Physics

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares199 Views

      in Physics

      New electrical stitches use muscle movement to speed up healing

      by

      Stitches are getting a shocking upgrade.

      In an experiment in rats, a new strong, flexible thread hastened wound healing by transforming muscle movement into electricity, researchers report October 8 in Nature Communications.

      If the material is eventually deemed safe for use in people, it “could change how we treat injuries,” says materials scientist Chengyi Hou of Donghua University in Shanghai.

      Researchers already knew that pumping electricity through stitches could speed healing, but previous technologies relied on bulky external batteries. The new sutures are powered by the body itself (SN: 3/2/23). More

    • 125 Shares199 Views

      in Physics

      A materials scientist seeks to extract lithium from untapped sources

      by

      Electric vehicles promise to help wean us off of fossil fuels, but they introduce a new problem: how to get enough of the lithium that EV batteries require (SN: 5/7/19).

      Materials scientist Chong Liu of the University of Chicago has some ideas. Existing technology can extract lithium only from sources with highly concentrated ions, like hard rocks or underground deposits of salty water called brines. Not only will those sources not be enough to meet demand, but mining them also comes with environmental consequences (SN: 3/15/22). More

    • 125 Shares129 Views

      in Physics

      A quantum computer corrected its own errors, improving its calculations 

      by

      For the first time, a quantum computer has improved its results by repeatedly fixing its own mistakes midcalculation with a technique called quantum error correction.

      Scientists have long known that quantum computers need error correction to meet their potential to solve problems that stump standard, “classical” computers (SN: 6/22/20). Quantum computers calculate with quantum bits, or qubits, which are subject to quantum physics but suffer from jitters that result in mistakes. 

      In quantum error correction, multiple faulty qubits are combined to make reliable qubits, called logical qubits, which are then used to perform the calculation. Previous efforts found that error correction made calculations worse, rather than better, or detected errors but didn’t actually fix them (SN: 10/4/21). More

    • 163 Shares129 Views

      in Physics

      Jurassic Park’s amber-preserved dino DNA is now inspiring a way to store data 

      by

      Sometimes science fiction does inspire science research. À la Jurassic Park’s entombed mosquito, scientists have developed a method to store DNA in an amberlike material and still extract it easily hours later. This storage method is cheaper and faster than existing options, the researchers report in the June Journal of the American Chemical Society.

      If you want to store information for a very long time, possibly forever, DNA is the way to do it, says James Banal, a chemist at MIT and technical director of a biotechnology company called Cache DNA, headquartered in San Carlos, Calif. DNA stores the genetic information of millions of organisms, but it can potentially be used to store any kind of information, including digital data such as text, photos, videos and more (SN: 10/2/19). More

    • 163 Shares189 Views

      in Physics

      Two real-world tests of quantum memories bring a quantum internet closer to reality

      by

      In the quest to build a quantum internet, scientists are putting their memories to the test. Quantum memories, that is.

      Quantum memories are devices that store fragile information in the realm of the very small. They’re an essential component for scientists’ vision of quantum networks that could allow new types of communication, from ultra-secure messaging to linking up far-flung quantum computers (SN: 6/28/23). Such memories would help scientists establish quantum connections, or entanglement, throughout a network (SN: 2/12/20). More