Thursday 6 June 2019

Discovery sheds light on synthesis, processing of high-performance solar cells

Halide perovskite solar cells hold promise as the next generation of solar cell technologies, but while researchers have developed techniques for improving their material characteristics, nobody understood why these techniques worked. New research sheds light on the science behind these engineering solutions and paves the way for developing more efficient halide perovskite solar cells.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers uncover indoor pollution hazards

When most people think about air pollution, they think of summertime haze, traffic or smokestack exhaust, wintertime inversions, or wildfire smoke.

* This article was originally published here

Is sex primarily a strategy against transmissible cancer?

One of the greatest enigmas of evolutionary biology is that while sex is the dominant mode of reproduction among multicellular organisms, asexual reproduction appears much more efficient and less costly. However, in a study publishing on June 6 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, researchers suggest that sexual reproduction is favored by selection because, unlike asexual reproduction, it not only provides important evolutionary advantages in constantly changing environments, but also prevents the invasion of transmissible cancer, or "cheater" cells.

* This article was originally published here

Flying-V plane concept marks spectacular new look in air travel

Seating airline passengers in the wings? Think about it. A V-shaped plane designed to carry passengers, cargo, and fuel tanks in its wings is being seeded as a good idea for the future.

* This article was originally published here

Pioneering 3-D printed device sets new record for efficiency

A new 3-D printed thermoelectric device, which converts heat into electric power with an efficiency factor over 50% higher than the previous best for printed materials—and is cheap to produce in bulk—has been manufactured by researchers at Swansea University's SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre.

* This article was originally published here

What's fair game on the high seas?

Sustainability-driven new research could one day help tuna fisheries cast their nets more selectively, mitigating unintentional "bycatch" of undersized fish and off-limits species.

* This article was originally published here

New model predicts impact of invasive lionfish predators on coral reefs

A new model is providing insight into the impact of invasive lionfish on coral reefs in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The venomous predatory fish has invaded more than 7.3 million square kilometres in the Atlantic and Caribbean, wreaking havoc among native fish populations.

* This article was originally published here

Is 'Big Tech' too big? A look at growing antitrust scrutiny

Is Big Tech headed for a big breakup?

* This article was originally published here

I, you, or we: Pronouns provide hints to romantic attachment styles

Sometimes people wish they had greater insight into how their partner really feels. Recent work in social and personality psychology dives into the stories people tell about their romantic relationships, and finds that those prone to avoidant attachment, are less likely to use the word "we" when talking about these relationships.

* This article was originally published here

New research shakes up the sloth family tree

New studies by two research teams published today in the journals Nature Ecology and Evolution and Current Biology challenge decades of accepted scientific opinion concerning the evolutionary relationships of tree sloths and their extinct kin. The research teams used different molecular tools—the protein collagen in one case and the mitochondrial genome in the other—but they reached nearly the same results. The concurrent findings are significant because they provide molecular evidence that appears to overturn a longstanding consensus, based on the study of anatomical features, regarding how the major groups of sloths are related to one another.

* This article was originally published here

The waltz of the LHC magnets has begun

Major endeavors are underway in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) over the past few weeks, with the extraction of magnets from the accelerator tunnel. The LHC has a total of 1232 dipoles, magnets which bend the particles' trajectories, and 474 quadrupoles, which squeeze the bunches. All these magnets are superconducting, i.e. they operate at a temperature of -271°C, are 15 meters long and weigh up to 28 tons. So moving them around is no trivial matter.

* This article was originally published here

Apple iTunes to play last song

Apple on Monday announced the demise of its groundbreaking iTunes platform in favor of three more tailored apps, as it refines its offerings to be a stage for digital music, films, podcasts and more.

* This article was originally published here

Everything will connect to the internet someday, and this biobattery could help

In the future, small paper and plastic devices will be able to connect to the internet for a short duration, providing information on everything from healthcare to consumer products, before they are thrown away. Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have developed a micro biobattery that could power these disposable sensors.

* This article was originally published here

Maestro: a new attack that orchestrates malicious flows with BGP

Researchers at the University of Tennessee have recently identified the Maestro attack, a new link flooding attack (LFA) that leverages plane traffic control engineering techniques to concentrate botnet-sourced distributed denial of service (DDos) flows on transit links. In their paper, recently published on arXiv, the researchers outlined this type attack, tried to understand its scope and presented effective mitigations for network operators who wish to insulate themselves from it.

* This article was originally published here

New method for engineering metabolic pathways

Cells are incredibly adept at creating complex molecules, like therapeutics, and can do so much better than many of our best factories.

* This article was originally published here

Hacking diabetes: People break into insulin pumps as an alternative to delayed innovations

Just before the start of Memorial Day weekend, Meg Green meticulously followed online instructions for hacking an insulin pump.

* This article was originally published here

Autonomous boats can target and latch onto each other

The city of Amsterdam envisions a future where fleets of autonomous boats cruise its many canals to transport goods and people, collect trash, or self-assemble into floating stages and bridges. To further that vision, MIT researchers have given new capabilities to their fleet of robotic boats—which are being developed as part of an ongoing project—that lets them target and clasp onto each other, and keep trying if they fail.

* This article was originally published here