Tech

Scientists have proved a fundamental relationship between energy and time that sets a "quantum speed limit" on processes ranging from quantum computing and tunneling to optical switching.

The energy-time uncertainty relationship is the flip side of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which sets limits on how precisely you can measure position and speed, and has been the bedrock of quantum mechanics for nearly 100 years. It has become so well-known that it has infected literature and popular culture with the idea that the act of observing affects what we observe.

The key to understanding the geologic history of the Solar System is knowing the ages of planetary rocks. Researchers have developed an instrument that is not only capable of dating rocks, but also is composed entirely of technology that can be miniaturized for spaceflight.

As detailed in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, they validated the instrument—a laser ablation resonance ionization mass spectrometer—by dating a rock from Mars: the meteorite Zagami, which formed about 180 million years ago, and fell to Earth in 1962.

After reviewing almost 200 publications, researchers have concluded that previously conducted controlled studies investigating whether differences exist between organic and conventionally produced milk have been largely ambiguous, due principally to the complexity of the research question and the number of factors and variables that can influence milk composition.

Living systems have the ability to produce collective molecular motions that have an effect at the macroscale, such as a muscle that contracts via the concerted action of protein motors. In order to reproduce this phenomenon, a team at CNRS's Institut Charles Sadron led by Nicolas Giuseppone, professor at the Université de Strasbourg, has made a polymer gel that is able to contract through the action of artificial molecular motors. When activated by light, these nanoscale motors twist the polymer chains in the gel, which as a result contracts by several centimeters.

With the goal of making it easier for surgeons to detect malignant tissue during surgery and hopefully reduce the rate of cancer recurrence, scientists have invented a new imaging system that causes tumors to "light up" when a hand-held laser is directed at them.

Positional cloning is a genetic mapping technique used to pinpoint the location of specific traits of interest, such as disease-causing genes or mutations, within the genome. Very simply, this map-based technique involves crossing mutant individuals with wild-type individuals and examining the offspring in order to localize a candidate region in the genome for the mutation. By identifying genetic markers that are linked to the trait, progressively more precise areas on a chromosome are defined until the gene is identified.

Scientists have found the balance necessary to aid healing with high-tech hydrogel.

Hydrogels are used as a scaffold upon which cells can build tissue. The new hydrogel overcomes a host of issues that have kept them from reaching their potential to treat injuries and forming new vasculature to treat heart attack, stroke and ischemic tissue diseases.

Researchers are on the verge of developing a new class of anesthetics, something that has not happened in decades, according to a study published in Anesthesiology. It is being derived thanks to a new approach to identifying compounds may lead to the next generation of anesthetics.

Don't rely on the Academy Awards next month if you are seeking to know whether the movies deemed great today will survive the test of time.

According to a new Northwestern University study, the best predictor of a movie's significance is how often a movie is referenced by other movies. In other words, a movie's significance is decided by today's and tomorrow's film directors -- not the critics.

Public screenings have become an important part of major sports events. In the future, we will be able to enjoy them in 3D, thanks to a new invention from Austrian scientists. A sophisticated laser system sends laser beams into different directions. Therefore, different pictures are visible from different angles. The angular resolution is so fine that the left eye is presented a different picture than the right one, creating a 3D effect.

Researchers say discovery of highly sought-after 'nematic liquid crystals' can now lead to vastly improved organic solar cell performance.

Lead author Dr David Jones of the University's School of Chemistry and Bio 21 Institute, said these cells will be easier to manufacture, with the new crystals now able to work in cells that are double in thickness on the previous limit of 200 nanometers.

"We have improved the performance of this type of solar cell from around 8 per cent efficient to 9.3 per cent, finally approaching the international benchmark of 10 per cent."

Patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) are often faced with difficult medical choices, such as whether to start dialysis or undergo kidney transplantation, and many patients may not feel ready to make treatment decisions for a variety of reasons. A new tool may help health professionals assess kidney disease patients' readiness to make important life-changing treatment decisions around their dialysis care. The tool is described in a new paper.

Every odor has its own specific pattern which our noses are able to identify. The human nose can distinguish between chiral molecules and the different forms of the same molecule of carvone, for example, can smell either like spearmint or caraway.

Machines couldn't do that. Until now.

Using a combination of proteins coupled to transistors, for the first time machines are able to differentiate smells that are mirror images of each other, something that has not been possible before.

Bitcoin’s decline

By David Glance, University of Western Australia

The good, the bad and the ugly on the web. Shutterstock

By Andy Tattersall, University of Sheffield