[Images above] Credit: NIST
NANOMATERIALS
Researchers address the challenges in creating carbon nanotubes on metal foil
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers identified the hurdles in each step of the carbon nanotube production process using metal foil substrates and provided a summary of efforts toward overcoming the issues.
ENERGY
Researchers achieve historic milestone in energy capacity of supercapacitors
Researchers led by the University of Texas at El Paso and the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland, designed a new supercapacitor that achieved a record level of storage using a carbon “nano-onion” core structure.
BIOMATERIALS
New NIST measurements aim to advance and validate portable MRI technology
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are working on several fronts to advance low-field magnetic resonance imaging technology and validate methods for creating images with weaker magnetic fields.
ENVIRONMENT
Use of glass from materials recycling facilities as alternative daily landfill cover
The Northeast Recycling Council found that most food and beverage container glass collected in single stream recycling programs in the northeast region of the U.S. and the Canadian province of Quebec are used for alternative daily cover in landfills. A big factor driving this finding is the poor quality of glass coming from materials recycling facilities.
Glass Packaging Institute responds to report on use of glass as landfill cover material
The Glass Packaging Institute issued a statement responding to the Northeast Recycling Council report that found most glass collected in single stream recycling programs is used as cover in landfills (see story above). The statement includes recommendations for increasing the volume of quality glass suitable to be recycled into new containers.
Short film deals with the carbon cost of computing
The SCINEMA short film Bare Metal outlines the digital infrastructure industry’s efforts to reduce its direct and indirect carbon footprint. The film is timely as technology companies move to integrate energy hungry, emissions intensive machine learning technologies into their workplace tools and social media platforms.
Scientists say they can predict earthquakes by analyzing tiny changes in GPS data
Scientists found that tiny changes in GPS signals could allow us to predict large earthquakes roughly two hours in advance. They analyzed GPS data from 90 large earthquakes, of magnitude 7 and above, and found evidence for a preceding phase in which the fault lines of tectonic plates start slipping.
MANUFACTURING
A professor predicted the strength of concrete 90 years ago—turns out he was right
A 113-year concrete study will come to an end next month, as University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers finish testing and then crushing about 150 remaining concrete cylinders. They are surprised to find the concrete grew stronger with age. But the results match predictions calculated by former faculty member Morton O. Withey 90 years ago.
OTHER STORIES
Researchers put a new twist on graphite
Researchers led by the University of Washington reported that it is possible to imbue graphite with physical properties similar to graphite’s 2D counterpart, graphene. They achieved these results by adapting an approach commonly used to probe and manipulate the properties of 2D materials: stacking sheets together at a small twist angle.
Crystal imperfections reveal rich new phases of familiar matter
Theorists at the Joint Quantum Institute found crystals hide a richer set of topological phases than previously thought. In two separate works, they revealed a host of possible topological phases that become apparent when two different kinds of defects develop in crystals, or when studying the twirling properties of the electronic arrangement.
Researchers achieve interdimensional superconductivity
Researchers directly imaged a 3D superconducting state as it approached an insulating phase, which allowed them to discover spontaneous emergence of 2D superconducting electron “puddles.” These puddles could be a way for superconductors to reorganize before undergoing an abrupt phase transition into an insulating state.
Researchers are mining minerals from the sea using algae
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers are investigating how algae can be used to harvest certain critical minerals from seawater. Rather than chemically or physically separating these minerals, researchers are exploiting biological processes that concentrate them so they can be cost-effectively produced.
The US is about to open a new window into Earth’s mysterious insides
Crushing and blasting rocks in the lab helps scientists recreate the high-pressure, scorching-hot conditions of unreachably deep portions of planets. A recent article on The Washington Post overviews the current state of the high-pressure research field.