It's elemental: Ultra-trace detector tests gold purity

Ultra-trace radiation detection technique sets new global standard for measuring the nearly immeasurable

02-Feb-2021 - Unless radon gas is discovered in a home inspection, most people remain blissfully unaware that rocks like granite, metal ores, and some soils contain naturally occurring sources of radiation. In most cases, low levels of radiation are not a health concern. But some scientists and engineers are ...

Novel materials convert visible into infrared light

Penetrate of living tissue and other materials without damage by high-intensity light exposure

18-Jan-2019 - Columbia University scientists, in collaboration with researchers from Harvard, have succeeded in developing a chemical process to convert visible light into infrared energy, allowing innocuous radiation to penetrate living tissue and other materials without the damage caused by high-intensity ...

New composite material that can cool itself down under extreme temperatures

29-Oct-2018 - A cutting-edge material, inspired by nature, that can regulate its own temperature and could equally be used to treat burns and help space capsules withstand atmospheric forces is under development at the University of Nottingham. "A major challenge in material science is to work out how to ...

Graphene in zero G promises success in space

19-Dec-2017 - In a successful collaboration between the Graphene Flagship and the European Space Agency, experiments testing graphene for two different space-related applications have shown extremely promising results. Based on these results, the Flagship are continuing to develop graphene devices for use in ...

Harnessing the rattling motion of oxygen ions to convert T-rays to visible light

01-Dec-2017 - Scientists have successfully visualized terahertz radiation, popularly known as T-rays, using a crystal called mayenite (Ca12Al14O33). Their method cleverly utilizes the rattling motion caused by the vibration of oxygen ions inside the cage-like structures of the crystal. In recent years, there ...

Creation of coherent states in molecules by incoherent electrons

24-Oct-2017 - In a breakthrough experiment using a novel negative ion momentum imaging technique, researchers from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai India and Open University, Milton Kyenes, UK have shown -- for the first time -- that incoherent electrons displaying their quantum mechanical ...

BASF partners with space agencies to develop global UV radiation mapping tool for plastics

New tool helps maximize service life of plastics products through precise application of plastic additives

20-Sep-2017 - BASF has partnered with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on a new tool to maximize the service life of plastic products by precisely matching plastic additives to the predicted intensity of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. At the two agencies, scientists have ...

Quick and reliable 3-D imaging of curvilinear nanostructures

08-Sep-2017 - Physical and biological sciences increasingly require the ability to observe nano-sized objects. This can be accomplished with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which is generally limited to 2D images. Using TEM to reconstruct 3D images instead usually requires tilting the sample through an ...

The first light atomic nucleus with a second face

25-Jul-2017 - To some degree of approximation, atomic nuclei look like spheres which in most cases are distorted to a greater or lesser extent. When the nucleus is excited, its shape may change, but only for an extremely brief moment, after which it returns to its original state. A relatively permanent 'second ...

New technique 'sees' radioactive material even after it's gone

05-Jul-2017 - A new technique allows researchers to characterize nuclear material that was in a location even after the nuclear material has been removed - a finding that has significant implications for nuclear nonproliferation and security applications. "Basically, we can see nuclear material that is no ...