physics

Atoms of a tantalum disulfide (TaS2) crystal with a 2D endotaxial layer in the center. The pink cloud represents the charge density wave, a clumped pattern of electrons, surrounding the 2D layer. Credit: Hovden Laboratory Quantum materials have generated considerable interest for computing applications in the past several decades, but non-trivial quantum properties—like superconductivity or … Read more

a Photograph of the industrial-scale fabrication line of the photochromic fiber. The scale bar corresponds to 0.5 m. b Schematic illustration of the fabrication of the photochromic fiber. The inset shows a photograph of the fabricated and illuminated photochromic fiber. The scale bar corresponds to 10 cm. c Comparison of the luminescence attenuation in the … Read more

by KeAi Communications Co. Schematic diagram of CO2 photoreduction mechanism. Credit: Lei, Li et al., The challenge of regulating the electronic structures of metal single-atoms (M-SAs) with metal nanoparticles (M-NPs) lies in the synthesis of a definite architecture. Such a structure has strong electronic metal-support interactions and maintains electron transport channels to facilitate carbon dioxide … Read more

The creation of a polyoxometalatocrown ether (center) from a crown ether (upper left) and a polyoxometalate (lower left) and its capture of ammonium cations into a host-guest complex (far right). Credit: Fengping Xiao, Tsinghua University Crown ethers were discovered in 1967. They were then modified by adding a metal-containing unit, creating metallacrown ethers. These metallacrown … Read more

NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission, seen in this visualization, contributed to NASA’s understanding of the region that borders between Earth’s atmosphere and space. Credit: NASA After 16 years studying Earth’s highest clouds for the benefit of humanity—polar mesospheric clouds—from its orbit some 350 miles above the ground, NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice … Read more

Personalized PCA, a statistical tool capable of distinguishing shared and unique features, can help disentangle complex data from multiple sources, such as smartwatch data. Credit: This image was generated by OpenAI’s DALL-E 2, prompted by Naichen Shi. When facing a daunting dataset, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), known as PCA, can help distill complexity by finding … Read more

A firefighter battling the Smokehouse Creek Fire, near Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle. Rainfall offered some reprieve from the largest wildfire in the history of Texas, officials said Friday, though dry, gusty conditions were expected to return this weekend for a blaze that has killed two people and scorched a million acres. Four major fires … Read more

B. fragilis is a commensal bacteria that normally lives in the human gastrointestinal tract. It can become pathogenic due to disruption of the normal intestinal mucosa through trauma or surgery. Credit: Centers for Disease Control/V.R. Dowell Jr. Antibiotic resistance is a significant and growing medical problem worldwide. Researchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and … Read more

Orca (killer whale) predation timeline. Credit: Christiaan Stopforth, Drone Fanatics SA An orca (killer whale) has been observed, for the first-ever time, individually consuming a great white shark—and within just two minutes. “The astonishing predation, off the coast of Mossel Bay, South Africa, represents unprecedented behavior underscoring the exceptional proficiency of the killer whale,” remarks … Read more

A firefighter battling the Smokehouse Creek Fire, near Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle. Gusty weekend winds were threatening to worsen a million-acre wildfire that has already killed two people in the southern US, as a monster blizzard engulfed California’s mountains Friday. Fires are burning across northern Texas and neighboring Oklahoma, fueled by an unseasonably warm … Read more