storage when they’re used in electrodes. However, previous researchers have had to incorporate polymers and other nanomaterials to keep these types of electrodes from breaking when bent, which decreases their electrical storage capacity. So, Desheng Kong and colleagues wanted to see if deforming a pristine titanium carbide MXene film into accordion-like ridges would maintain the electrode’s electrical properties while adding flexibility and stretchability to a supercapacitor.

The researchers disintegrated titanium aluminum carbide powder into flakes with hydrofluoric acid and captured the layers of pure titanium carbide nanosheets as a roughly textured film on a filter. Then they placed the film on a piece of pre-stretched acrylic elastomer that was 800% its relaxed size. When the researchers released the polymer, it shrank to its original state, and the adhered nanosheets crumpled into accordion-like wrinkles.

Those who were infected at Bukit Merah View market typically did not wear their masks properly, were unvaccinated and tended to touch produce with bare hands…at straitstimes.com.

Robotic exoskeletons have captivated us for years. They are major tropes in sci-fi movies and video games, and in real-life engineers have been working on them since the 1900s. San Francisco’s Roam Robotics has entered into this space, and Brent Rose tries his hand at stress testing their latest military leg brace.

Archival footage of GE robotic exoskeleton courtesy of miSci: Museum of Innovation & Science.

Continue reading “Stress Testing Real-Life Robot Legs” »

NASA’s long-delayed James Webb Space Telescope is close to entering service. The agency now plans to launch the telescope on December 18th, 2,021 just a few months after testing completed in late August. The hardware will reach orbit aboard an ESA-supplied Ariane 5 rocket lifting off from French Guiana. NASA still has to ship the telescope to the launchpad, although much of the rocket has already arrived.

The JWST was deemed complete in 2016 ahead of an expected 2018 launch, but faced a number of delays due to its elaborate construction. It wasn’t assembled until 2019, and factors like the COVID-19 pandemic further hindered NASA’s efforts. That’s not including earlier setbacks — development started in 1996 with an expected 2007 deployment, but the team scrapped much of its work and redesigned the equipment in 2005.

The telescope’s importance hasn’t changed. It’s considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It includes a much larger mirror along with a focus on lower-frequency observations (particularly mid-infrared) that will help it detect early galaxies that even Hubble can’t find. That priority also helps explain some of its technical challenges. The JWST’s instruments will need to stay extremely cold (−370F) to avoid interference with infrared measurements, requiring both a large sunshield and an insertion near a Sun-Earth Lagrange point.