Category archives: Technology

From bones to 3D(s): diffusion, didactics and diagnostics

From bones to 3D(s): diffusion, didactics and diagnostics

Computer scienceMaterialsMedicine

By Invited Researcher

M ethodological developments in medical imaging, computer sciences and rapid prototyping technologies offer new possibilities for research and formation in anthropology, archaeology and curation procedures but also for the benefit of the cultural heritage. To conduct their studies on rare fossil specimens, anthropologists and archaeologists have to deal with two challenges. First, the specimens of […]

MI weekly selection #159

MI weekly selection #159

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Unfossilized dinosaur blood vessels discovered Blood vessels from an 80 million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur never fossilized and still hold tissue. The vessels are from the leg bone of a Brachylophosaurus canadensis found in Montana. To determine that the vessels were truly organic matter from the dinosaur and not bacteria, scientists used high-resolution mass spectroscopy and detected […]

MI weekly selection #158

MI weekly selection #158

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Universe isn’t a hologram, experiment determines A controversial experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory has found no evidence supporting the theory that the universe is a giant hologram. The Holometer searched for a kind of holographic noise using interferometers, but nothing has been detected. Science Sonic tractor beam developed A tractor beam that lifts […]

MI weekly selection #155

MI weekly selection #155

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Stability improved by allowing plasma closer to fusion reactor walls Researchers studying magnetic confinement fusion have found that allowing plasma to get closer to reactor walls may make the system more stable. It was a scary proposition because if their experiment didn’t work, it would have melted the reactor. Teams from China and the US […]

Shrinking plasmonic nanomatryoshkas

Shrinking plasmonic nanomatryoshkas

Condensed matterMaterialsPhysicsQuantum physics

By DIPC

We know that incident light can provoke a strong optical response in metallic nanostructures due to the excitation of resonant plasmonic modes, i.e, the electrons in the metal become excited by the photons in the incident light and oscillate collectively. One of the most interesting properties of plasmon resonances is their associated enhancement and confinement […]

MI weekly selection #154

MI weekly selection #154

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Mars atmosphere stripped away by solar storms Solar storms have been stripping away the air on Mars, according to data collected by NASA’s Maven spacecraft. Researchers say this could help explain why Mars’ atmosphere became so thin so rapidly, turning a once warm planet with liquid water into the dry, desolate landscape it is today […]

Mimicking Nature’s light-harvesting efficiency: the case of sulphur-bridged terthiophene dimers

Mimicking Nature’s light-harvesting efficiency: the case of sulphur-bridged terthiophene dimers

ChemistryCondensed matterEnergyMaterials

By DIPC

In nature, light harvesting organisms make extensive use of energy and electron transfer between adjacent molecules. Thus, in the photosynthetic cell of an algae, bacterium, or plant, there are light-sensitive molecules called chromophores, which contain a π-conjugated system (a system with alternate single and double bonds), arranged in an antenna-shaped structure named a photocomplex. When […]

MI weekly selection #153

MI weekly selection #153

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Nerve cells that block itches in mice Scientists have found nerve cells in mice that can block itches caused by a light touch, which could one day lead to treatments for people suffering from chronic itch problems. Researchers genetically engineered mice without those spinal cord nerve cells, producing rodents that had the urge to scratch […]