Article archives

MI weekly selection #458

MI weekly selection #458

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

DNA can store more than just genetic code A team of researchers added seven synthetic nucleobases to DNA’s current four-letter code, thereby expanding the innate ability of the double helix to store a variety of information, findings in the journal Nano Letters reveal. The study suggests this method may be a solution to sustainable data […]

Fine-tuning the speed of magnetic devices

Fine-tuning the speed of magnetic devices

Condensed matterDIPC Advanced materialsMaterials

By DIPC

Some metals, alloys and transition-element salts exhibit a form of magnetism called antiferromagnetism. This occurs below a certain temperature, named after Louis Néel, when an ordered array of atomic magnetic moments spontaneously forms in which alternate moments have opposite directions. There is therefore no net resultant magnetic moment in the absence of an applied field […]

On theory and observation (1):  The theoretician’s dilemma

On theory and observation (1): The theoretician’s dilemma

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

Contemporary philosophy of science was, at least during its first decades (those of the glorious Vienna Circle), a kingdom of radically empiricist and positivist intellectuals: scientific knowledge had to be obtained and tested mainly through experiment, and everything that could not be robustly grounded on experimental observations was just dangerous speculation and metaphysics. The connections […]

Next generation refrigeration technologies

Next generation refrigeration technologies

Materials

By BCMaterials

Human activities impact significantly on the environment we live. The human society has been experiencing extreme weather conditions frequently that indicate a systematic climate shift. Almost every place in the world has set records of extreme temperatures. This trend of extreme weather has been warned by scientists to be possibly a result of excessive human […]

MI weekly selection #457

MI weekly selection #457

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Brainwave data offers clues on moment of death Data captured at the time of death of an 87-year-old epilepsy patient indicated that the human brain may be designed to coordinate the transition to death, activating brainwaves most commonly associated with memory flashbacks. “[A]lthough our loved ones have their eyes closed and are ready to leave […]

Cod ‘supergenes’ reveal how they are evolving in response to overfishing

Cod ‘supergenes’ reveal how they are evolving in response to overfishing

BiologyEvolutionGenetics

By Invited Researcher

Cod “supergenes” have shed light on how they respond to overfishing, and these supergenes could make them more resilient to other environmental changes. That’s according to a new study published by scientists in Norway. This could be good news, in that cod have genetic architecture in place that will permit them to respond to climate […]

MI weekly selection #456

MI weekly selection #456

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Atomic clock may help with more precise measurements Physicists have created an atomic clock that is so accurate it won’t lose a second for 300 billion years. Researchers say the clock’s precision will help them better understand difficult to measure things as gravitational waves and dark matter. Space.com Map charts Milky Way’s leftovers from galaxy […]

Highly ordered nanothread products using heteroatoms

Highly ordered nanothread products using heteroatoms

ChemistryDIPC Computational and Theoretical ChemistryMaterials

By DIPC

Nanothreads are one-dimensional nanomaterials composed of a primarily sp 3 hydrocarbon backbone, typically formed through the compression of small molecules to high pressures. In 2015, it was found that the slow room-temperature compression of benzene produced crystalline , one-dimensional polymers composed of diamond-like bonds. These diamondoid materials that border nanotubes and polymers are predicted to […]