Author archives: Mapping Ignorance

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First complete mathematical description of stalagmite shapes

First complete mathematical description of stalagmite shapes

GeosciencesMathematics

By Mapping Ignorance

Deep inside caves, water dripping from the ceiling creates one of nature’s most iconic formations: stalagmites. These pillars of calcite, ranging from centimetres to many meters in height, rise from the cave floor as drip after drip of mineral-rich water deposits a tiny layer of stone. Beyond their beauty—echoed in fanciful nicknames like the “Minaret&#8221 […]

Exotic sulphur hidden in moon’s mantle

Exotic sulphur hidden in moon’s mantle

ChemistryGeosciencesPlanetary Science

By Mapping Ignorance

When astronauts returned from NASA’s final Apollo moon mission in 1972, some of the samples they collected were sealed and carefully stored away in the hope that future researchers using advanced equipment might analyze them and make new discoveries. Now, researchers report a sulphuric surprise in rock samples taken from the moon’s Taurus Littrow region […]

A 3,000 qubit system capable of continuous operation

A 3,000 qubit system capable of continuous operation

Computer science

By Mapping Ignorance

One often-repeated example illustrates the mind-boggling potential of quantum computing: A machine with 300 qubits (quantum bits) could simultaneously store more information than the number of particles in the known universe. Now process this: Harvard scientists just unveiled a system that was 10 times bigger and the first quantum machine able to operate continuously without […]

Covalent bonds found in alpha plutonium

Covalent bonds found in alpha plutonium

ChemistryMaterialsPhysics

By Mapping Ignorance

Plutonium has captured the attention of scientists since its discovery in the early 1940s. This enigmatic element has an important role to play in emerging energy technologies like nuclear batteries and reactors, but it also has complicated electronic behavior that causes some intriguing effects. Its electron structure contributes to unconventional entropic properties at low temperatures […]

Mars Perseverance rover data suggests presence of past microbial life

Mars Perseverance rover data suggests presence of past microbial life

BiologyChemistryEvolutionGeosciencesMicrobiologyPlanetary ScienceRobotics

By Mapping Ignorance

A new study has revealed potential chemical signatures of ancient Martian microbial life in rocks examined by NASA’s Perseverance rover. The findings, published by a large international team of scientists, focus on a region of Jezero Crater known as the Bright Angel formation—a name chosen from locations in Grand Canyon National Park because of the […]

New non-volatile memory platform built with covalent organic frameworks

New non-volatile memory platform built with covalent organic frameworks

Chemistry

By Mapping Ignorance

Researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo have created a new material platform for non-volatile memories using covalent organic frameworks (COFs), which are crystalline solids with high thermal stability. The researchers successfully installed electric-field-responsive dipolar rotors into COFs. Due to the unique structure of the COFs, the dipolar rotors can flip in response to an electric […]

Numerical relativity and the biggest questions about the Universe

Numerical relativity and the biggest questions about the Universe

AstrophysicsCosmology

By Mapping Ignorance

We’re often told it is “unscientific” or “meaningless” to ask what happened before the Big Bang. But a new paper by cosmologist Eugene Lim, of King’s College London, UK, and astrophysicists Katy Clough, of Queen Mary University of London, UK, and Josu Aurrekoetxea, at Oxford University, UK, proposes a way forward: using complex computer simulations […]

Selective reduction and its reversibility: a crystal that <i>breathes</i> oxygen

Selective reduction and its reversibility: a crystal that breathes oxygen

ChemistryEnergyMaterialsPhysics

By Mapping Ignorance

A team of scientists has discovered a new type of crystal that can “breathe”—releasing and absorbing oxygen repeatedly at relatively low temperatures. This unique ability could transform the way we develop clean energy technologies, including fuel cells, energy-saving windows, and smart thermal devices. The newly developed material is a special kind of metal oxide made […]