Technology

Norwegian cruise operator Hurtigruten plans to use dead fish to power some of its ships, it said on Monday, as it seeks to reduce its pollution and climate change impact. Leftover dead fish from Norway’s large fishing industry will be mixed with other organic waste to make a liquified biogas to be used instead of […]

A new test to spot where the ability to exploit the power of quantum mechanics has evolved in nature has been developed by physicists at the University of Warwick. The test identifies a tell-tale hallmark of quantum coherence, classifying the properties of particles in a quantum state that are interacting with a real-world environment. The […]

For the last decade, scientists have been making giant leaps in their ability to build and control systems based on the bizarre rules of quantum mechanics, which describe the behavior of particles at the subatomic scale. But a challenge is getting delicate quantum systems to play well with mechanical ones—anything with moving parts—which underlie a […]

Sandwiching an oxygen-rich layer of silicon between a solar cell and its metal contact has allowed researchers in Europe to break performance records for the efficiency with which silicon solar cells convert sunlight into electricity. But the challenge now is how to make these so-called passivating contacts suitable for mass production. “There is currently a […]

Since planes were invented, they’ve flown using moving parts to push air around. Sure, there are gliders and dirigibles, which float more than fly, but powered flight is all about propellers (that’s why they call them that). Today that changes, with the first-ever “solid state” aircraft, flying with no moving parts at all by generating […]

Chile is currently undergoing a renewable energy boom. Today, it’s the second largest market for renewable energies in Latin America, and in 2016 Chile was the top-scoring renewable energy producer in the Americas and second in the world, beaten only by China. Two decades ago, when this process started, this transformation was unthinkable. An article […]

Municipal wastewater treatment in Europe consumes the energy equivalent of around two power stations per year – but could actually be generating the energy of 12. The EU-funded POWERSTEP project demonstrates how to make this more than a pipe dream. Whilst much of the European wastewater treatment industry, with incremental energy efficiencies, is looking to […]

One-fifth of global electricity consumption is based on lighting; efficient and stable white-light emission with single materials is ideal for applications. Photon emission that covers the entire visible spectrum is, however, difficult to attain with a single material. Metal halide perovskites, for instance, have outstanding emission properties but contain lead, and therefore yield unsatisfactory stability. […]

Researchers at RMIT University have engineered a new type of transistor, the building block for all electronics. Instead of sending electrical currents through silicon, these transistors send electrons through narrow air gaps, where they can travel unimpeded as if in space. The device unveiled in material sciences journal Nano Letters, eliminates the use of any […]

Lithium titanium oxide (Li4Ti5O12, LTO), a “zero-strain” anode material for Li-ion batteries (LIBs), exhibits excellent cycling performance. However, it shows poor conductivity, which is the major drawback and limits its applications. In a recent paper published in National Science Review, it is reported that static compression can highly improve the conductivity of LTO by pressure-induced […]