Technology Update

Researchers in Ireland have succeeded in making few-layer black phosphorus (a 2D semiconductor with a direct bandgap that stretches across the near to the mid-infrared) using a simple and scalable liquid-phase exfoliation technique. They have also measured how the material absorbs light. The near to mid-infrared wavelength region is becoming increasingly important for a wide […]

The replication of DNA involves conformational changes are that are greatly affected by its mechanical properties. Tethering DNA has profound effects on its mechanical properties, but there are few studies that attempt to quantify this change. Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed and refined a technique that allows high-sensitivity force measurements of dynamic systems, and […]

Single-crystal graphite appears to be a better contact material for graphene than conventional metals. So say researchers at Columbia University in New York who have found that the contact resistivity of the graphite–graphene interface can be as low as 6.6 Ωμm2. A reduced contact resistance could not only be useful for improving devices made from […]

Bringing together the best of two types of quantum computer for the first time, researchers at Google have created a prototype that combines the architecture of both a universal quantum computer and an analogue quantum computer. By digitizing the traditionally analogue computations that can be done with an adiabatic quantum computer, the team’s system is […]

Nanoparticles containing silencing RNA (siRNA) molecules could help reduce vascular inflammation after a heart attack and so lessen the risk of dangerous complications that might result. This is the new finding from researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston and the German Heart Center Munich, who have succeeded in supressing inflammation within atherosclerotic […]