Scientists have discovered that the mass and size of nano-particles can be simultaneously measured by passing the nanoparticles, in their native solution, through an inexpensive and simple mechanical tube. Now scientists from the University of Melbourne and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered that this measurement feat can be performed by passing the nanoparticles,…

Coordination nanosheets are emerging 2D materials with a wide range of applications. However, highly crystalline nanosheets are difficult to synthesize through solution-based approaches. In a recent study, scientists found a simple strategy to improve the structural order and performance of nanosheet films by using two different metal ions instead of one. Their findings highlight a…

Researchers have created a new coating to prevent clotting and infection in synthetic vascular grafts, while also accelerating the body’s own process for integrating the grafted vessels. Variants of the coating material, described in two new articles published by the journals Small (published today) and ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering (published Nov. 8), are «smart»…

Researchers show models driving how respiratory droplets fell from a mannequin inside a water tunnel, which was inclined at different angles to mimic a person going up and down stairs. Using glass microspheres and lasers, they could visualize the flow motion behind the mannequins. Researchers describe the dispersion of cough-generated droplets that come from people…

Researchers have developed a dynamic respirator that modulates its pore size in response to changing conditions, such as exercise or air pollution levels, allowing the wearer to breathe easier when the highest levels of filtration are not required. Face masks protect against the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, but they are also worn…

Assessing the ability of unresponsive patients with severe brain injury to understand what is being said to them could yield important insights into how they might recover, according to new research. A team at the University of Birmingham has shown that responses to speech can be measured using electroencephalography, a non-invasive technique used to record…

Researchers have used electron energy loss spectroscopy to directly measure the coefficient of thermal expansion at grain boundaries in the polycrystalline material SrTiO3. The researchers identified differences in the coefficient of expansion depending on the grain boundary. In addition to revealing the thermal properties of SrTiO3, the findings demonstrate the potential of EELS for probing…

Researchers report on the development of a low-cost, portable, non-invasive device that uses light and saliva to test COVID-19 patients in less than 30 minutes. The results have shown that the device can detect very low concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 with a sensitivity of 91.2 percent and a specificity of 90 percent, similar to that of…

The holiday season is a time of celebrations and festive drinks, some of which are made with apple liquors. These classic spirits have a long history, and surprisingly, many decisions about their processing are still subjectively determined. Now, researchers report that measuring the liquor’s conductivity could give a more objective assessment, and they also found…

One of the best chances for proving beyond-the-standard-model physics relies on something called the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix. The standard model insists that the CKM matrix, which describes the mixing of quarks, should be unitary. But growing evidence suggests that during certain forms of radioactive decay, the unitarity of the CKM matrix might break. At the…