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  A new study was published in Nanomaterials on October 17. Scientists at Yokohama National University have created a bubble printing technique. It allows for high precision patterning of liquid metal wiring in flexible electronics. The methodology offers new pathways for the creation of highly conductive circuits, that are both bendable and stretchable. These devices are ideal for wearable sensors and medical implants. Mainstream wiring is made of physical wiring and circuit boards. It powers most electronics, from phones to computers. There is a demand for wearable electronic devices, and it's proving that traditional wiring has inadequacies. Shoji Maruo is a professor at the Faculty of Engineering of Yokohama National University and is corresponding author of the study. He reports, "Conventional wiring technologies rely on rigid conductive materials, which are unsuitable for flexible electronics that need to bend and stretch." There are alternatives to such rigid mater...

 A new study was published in Science Advances. Researchers set up an experiment at the Technion Faculty of Physics. It demonstrates atom transfer from one place to another. They do this via quantum tunneling between optical tweezers. This experiment was led by Professor Yoav Sagi and Yanay Florshaim from the Solid State Institute. Optical tweezers are an experimental tool for capturing atoms, living cells or even molecules. They are moved by using an optical potential created by a laser beam focused on a tiny micron sized spot. How? The force generated with the interaction of light is proportional to the intensity of light. The force is strong enough to hold atoms in place or move them to another location.  Optical tweezers were invented by the physicist Arthur Ashkin.  He won the Nobel prize in 2018 and the tweezers have become an important tool in physics. The scientists at Technion Used three optical tweezers. They changed the distances and dramatically controlled the...

  New research was published about gravity in the journal Physical Review Letters. A team from around the world is testing whether gravity behaves as a quantum entity when measured. Scientists hope the results will lead to the creation of a grand unified theory of physics.  Physicists have learned a lot about the universe and its make up over the past century. One of  the biggest theories is Einstein's theory of classical relativity. It describes the visual or classical world. Quantum theory is the second biggest theory, describing the quantum world. Gravity is the one thing physicists do not fully understand. It is uncertain if it fits into general relativity or quantum physics. Understanding what gravity truly is would tie the two fields together. This is one of the biggest goals in the physics community.  The team have designed a tabletop experiment. It could be used to show whether gravity is changed when measured. This would be clear evidence that gravity is a q...

  A new study was recently published in Advanced Materials Interfaces. Scientists at Griffith University Have made consequential movement towards understanding liquid interactions. This breakthrough will impact self cleaning materials and even medical devices. Griffiths Queensland Micro and Nanotechnology Center Are studying re-entrant Microstructures. These are tiny structures on the surface of particles that can repel water and other liquids. The paper was editor’s choice and is set to run on the journal cover. It discusses how shape, material, and spacing of these microstructures affect their ability to resist wetting or spreading liquid. Dr. Navi’s Kashaninejad is the study’s lead researcher. He reports, “ Our research dives deep into why some surfaces are better at repelling water than others. This understanding allows us to design surfaces that can either repel or attract liquids, which is important for applications like self cleaning materials or surfaces that avoid fouling....

  Organic chemistry scientists have discovered a big problem and it's almost 100 years old.  Carbon molecules are characteristics by having very specific shapes and arrangements of atoms. The double bonds between molecules are called alkenes or olefins. The atoms and all those attached to them are usually in the same plane. Molecules that are not on the same plane are uncommon. The rule that scientists claim doesn't fit anymore is called Bredt's rule. It was originally reported in 1924.  The overall description is understood as molecules cannot have a carbon-carbon bond at the ring junction of a bridged bicyclic molecule. This is referred to as a "bridgehead" position. The double bond of these structures would have distorted shapes that are different from the rigid shapes of alkenes.  Bredt's rule has limited the usefulness of this kind of synthetic molecule in pharmaceutical research. However, a paper in the journal Science by UCLA  scientists is changing tha...

  New research was published in the journal Science. Physicists at ETH Zurich have built the first working mechanical qubit. In the paper, the team described their new ideas for the creation and testing of the qubit. Quantum computers are thought to be able to solve problems beyond classical computers. One significant challenge is virtual qubits. These can be made by using electromagnetics. The electromagnetics create errors that must be corrected. Researchers have been using mechanical qubits as a way around the problem. Qubits are able to store data in a super position of both ones and zeros.  In the study, researchers built something similar to a drum head. It can hold information as a steady state, a vibrating state or a state that's both at once. They used the head as a mechanical resonator. They attached a qubit made of superconducting material. The qubit is fixed to its own sapphire base. The results depend on the superconductor used, however, they are on average better...

  2D hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is called white graphene. It is an important two dimensional material, with exceptional properties as compared to other two dimensional materials. hBN is a multi-layered material whose structure is kindred to graphene. Inside each layer, it is composed of alternating boron and nitrogen atoms. These atoms are arranged in a sp(2) bonded network. The known bond length between boron and nitrogen is 1.44  A°. The known bond length between carbon atoms in graphene  is 1.42 A °.  Inside each layer, the boron and nitrogen atoms are held together with strong covalent bonds. However, the layers themselves are held together by a somewhat weak Van Der Waals force.  Graphene is a semiconductor with a zero-band gap. hBN is an insulator with a large gap band of 5.97 eV. This indicates its potential as a high quality dielectric material. The mismatch of hBN and graphene is only 1.7%. For some reason (yet unknown) hBN opens the bandgap in graph...