Technology
Here we bring you all the latest technological news both here on Earth and in space.
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Tiny Stripes Unlock Powerful Terahertz Control for Faster Data and Sharper Scans
SPIE–International Society for Optics and Photonics / SciTechDaily
A revolutionary new spintronic device developed in China enables powerful, precise control of terahertz (THz) wave polarization, without the need for bulky external components.
Using a clever microscale stripe design, the compact emitter manipulates the chirality of THz waves at the source, allowing easy switching between different polarization states. This innovation has the potential to supercharge wireless communication, biomedical imaging, and quantum research by making THz technology more efficient, tunable, and ready for real-world applications.
Unlocking the Terahertz Spectrum… Terahertz (THz) waves occupy the part of the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and infrared light. They can pass through many materials without causing harm, which makes them valuable for uses like security scanning, medical imaging, and ultra-fast wireless communication. Unlike visible or radio waves, THz waves can penetrate nonmetallic materials such as clothing and paper, and they can reveal structural details of biological molecules.
To fully unlock the potential of THz technology, it’s essential to control the polarization of…Read more here.
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40-Year Barrier Broken: Scientists Discover New High-Temperature Superconductor
By National University of Singapore – SciTechDaily
NUS scientists created the first copper-free superconductor to work above 30 K under ambient pressure, marking a major scientific leap. This discovery may revolutionize energy-efficient electronics.
Professor Ariando and Dr Stephen Lin Er Chow from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Department of Physics have designed and synthesised a groundbreaking new material—a copper-free superconducting oxide—capable of superconducting at approximately 40 Kelvin (K), or about minus 233 degrees Celsius (deg C), under ambient pressure. This discovery further advances NUS’ and Singapore’s leadership at the forefront of high-temperature superconductivity research.
Nearly four decades after the discovery of copper oxide superconductivity, which earned the 1987 Nobel Prize in Physics, the NUS researchers have now identified another high-temperature superconducting oxide that expands the understanding of unconventional superconductivity beyond copper oxides. Read more here.
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Not So Secure: Drones Can Now Listen to Underwater Messages
By Princeton University – SciTechDaily
Cross-medium eavesdropping technology challenges long-held assumptions about the security of underwater communications.
Researchers from Princeton and MIT have developed a method to intercept underwater communications from the air, challenging long-standing beliefs about the security of underwater transmissions.
The team created a device that uses radar to eavesdrop on underwater acoustic signals, or sonar, by decoding the tiny vibrations those signals produce on the water’s surface. In principle, the technique could also roughly identify the location of an underwater transmitter, the researchers said.
In a paper presented at ACM MobiCom on November 20, the team described the technology and proposed strategies to defend against the new type of eavesdropping it enables. They successfully demonstrated the system on Lake Carnegie, a small man-made lake in Princeton. Read more here.
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DNA Microscopy Creates 3D Maps of Life From the Inside Out
University of Chicago Medical Center / SciTechDaily
What if you could take a picture of every gene inside a living organism—not with light, but with DNA itself?
Scientists at the University of Chicago have pioneered a revolutionary imaging technique called volumetric DNA microscopy. It builds intricate 3D maps of genetic material by tagging and tracking molecular interactions, creating never-before-seen views inside organisms like zebrafish embryos.
New Window into Genetics… Traditional genetic sequencing can reveal a lot about the genetic material in a sample, such as a piece of tissue or a drop of blood, but it doesn’t show where specific genetic sequences are located within that sample, or how they relate to nearby genes and molecules.
To address this, researchers at the University of Chicago are developing a new technology that captures both the identity and location of genetic material. The method works by tagging individual DNA or RNA molecules and tracking how neighboring tags interact. These interactions are used to build a molecular network that reflects the spatial arrangement of genes, effectively creating a three-dimensional map…Read more here.
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