Ammonia, a carbon-free resource can be split into nitrogen and hydrogen gas with the help of metal catalysts like Nickel (Ni). However, these reactions often require very high operating temperatures. Now scientists have developed a highly efficient calcium imide (CaNH)-supported Ni catalyst that can decompose ammonia at temperatures 100°C lower than what conventional Ni catalysts…

A team of scientists has developed a means to create a new type of memory, marking a notable breakthrough in the increasingly sophisticated field of artificial intelligence. «Quantum materials hold great promise for improving the capacities of today’s computers,» explains Andrew Kent, a New York University physicist and one of the senior investigators. «The work…

Engineers have created a new shape-changing or ‘morphing’ 3D printing nozzle, which offers researchers new means for 3D printing ‘fiber-filled composites.’ The team’s morphing nozzle offers researchers new means for 3D printing «fiber-filled composites» — materials made up of short fibers that boost special properties over traditional 3D-printed parts, such as enhancing part strength or…

Chemists developed a new way to synthesize himastatin, a natural compound that has shown potential as an antibiotic. A new strategy for producing a natural compound could also be used to generate variants with even stronger antimicrobial activity. Using their new synthesis, the researchers were able not only to produce himastatin but also to generate…

New research has shown that silicon could be one of the most powerful materials for photonic informational manipulation — opening up new possibilities for the production of lasers and displays. While computer chips’ extraordinary success has confirmed silicon as the prime material for electronic information control, silicon has a reputation as a poor choice for…

In the quest for advanced vehicles with higher energy efficiency and ultra-low emissions, researchers are accelerating a research engine that gives scientists and engineers an unprecedented view inside the atomic-level workings of combustion engines in real time. The new capability is an engine built specifically to run inside a neutron beam line. This neutronic engine…

The Dragonfly telescope is undergoing a metamorphosis. For the past decade, the Dragonfly Telephoto Array has conducted groundbreaking science by detecting faint starlight within dimly lit parts of the night sky. The telescope uses clusters of telephoto lenses to create images, much the way a dragonfly’s eyes gather visual data. For the past decade, the…

Astrophysicists report how, when tiny galaxies collide with bigger ones, the bigger galaxies can strip the smaller galaxies of their dark matter — matter that we can’t see directly, but which astrophysicists think must exist because, without its gravitational effects, they couldn’t explain things like the motions of a galaxy’s stars. It’s a mechanism that…

Geoscientists have found the largest extraterrestrial diamonds ever discovered — a few tenths of a millimeter in size nevertheless — inside meteorites. Together with an international team of researchers, they have now been able to prove that these diamonds formed in the early period of our solar system when minor planets collided together or with…

Electrical engineers have developed a new magnetic memory device that could potentially support the surge of data-centric computing, which requires ever-increasing power, storage and speed. Electrical engineers at Northwestern University and the University of Messina in Italy have developed a new magnetic memory device that could potentially support the surge of data-centric computing, which requires…