Podcasts about Nature Materials

Humans are a very young species. Compared to the other organisms that we share this planet with, we are novices in how to live in harmony here. Mimicking nature's elegant and efficient structures on the micro and nano-scale has been a major limiting factor in our designs. But we are making progress in learning from nature's structure and chemistry. Doing reactions at ambient temperature and pressure with nontoxic materials is still mostly an aspiration for us; but nature can lead the way. Andrew Meador explores the momentum of different biomimicry applications on the chemical and physical level, and we discuss some mind-blowing examples of how organisms leverage chemistry in their habitat. Connect with Andrew Meador on LinkedIn.Watch Andrew's TEDx talk on biomimicry and birds.Grab some Learning from Nature merch including shirts and sweatshirts.If you want to begin your own learning from nature journey, take a course from Learn Biomimicry. Gain the skills to apply 3.8 billion years of research and development to your business, projects, and daily life.Listeners can save 20% on the Biomimicry Short Course Set, and 10% on the Biomimicry Practitioner and Educator Program with code LEARNINGFROMNATURE or by visiting this link.Thank you Pine Peak Productions for helping to evolve Learning from Nature to the next level! Support the show

Dr. Omid Veiseh, Ph.D. ( https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/omid-veiseh ) is Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research and Director of the Biotech Launch Pad at Rice University ( https://biotechlaunchpad.rice.edu/ ), where he leads a research program aimed at engineering next-generation treatments for a wide range of human diseases by leveraging the latest techniques in synthetic biology, immuno-engineering, and materials science to develop innovative cell-based platforms for real-time production of biologics. He is also a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded Sigilon Therapeutics (Nasdaq:SGTX), Avenge Bio, Sentinel Bio, and Curada Bio. These companies collectively have attracted ~ US$500M in private and public investment capital. Dr. Veiseh received a dual Ph. D. in Materials Science & Engineering and Nanotechnology from the University of Washington. He completed his postdoctoral research with Prof. Robert Langer and Daniel G. Anderson at MIT and Harvard Medical School. Throughout his career, he has authored or co-authored more than 75 peer-reviewed publications, including those in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Medicine, and Natural Biomedical Engineering. He is an inventor of more than 40 pending or awarded patents. Dr. Paul Wotton, Ph.D. ( https://biotechlaunchpad.rice.edu/paul-w ) is Rice Biotech Launchpad, Executive Director. Dr. Wotton received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Nottingham and is an experienced CEO, Board Member, named inventor and entrepreneur. He has extensive experience in strategic growth management, business transactions and product development. Dr. Wotton serves on the Board of Directors of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ: VCEL), Cynata Therapeutics (ASX: CYP), Kytopen (Chairman), Combined Therapeutics and is a Co-Founder and Director of Avenge Bio., a clinical stage biotechnology company. Dr. Wotton was President and CEO of Ocata Therapeutics (NASDAQ:OCAT) until its acquisition by Astellas Pharma in 2016. Paul was named as a “Top 100 Innovation CEO” by World Biz Magazine and won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Regional (NJ) Life Sciences award in 2014. Support the show

There are many different types of treatments for cancer, all of them with pros and cons. Enhancing our anti cancer toolbox requires careful testing to help reduce side effects. CAR-T takes your immune cells and boosts them to help fight cancer, but can have some pretty nasty side effects. By carefully coating CAR-T cells you can fight back against cancer and limit the chance of a cytokine storm or neurotoxicity . Ningqiang Gong, Xuexiang Han, Lulu Xue, Rakan El-Mayta, Ann E. Metzloff, Margaret M. Billingsley, Alex G. Hamilton, Michael J. Mitchell. In situ PEGylation of CAR T cells alleviates cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity. Nature Materials, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41563-023-01646-6

Estudo publicado no Nature Materials usou micro robots para levar antiobioticos até aos pulmões de ratos de laboratório, mostrando-se mais eficaz do que uma injecção intravenosa de antibióticos

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin's Laura Leay interviews Peter Gumbsch, who is affiliated with both the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials in Germany about gear-based mechanical metamaterials. The researchers offer a paradigm shift in design where—instead of choosing a material for a given application and compromising on materials properties—engineers can consider an adaptable metamaterial to build shape-morphing structures that can withstand any environment. Each gear is analogous to an atom except that whereas the properties of the bonds between atoms cannot be changed, the properties of the coupling between the gears can. This work was published in a recent issue of Nature Materials (doi:10.1038/s41563-022-01269-3).

DNAを用いて迷路を探索する方法を開発した論文を紹介しました。Show notes Researchat.fmで2019年に紹介した論文まとめ Researchat.fmで2020年に紹介した論文まとめ ep122. Cyalume and Fluorescently Tagged Ruyi Jingu Bang in the Cell (Researchat.fm) … “自己組織化することで伸長する性質を持つタンパク質を応用することで、細胞内で起きた現象を一細胞レベルでレコーディングし、そしてその情報を顕微鏡を用いることで読み出すことができる手法を開発した2本の論文について紹介しました。” ep123. We are still in the middle (Researchat.fm) … “数百種におよぶエンハンサー活性をゲノムにレコーディングし、シーケンシングによって一斉に読み出すテクノロジーについての論文を読みました。” ep24. Driving, Surfing, and Sciencing (Researchat.fm) … “PCR法の発明者であるKary Mullis博士追悼回。PCRの原理と初期プロトコルやKary Mullisの生涯、爆速DNAポリメラーゼ、DNAを用いたハミルトン経路問題の計算（DNA computing）について話しました。” ep7. In the golden age of molecular biology … “シドニー・ブレナー博士特集回（前半）。RNAタイクラブ、シドニー・ブレナーによる遺伝暗号解明へのアプローチ、ガモフの仮説、コドンとアミノ酸の対応関係、ファージを用いた遺伝学について、1950~60年初頭に出版された当時の原著論文を紹介し、分子生物学の黎明期における美しい実験や大胆な仮説と発見のドラマについて話しました。” ep48. XXXXXYYYYY … “レベルEのサキ王女編からスタートし、アメフラシ、ボネリムシ 、半倍数性、ヴォルバキアによる破壊、ゾウリムシ、カモノハシ、オスの三毛猫など、真核生物における多様な性決定システムと性染色体について話しました。” Nature Materials Chao et al., Nature Materials (2019) … “Solving mazes with single-molecule DNA navigators” ep36. DNA-of-things (Researchat.fm) … “DNAをシリカビーズに封入し、3Dプリント可能な材料に混ぜることで、DNA入り3DオブジェクトをプリントするDNA-of-things (DoT)の技術と、DNA Storageと噴水符号化の技術について紹介しました。” ep18. WikipeDNA (Researchat.fm) … “DNAに大容量のデジタルデータを書き込む技術を開発したベンチャーとその周辺技術、シリコンバレーで巨額の投資を受けたTheranosの一連の顛末を取り上げ、バイオ系ベンチャーにおける技術開発の難しさ、格ゲーの大会の盛り上がり、おすすめの映画とマンガについて話しました。” ep16. Beyond imaging (Researchat.fm) … “DNA microscopy法という分子や細胞の位置を、分子間の近接情報のみから再構成することができる新しい方法論について、原著論文とその周辺技術を中心に詳しく話しました。” ep74. Imaging-by-Sequencing (Researchat.fm) … “ナノレベルの分子構造をDNAシーケンシングから再構成する「DNA Nanoscope」と呼ばれる技術について、原著論文と分野の周辺を紹介しました。” Editorial notes (soh) ちょっと今回は説明が雑すぎました！もうちょい練習します！(tadasu)

In a recent article in the online magazine Aeon, the renowned science writer, Philip Ball, considered the concept of imagination and coined the phrase “homo imaginatus”. Yet what really is imagination? How has it been perceived over the centuries? And what role does imagination play in human creativity? Philip is the author of many popular books on science, including works on the nature of water, pattern formation in the natural world, colour in art, the science of social and political philosophy, the cognition of music, and physics in Nazi Germany. He has written widely on the interactions between art and science, and has delivered lectures to scientific and general audiences at venues ranging from the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) to the NASA Ames Research Center, London's National Theatre and the London School of Economics. Formerly an editor at Nature magazine, Philip continues to write regularly for Nature. He has contributed to publications ranging from New Scientist to the New York Times, the Guardian, the Financial Times and New Statesman. He is a contributing editor of Prospect magazine, and also a columnist for Chemistry World, Nature Materials, and the Italian science magazine Sapere. He has broadcast on many occasions on radio and TV, and is a presenter of "Science Stories" on BBC Radio 4. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, sits on the editorial board of Chemistry World and Interdiscipinary Science Reviews, and is a board member of the RESOLV network on solvation science at the Ruhr University of Bochum. Philip has a BA in Chemistry from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Physics from the University of Bristol. Philip's Aeon article on imagination and Homo Imaginatus can be accessed here: https://aeon.co/essays/imagination-isnt-the-icing-on-the-cake-of-human-cognition

#nanotech #nanotechnology #MXene Richard Feynman's talk at Caltech in 1959 titled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" -Tiny Machines, gave birth to the Nanotech Industry, Tiny Particles & Devices to build the future. Nanotechnology is science and engineering at the scale of atoms and molecules. Engineers & Scientists are tinkering with the tiniest materials, turning them into products & solutions that can transform our world beyond our current understanding. Prof Yury Gogotsi is a Ukrainian scientist in the field of material chemistry, professor at Drexel University, Philadelphia, in the fields of Materials Science and Engineering and Nanotech. Distinguished University and Trustee Chair professor of materials science at Drexel University — director of the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute Professor Y. Gogotsi leads a scientific research group that develops new nanostructured carbon materials (nanotubes, graphene, nanodiamonds,carbide-derived carbon, onion-like carbon) and works on the hydrothermal synthesis of carbon nanostructures and ceramics. He also contributed to the development of effective water desalination and capacitive deionization techniques, electrical energy storage — batteries and supercapacitors, as well as applications of carbon nanomaterials for energy and biomedicine. Prof. Yury Gogotsi produced several publications, with the Simon/Gogotsi review in Nature Materials published in 2008 currently being the most cited article (Web of Science) in the electrochemical capacitors (supercapacitors) field. Professor Yury Gogotsi was a part of the team that discovered a new family of two-dimensional (2D) carbides and nitrides — MXenes that show exceptional potential for energy storage and other applications. Professor Y. Gogotsi is the co-author of two books, editor of 14 books, has more than 100 publications in conference proceedings, and more than 800 articles in peer-reviewed journals, credited on more than 80 European and US patents (more than 30 licensed to industry) and more than 250 plenary, keynote and invited lectures and seminars. He has been cited over 100,000 times and currently has an h-index of 175 (Google Scholar) / (Web of Science). In Stanford's list of top 2% researchers in the world across all scientific disciplines, Yury Gogotsi was ranked #53 in 2019 among all living and deceased scientists. https://nano.materials.drexel.edu/ https://twitter.com/gogotsi1 https://www.linkedin.com/in/yury-gogotsi-2178273

Our guest today is Dr. Morley Stone, the former Chief Technology Officer for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and former Senior Vice President for Research at Ohio State University, who is now IHMC's Chief Strategic Partnership Officer. Morley is recognized as an international leader in biomimetics and human performance. In today's interview, we talk to Morley about his time as AFRL's chief technology officer as well as his stint as the chief scientist for the Air Force's 711th Human Performance Wing, which is responsible for providing technical oversight of projects geared to optimize human performance for the nation's air, space, and cyberspace forces. We also have a fascinating conversation with Morley about his early career and research into biomimetics, which is the study of using biological structures, materials and principles as models for the development of new materials, structures, and devices. In his new role at IHMC, Morley will become the institute's point person for public- and private-sector partnerships. He also will work with IHMC's scientists and research staff to help coordinate and implement the multitude of scientific projects the institute has in its pipeline. Show notes: [00:03:07] Dawn mentions that Morley grew up in a small steel producing town in Pennsylvania and asks him what he was like as a kid. [00:03:56] Ken asks Morley about his days as wrestler growing up and why he still today views wrestling as a special sport. [00:05:00] Dawn asks about Morley's move to Dayton, Ohio, when he was 17. [00:05:36] Dawn asks how Morley decided upon Wright State as opposed to the University of Dayton. [00:05:57] Morley tells the story of how a girl in college pointed out an ad for an internship and how that helped him decide to become a biochemistry major. [00:06:43] Dawn asks what happened to the girl who pointed out the aforementioned ad. [00:08:28] Ken asks Morley to talk about the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and the role of the lab's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate. [00:09:53] Dawn mentions that after earning his bachelor's degree, Morley had a short stint as a materials research engineer at the directorate before heading off to Carnegie Mellon University to work on a Ph.D. in biochemistry. Dawn asks why Morley chose to attend Carnegie Mellon. [00:11:08] Dawn mentions that in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Morley had the good fortune to work with scientists who had the foresight to know that there was going to be a radical change in material science, which up until that point had been dominated by metals and ceramics. Morley talks about the most important lessons he learned from these colleagues and mentors. [00:12:41] Dawn asks about Morley's time as a research biologist, and eventually principal research biologist, at the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate after his Ph.D. [00:14:41] Ken asks Morley to explain biomimetics and discuss the systems that Morley and his colleagues looked at during his time at the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, ranging from infrared sensing to instances of biological camouflage. [00:18:01] Dawn mentions that the creation of nanoscale materials for advanced structures has led to a growing interest in the area of biomineralization, she goes on to say that during Morley's time at the directorate, he especially researched the process of biomineralization and the assembly of nanostructured inorganic components into hierarchical structures, which led to the development of a variety of approaches that mimic the recognition and nucleation capabilities found in biomolecules for inorganic material synthesis. Morley discusses his 2002 paper in Nature Materials where he described the in vitro biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using silver-binding peptides. [00:21:20] Dawn asks about Morley's 2004 paper in Advanced Materials where he and his colleagues had taken a protein that was responsible for thermal sensi...

Tom  Ellis (@ProfTomEllis), Professor of Synthetic Genome Engineering at Imperial College London, joins host Lauren Richardson (@lr_bio) and a16z bio deal team partner Judy Savitskaya (@heyjudka) to discuss the results and implications of the article "Living materials with programmable functionalities grown from engineered microbial co-cultures" by  Charlie Gilbert, Tzu-Chieh Tang, Wolfgang Ott, Brandon A. Dorr, William M. Shaw, George L. Sun, Timothy K. Lu & Tom Ellis, published in Nature Materials. 

Learn about how your schedule might be hurting your health, why the mantis shrimp is able to punch so hard without hurting itself, and who invented the aluminum can. Your Schedule Might be Hurting Your Health — Here's What to Do About It by Reuben Westmaas Your schedule could be killing you. (2017). Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/your-schedule-could-be-killing-you/  ‌Johnston, J. (2017, June 16). Why your work schedule is bad for your health. Quartz; Quartz. https://qz.com/1006048/waking-up-early-for-work-could-quite-literally-be-killing-you/  ‌Hamblin, J. (2016, October 20). The Health Effects of Night Shifts. The Atlantic; The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/10/night-shifts-the-worst/504800/  ‌Walton, A. G. (2019, January 26). Just One Night Of Sleep Loss Can Affect Body And Mind, Studies Find. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2019/01/26/new-insights-on-how-sleep-deprivation-affects-body-and-mind/#65c9e6078be1  The Mantis Shrimp Can Punch at 50 MPH Without Damage, and Now We Know Why by Grant Currin Mechanics of Movement: Mantis Shrimp | The Patek Lab. (2013). Duke.Edu. https://pateklab.biology.duke.edu/mechanics-movement-mantis-shrimp  UCI materials scientists study a sea creature that packs a powerful punch. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-08/uoc--um081420.php  Huang, W., Shishehbor, M., Guarín-Zapata, N., Kirchhofer, N. D., Li, J., Cruz, L., Wang, T., Bhowmick, S., Stauffer, D., Manimunda, P., Bozhilov, K. N., Caldwell, R., Zavattieri, P., & Kisailus, D. (2020). A natural impact-resistant bicontinuous composite nanoparticle coating. Nature Materials. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-0768-7  Bowler, J. (2020). Mantis Shrimp Have The Ocean’s Fastest Punch. Now We Know How Their Claws Survive. ScienceAlert. https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-how-mantis-shrimp-can-punch-so-hard-without-damaging-their-claw    Who invented the aluminum can? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Melissa) Maxwell, D. (1993). Beer Cans: A Guide for the Archaeologist. Historical Archaeology, 27(1), 95-113. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25616219 Aluminum Cans | The Aluminum Association. (2017). Aluminum.Org. https://www.aluminum.org/product-markets/aluminum-cans Venton, D. (2011, January 24). Jan. 24, 1935: First Canned Beer Sold. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/2011/01/0124first-us-canned-beer/  ‌Narvaez, A. A. (1989, October 28). E. C. Fraze, 76; Devised Pull Tab. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/28/obituaries/e-c-fraze-76-devised-pull-tab.html  ‌Vanderbilt, T. (2012, September 24). The Brilliant Redesign of the Soda Can Tab. Slate Magazine; Slate. https://slate.com/human-interest/2012/09/can-tabs-how-aluminum-pop-tabs-were-redesigned-to-make-drinking-soda-safer-and-the-world-a-cleaner-place.html    Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Ashley Hamer and Natalia Reagan (filling in for Cody Gough). You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Continua la ricerca sul legno trasparente.L'università del Maryland, che nel 2016 pubblicò il primo articolo dando il via alle ricerche sul legno trasparente, ha infatti pubblicato un nuovo studio su Nature Materials che segna un altro passo avanti nello sviluppo di questo promettente materiale.Infatti un'alternativa al vetro, almeno nei casi in cui non si richieda una trasparenza perfetta, potrebbe essere preziosa considerato che il vetro è un cattivo isolante termico, che è un materiale pesante e fragile, e che la sua produzione è molto energivora.Come vedremo, il legno trasparente viene ottenuto rimuovendo in modo controllato la lignina da una fetta di legno, e quindi aggiungendo una resina opportuna, permettendo così di ottenere un materiale composito che unisce buone caratteristiche meccaniche e di isolamento termico a una buona trasparenza, tale da permettere il passaggio di circa l'80% della luce. Ospite Irene Bonadies, Istituto per i polimeri compositi e biomateriali (Cnr-Ipcb) di Pozzuoli.

Continua la ricerca sul legno trasparente.L'università del Maryland, che nel 2016 pubblicò il primo articolo dando il via alle ricerche sul legno trasparente, ha infatti pubblicato un nuovo studio su Nature Materials che segna un altro passo avanti nello sviluppo di questo promettente materiale.Infatti un'alternativa al vetro, almeno nei casi in cui non si richieda una trasparenza perfetta, potrebbe essere preziosa considerato che il vetro è un cattivo isolante termico, che è un materiale pesante e fragile, e che la sua produzione è molto energivora.Come vedremo, il legno trasparente viene ottenuto rimuovendo in modo controllato la lignina da una fetta di legno, e quindi aggiungendo una resina opportuna, permettendo così di ottenere un materiale composito che unisce buone caratteristiche meccaniche e di isolamento termico a una buona trasparenza, tale da permettere il passaggio di circa l'80% della luce. Ospite Irene Bonadies, Istituto per i polimeri compositi e biomateriali (Cnr-Ipcb) di Pozzuoli.

Per la prima volta il mondo dei circuiti elettronici e le cellule del sistema nervoso parlano la stessa lingua. Possiamo forse sintetizzare così la realizzazione del primo modello di sinapsi artificiale da parte dell'IIT, della Stanford University e della Eindhoven University of Technology.Da molti anni, la ricerca lavora su dispositivi che permettano uno scambio di segnali tra circuiti elettronici e sistema nervoso umano allo scopo di contrastare le patologie neuro-degenerative, o di permettere a una persona che ha subito un'amputazione di controllare un arto robotico. Ma mentre la trasmissione di segnali elettrici al sistema nervoso è consolidata, il processo inverso, ovvero al trasmissione di segnali nervosi (basati sul rilascio di mediatori chimici quali, per esempio, la dopamina o l'acetilcolina) a dispositivi elettronici si è rivelata critica. La sinapsi artificiale annunciata in un articolo su Nature Materials è un significativo passo in avanti proprio in questa direzione. Ospite Francesca Santoro, coordinatrice della linea di ricerca Tissue Electronics dell'IIT di Napoli

È ben noto che uno dei problemi principali dei pannelli fotovoltaici sia il fatto che quando si surriscaldano la loro efficienza si abbassa, e quindi la produzione di energia cala proprio quando il sole abbonda.Riuscire a evitare o a contenere questo surriscaldamento avrebbe quindi importanti conseguenze sulla produttività del FV e diverse sono le soluzione allo studio. In tal senso, di grande interesse èquindi una ricerca pubblicata siu Nature Materials da ricercatori dell'Università di Scienza e Tecnologia di Huazhong, a Hong Kong, che hanno ideato dei pannelli capaci di catturare l'umidità atmosferica durante la notte la quale va poi a costituire una riserva d'acqua che evapora durante il giorno mantenendo sotto controllo la temperatura dei pannelli fotovoltaici. Insomma, dei Pannelli FV che sudano... Ospite Giampaolo Manzolini, Prof. Associato del Dip di Energia e co-responsabile del Solar Tech Lab al Politecnico di Milano

A team at University of Limerick has played a central role in the discovery of a new device that promises to end overheating in portable devices and prolong battery lifetimes. The Materials Modelling Group based in the Bernal Institute at UL, working with an international team of researchers, have co-discovered an exciting new type of molecular switch that could greatly reduce power consumption in electronic devices. The finding has just been reported in the world-leading science journal Nature Materials and comes at a time when global consumer demand for ever lighter, more compact smartphones and tablets has never been higher – driving the discovery of new science and innovations at an astonishing pace. On Friday's Morning Focus, Gavin spoke with one of the lead researchers, Damien Thompson, Associate Professor in Physics at UL

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Jennifer Dionne from Stanford University about the origin of photonic emissions in the quantum material hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Read the article in Nature Materials. TranscriptSOPHIA CHEN: Many researchers are hotly anticipating quantum technology, a new paradigm that exploits the mathematics of quantum mechanics. But researchers are still developing the so-called quantum materials to build these devices and connect them in a future quantum internet. Jennifer Dionne, a materials scientist at Stanford University, is investigating one such material called hBN, or hexagonal boron nitride. hBN could be useful for quantum machines because it can be made to emit single photons of light to compute and transmit information. When you illuminate hBN with light the material will emit a spectrum of colors ranging from the red to the green. Dionne’s team wanted to understand what microscopic property or defect in the material was responsible for the different colors. JD: What we wanted to do was address where those different colors were coming from, because in a future quantum optical network, ideally you’d be able to control what color is coming out where and be able to use that wavelength multiplexing of photonic communications.SC: To identify which light came from what defect, they used a combination of two different techniques. JD: By interrogating with an optical microscope, we can see broadly where there were different defects and use the electron microscope to zoom into those defects and map them out with much higher resolution and to also look at their atomic scale structure.SC: They were able to identify that the colors arise from four classes of defects in the hexagonal boron nitride.JD: So we now know with certainty there are at least four different types of atomic defects that are responsible in the main spectral windows. If you want light predominantly in the green, you would use one type of atomic defect. If you want light in the red, you use a different type of atomic defect.SC: Combining their experimental studies with theory, Dionne’s team was able to deduce more details about the defects themselves.JD: We found that it seems like most of the defects that are emitting are not simple atomic defects, but rather complexes. So hexagonal boron nitride, like I said, is this layered material. You need to think not only about a missing atom in one layer but perhaps a missing atom or a substitutional atom in a neighboring layer, and basically a series of missing atoms between one layer and a next form something like its own independent molecule in the material.SC: By understanding the specific defects in a material, eventually, researchers should be able to implant specific impurities that can be independently controlled to emit light in a quantum device.JD: We’re excited to get higher spatial imaging resolution and start positioning those emitters and see how we might be able to modulate the emission, to be able to turn the emission on off, which would be the same in a transistor. You want to be able to turn the electrical current on and off and be able to get gain. Trying to create a suite of quantum optical devices based on these emitters would be very exciting and next step.SC: But this technique, where they combine optical and electron microscopy to study quantum materials, is useful beyond just hexagonal boron nitride.JD: More so than learning about hexagonal boron nitride, I think the significance of our paper is that it provides a technique to be able to do this correlation of the atomic scale structure of quantum materials with their optical properties.

With the creation of an entirely inorganic robotic system about the size of a red blood cell—just seven to ten microns in diameter—the team in the lab of Michael Strano at the MIT Department of Engineering is reaching previously inaccessible locations in the human body and various other environments found within and useful to industry, such as chemical reactors, oil pipelines, and soil matrices. In 2018, they published landmark papers detailing two prototypes of these tiny robotic systems, one which was used as a component of aerosolizable electronics in which they were nebulized and sent through a pipe, light enough to travel along with the air flow. The robots were able to detect different chemicals and respond to light within the pipes, and then be gathered for the collection of data. The second prototype was launched into a body of water where it was capable of detecting various chemicals and responding to magnetic fields, and therefore able to detect nutrients in soil matrices that were good or bad for plant growth. Albert Liu is a presidential fellow and member of Michael Strano's lab at MIT, and he has an extensive laboratory background. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the conversation, explaining the ins and outs of this new technology, the challenges that come along with creating and powering such small systems, and the tradeoffs between artificial and biological systems. Press play for all the details, and learn more by visiting https://srg.mit.edu/. Mass producing colloidal electronics (with a video): http://news.mit.edu/2018/how-mass-produce-cell-sized-robots-1023 Strano website: https://srg.mit.edu/   Albert website: https://albert-t-liu.com/   Nature Nano reference: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-018-0194-z Nature Materials reference: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-018-0197-z

China's investment in materials science makes it an attractive destination for young foreign researchers looking to relocate, with decent salaries and facilities that many western universities would envy.John Plummer, senior portfolio editor for Nature Research and a former senior editor for Nature Materials, based in Shanghai, says this investment is driven by the Chinese government's desire to deliver cutting-edge research and raise the living standard of people living in rural areas.The challenge, as with other parts of the world, is to give researchers independence and time to innovate, rather than face pressure to publish, and to deliver a quick return on investment, he adds.Xin Li, associate editor of Nature Materials, also based in Shanghai, describes China's technology transfer environment and how the country's lab culture compares to labs in the west.Finally, Plummer speculates on the likely impact of the current trade war between the US and China have on research collaboration and innovation.Nature Briefing See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sodobna visoka tehnologija tako rekoč iz leta v leto podira meje možnega. Če nam je elektronika v mikro velikostnem razredu temeljito spremenila življenja, danes elektronske naprave že osvajajo nano svet. Tudi po zaslugi novih materialov, ki s svojimi lastnostmi omogočajo njihovo načrtovanje in izdelavo. Tehnološki razvoj pogosto celo prehiteva razumevanje principov, na katerih nano tehnologije temeljijo. Toda po drugi strani razumevanje teh zakonitosti odpira še povsem nove možnosti tako uporabe kot raziskav. To nedvomno velja tudi za odkritje izr. prof. dr. Tadeja Rojca z odseka elektronsko keramiko na Inštitutu »Jožef Stefan«, ki je pojasnil, kaj se skriva za lokalno električno prevodnostjo obetavnega materiala, bizmutovega ferita. Na atomskem nivoju so se namreč pokazali specifični defekti v domenskih stenah. Odkritje je bilo objavljeno v prestižni znanstveni reviji Nature Materials, v letu 2018 pa je za svoje delo prejel tudi Zoisovo priznanje za pomembne dosežke. Oddajo je pripravila Nina Slaček.

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite photovoltaics were first discovered. MRS Bulletin presents the impact of a recent advance in this burgeoning field.Read the abstract in Nature Materials (doi:10.1038/s41563-018-0164-8).TranscriptWelcome to MRS Bulletin’s Materials News Podcast, providing breakthrough news & interviews with researchers on the hot topics of 3D bioprinting, artificial intelligence and machine learning, bioelectronics, perovskites, quantum materials, robotics, and synthetic biology. My name is Bob Braughler. The layered nature of Ruddlesden–Popper perovskites means that the materials can be shaved down to a single layer or just a few layers. The properties of any material at the molecular level are different from those at larger scales. Kian Ping Loh, at the National University of Singapore, and his colleagues have revealed what makes the properties of two-dimensional perovskite differ at molecularly thin dimensions. The researchers made centimeter-sized crystals of a specific perovskite with four compositions with increasing number of atoms and exfoliated 20–100-micron-thick monolayer sheets from the material. They measured the optical properties of the bulk and monolayer flakes using photoluminescence and optical absorption measurements. To keep the flakes from decomposing under laser irradiation used for these studies, they encapsulated the flakes with a transparent 2D hexagonal boron nitride layer.The researchers studied the photoresponsivity of the single-crystal 2D perovskites as a function of thickness and discovered that excitons—which are joint states of an electron and a positively charged hole—tunnel across the material interlayers to dissociate at the electrodes, leading to efficient photocurrent generation. With increasing composition – or number of atoms - the luminescence of the materials shifted toward longer, redder wavelengths. The redshift also happened when the material was exposed to the laser for a long time, because thermal fluctuations reoriented the surface organic cations in the monolayer perovskite. The color shift can be reversed by exposing the sample to higher power laser annealing under vacuum. This cycle could be repeated tens of times.The disordering of the organic cations also creates defects that trap only positively charged carriers, allowing electrons to circulate longer. To test this, the researchers made a photodetector with the monolayer perovskites. The detector had a low current in the dark, but the current increased linearly with laser power because under illumination, excitons tunneled across the interlayers, creating a highly conductive state.This work was published in a recent issue of Nature Materials. My name is Bob Braughler from the Materials Research Society.For more news, log onto the MRS Bulletin website at mrsbulletin.org and follow us on twitter, @MRSBulletin. Thank you for listening.

Research on perovskites has progressed rapidly for PV and LEDs, with new solar-cell efficiency records being set at a regular pace. There are hints of the first commercial products reaching the market by 2020, just a decade since perovskite photovoltaics were first discovered. MRS Bulletin presents the impact of a recent advance in this burgeoning field. Read the abstract in Nature Materials (doi:10.1038/s41563-018-0154-x).TranscriptWelcome to the first episode of the MRS Bulletin’s Materials News Podcast, providing breakthrough news & interviews with researchers on the hot topics of 3D bioprinting, artificial intelligence and machine learning, bioelectronics, perovskites, quantum materials, robotics, and synthetic biology. My name is Bob Braughler. A new study offers key insights into the formation of layered two-dimensional perovskite films known as Ruddlesden–Popper phases, a class of materials that hold promise for stable light-harvesting and light-emitting devices.Despite being one of the most attractive materials for photovoltaics and light-emitting devices, conventional three-dimensional organic–inorganic perovskites are plagued by instability issues. However, their 2D counterparts, which contain layers of conductive perovskites separated by layers of relatively long organic cations, are much more stable. The cations inhibit charge transport between neighboring conductive inorganic layers. This forms quantum wells, where the charge carriers can freely move in a 2D space, while there is a restriction in the third dimension.So far, though, not much is understood about their composition or how these materials assemble. To investigate, Edward Sargent and colleagues at the University of Toronto used grazing incidence x-ray scattering on 2D-layered perovskite films as the films formed.They used methylammonium lead iodide with either phenethylammonium or n-butylammonium cations, and different solvents to make various film samples. They found that intermediate solvent complexes mediated the formation of quantum wells by providing building blocks to grow perovskites as the solvent evaporates out. They also found that changing the cation changed the well distribution.This understanding could help control the distribution, composition, and orientation of 2D-layered perovskites, properties that influence device performance. The results could be applied to any such material. The researchers say, “This work paves the way toward engineering higher quality materials for more efficient and stable optoelectronic devices.”This work was published in a recent issue of Nature Materials. My name is Bob Braughler from the Materials Research Society.For more news, log onto the MRS Bulletin website at mrsbulletin.org and follow us on twitter, @MRSBulletin. Thank you for listening.

Computers that work like brains In this episode, Spectre and Meltdown, what to do, computers that work like brains and you can now watch Plex in virtual reality with Google Daydream Show Notes: Meltdown and Spectre have dominated security discussions since early this year. These attacks are within the hardware and can expose confidential data. This is a different kind of vulnerability, one that is tied to hardware instead of an application or operating system. The Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities were discovered by a team of independent researchers including Google's Project Zero and are said to likely to be the worst processor bugs ever discovered. Computers that work like our brains Advances in machine learning have moved at a gallop in recent years, but the computer processors these programs run on have barely changed. To remedy this, companies have been retuning existing chip architecture to fit the demands of AI, while, an entirely new approach is taking shape: remaking processors so they work more like our brains. This is called "neuromorphic computing," and scientists from MIT said they've made significant progress in getting this new breed of chips up and running. Their research, published in the journal Nature Materials, could eventually lead to processors that run machine learning tasks with lower energy demands - up to 1,000 times less. This would enable us to give more devices AI abilities like voice and image recognition. Plex in virtual reality with Google Daydream Plex, the hugely popular media streaming app, is adding support for Google's Daydream VR. With a Daydream-compatible Android smartphone and the requisite headset, you'll be able to watch movies or TV shows from any media server linked to your Plex account in virtual reality. Plex has several interactive viewing environments you can choose from, ranging from a luxurious loft apartment to a drive-in movie theater. Once you start playing something, that content will take up "a large percentage of your visual field." TechBytes: Last June, Apple announced the HomePod. Scheduled to be released last December, the HomePod was delayed to early 2018, so that Apple can get some more time to get it ready. Now, the HomePod is finally here. The device will be available in stores on February 9 with pre-orders starting this Friday, January 26 in the US, UK and Australia. Microsoft today announced that it's dropping the price of Azure Standard Support from $300 per month to $100 per month and that it's shortening its promised response time for critical cases from two to one hour. Google Play has ever seen the highest number of app downloads in a quarter. Google Play app downloads topped 19 billion in Q4 2017, a new record. That also makes Google Play's download lead over iOS its largest ever, at 145 percent. Specifically, the downloads were driven by markets including India, Indonesia, and Brazil, which all contributed to Google Play's 10 percent yearover-year growth in total downloads as well.

Before becoming a journal editor at Nature Materials, Luigi Martiradonna was a researcher. In part 2 we talk about his experience as a scientist and on the transition to academic publishing.   Full show notes:

Luigi Martiradonna is a senior editor at the journal Nature Materials. In part 1 we talk about the publishing process, how he makes the decision to accept or reject papers, and how scientists respond to his decision.   Full show notes:

Tre ospiti per tre argomenti diversi. Roberto Cerbino, professore dell'Università degli Studi di Milano, ci parla della sua ricerca, da poco pubblicata su Nature Materials, riguardo la capacità delle cellule di migrare collettivamente. - Elena Mauri, ricercatrice nonchè cervello di ritorno dalla California, tornerà fra poco a Cipro per studiare, con l'aiuto di glider sottomarini, particolari vortici d'acqua presenti nei dintorni dell'isola. Ci siamo fatti raccontare qualcosa di più. - Disturbiamo infine Carlo Barbante, professore di paleo-climatologia dell'OGS di Trieste, per fargli qualche domanda sulle carote di ghiaccio estratte dal ghiacciaio dell'Ortles. Le informazioni ricavate dalla ricerca sono state pubblicate sulla rivista The Cryosphere.

Tre ospiti per tre argomenti diversi. Roberto Cerbino, professore dell'Università degli Studi di Milano, ci parla della sua ricerca, da poco pubblicata su Nature Materials, riguardo la capacità delle cellule di migrare collettivamente. - Elena Mauri, ricercatrice nonchè cervello di ritorno dalla California, tornerà fra poco a Cipro per studiare, con l'aiuto di glider sottomarini, particolari vortici d'acqua presenti nei dintorni dell'isola. Ci siamo fatti raccontare qualcosa di più. - Disturbiamo infine Carlo Barbante, professore di paleo-climatologia dell'OGS di Trieste, per fargli qualche domanda sulle carote di ghiaccio estratte dal ghiacciaio dell'Ortles. Le informazioni ricavate dalla ricerca sono state pubblicate sulla rivista The Cryosphere.

Notizie sul clima da Nature e Science, tutte negative. Stefano Caserini, professore di mitigazione dei cambiamenti climatici al Politecnico di Milano, ha però, da poco, pubblicato un libro dal titolo "Il clima è (già) cambiato. 10 buone notizie sul cambiamento climatico" nei tascabili di Edizione Ambiente. Lo abbiamo chiamato per farci raccontare qualcosa in più.

Nanotechnology, plastics, solar energy, neutron scattering. Professor Michael Mackay's research interests are in the area of nanotechnology and its application to plastic materials. His most recent work has been published in Science and Nature Materials where very unusual phenomena have been discovered when nanoparticles are added to polymers or plastics.

Nanotechnology, plastics, solar energy, neutron scattering. Professor Michael Mackay's research interests are in the area of nanotechnology and its application to plastic materials. His most recent work has been published in Science and Nature Materials where very unusual phenomena have been discovered when nanoparticles are added to polymers or plastics.