Twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) has garnered significant attention due to its unique electronic properties, especially when the two graphene layers are misaligned by a specific “magic” angle. This misalignment leads to the formation of moiré patterns, resulting in flat electronic bands that enhance electron interactions and give rise to phenomena such as superconductivity and insulating […]
Author: Ramón Muñoz-Chápuli has been Professor of Animal Biology in the University of Málaga until his retirement. He has investigated for forty years in the fields of developmental biology and animal evolution. On December 12th, the British newspaper The Guardian published the following headline: “An Unprecedented Risk to Life on Earth“ The article wasn’t about […]
A new archaeological study , conducted along the Jordan River banks south of northern Israel’s Hula Valley, offers a fresh perspective on the dietary habits of early humans, challenging conventional wisdom about prehistoric diets. The research reveals that ancient hunter-gatherers relied heavily on plant foods, particularly starchy plants, as a major energy source. The findings […]
Wandering black holes, a class of black holes that are not anchored to the centres of galaxies, are a fascinating yet elusive aspect of our universe. These black holes are not formed by the typical processes that create stellar black holes, which occur when massive stars run out of fuel and collapse under their own […]
Probably, the most common assumption about scientific knowledge amongst the general public, and certainly amongst a substantial percentage of the philosophers of science, is that science attempts to find out the truth about the world (just like many other institutions or professions, like the courts, the police or whoever that needs to look for information […]
When one tectonic plate sinks beneath another, it generates magmas rich in volatiles such as water, sulphur and chlorine. As these magmas ascend, they release magmatic fluids, in which sulphur and chlorine bind to metals such as gold and copper, and transport these metals towards the surface of the Earth. As the extreme conditions relevant […]
The carbon impact of permafrost thawing Researchers have developed a model to assess permafrost thawing’s impact on carbon release. The study suggests that while thawing could release substantial carbon, only a fraction will reach the atmosphere by 2100, but this thawing still presents a significant challenge for climate mitigation efforts. Full Story: PhysOrg Rare neuron […]
In a recent research, Jonathan D’Emidio and Anders W. Sandvik studied a property of quantum systems called Rényi entanglement entropy (EE) in a specific two-dimensional quantum spin model known as the J-Q model . This model is significant because it describes a type of deconfined quantum criticality , which occurs at a phase transition between […]
Authors: Pere Monràs i Riera, PhD candidate, Universitat de Barcelona and Elisenda Ballesté, assistant professor in Microbiology, Universitat de Barcelona Antarctica, the world’s most remote, harsh and pristine continent, is not free from marine pollution. Where human activity goes, plastic debris inevitably follows. What might the early explorers of this icy wilderness think today, upon […]