news 2018

Runny nose and streaming eyes' What's really getting up the nose of hay fever sufferers' What's out there? And why does it matter? Experts from the Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre (nmRC) at the University of Nottingham have been doing a bit of detective work to get a microscopic view of the things that make hay fever sufferers sneeze.

A research collaboration including theoretical physicists from the University of Bristol and Birmingham has found a new way of evaluating how light flows through space - by tying knots in it. Laser light may appear to be a single, tightly focused beam. In fact, it's an electromagnetic field, vibrating in an ellipse shape at each point in space.

Researchers have identified a group of materials that could be used to make even higher power batteries. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used materials with a complex crystalline structure and found that lithium ions move through them at rates that far exceed those of typical electrode materials, which equates to a much faster-charging battery.

A team of international researchers, led by quantum technology experts from the University of Bristol, have shown that a chip-based device can be used to generate quantum-based random numbers at gigabit per second speeds. The tiny device, with a footprint of just a millimetre square, requires little power to operate and could enable stand-alone random number generators and be incorporated into laptops and smartphones to offer real-time encryption.

The huge titanium chamber, designed to keep its contents at -100C, is a crucial part of a new experiment hoping to detect dark matter. Dark matter is the as-yet-unknown substance that makes up about 85% of the mass of the universe. Scientists think the reason they have been unable to detect it so far is that it is made primarily of 'Weakly Interacting Massive Particles' (WIMPs), which don't interact very much with normal matter.

A new form of solar-powered supercapacitor could help make future wearable technologies lighter and more energy-efficient, scientists say.‌ In a paper published in the journal Nano Energy, researchers from the University of Glasgow's Bendable Electronics and Sensing Technologies (BEST) group describe how they have developed a promising new type of graphene supercapacitor, which could be used in the next generation of wearable health sensors.

The aerodynamic capabilities of spiders have intrigued scientists for hundreds of years. Charles Darwin himself mused over how hundreds of the creatures managed to alight on the Beagle on a calm day out at sea and later take-off from the ship with great speeds on windless day. Scientists have attributed the flying behaviour of these wingless arthropods to 'ballooning', where spiders can be carried thousands of miles by releasing trails of silk that propel them up and out on the wind.

o Scientists develop tagging device using Ferritin o Proteins can be viewed on the nanoscale Scientists at the University of Warwick have created a new way to view proteins that are inside human cells. Using Ferritin, a large protein shell that our cells use to store iron, the researchers have found a method they have called FerriTag that allows an electron microscope (EM) to view proteins precisely unlike current methods.

Uranus was hit by a massive object roughly twice the size of Earth that caused the planet to tilt and could explain its freezing temperatures, according to new research. Astronomers at Durham University led an international team of experts to investigate how Uranus came to be tilted on its side and what consequences a giant impact would have had on the planet's evolution.

A research team led by astronomers at the University of Warwick had to wait over 100 days for the sight of the first of confirmed neutron star merger to re-emerge from behind the glare of the sun. They were rewarded with the first confirmed visual sighting of a jet of material that was still streaming out from merged star exactly 110 days after that initial cataclysmic merger event was first observed.

Scientists at the University of Bristol have developed new virtual reality (VR) cloud-based tools to help academics and industry progress new drugs, materials and boost the teaching of chemistry. A joint team of computer science and chemistry researchers, in collaboration with developers at Bristol based start-up Interactive Scientific and Oracle Corporation, have used Oracle's public cloud infrastructure to combine real-time molecular simulations with the latest virtual reality technology.

Scientists have solved the riddle behind one of the most recognisable, and annoying, household sounds: the dripping tap. And crucially, they have also identified a simple solution to stop it, which most of us already have in our kitchens. We were all surprised that no one had actually answered the question of what causes the sound.

NASA to test Sussex physicist's atomic bubble trap theory in space For 18 years Professor Barry Garraway has wondered what might be revealed by his 'atomic bubble trap' if it were ever to be created in a place without gravity. Now the University of Sussex quantum physicist is about to find out. A box containing the equipment for his experiment, which involves cooling atoms to a fraction above absolute zero (minus 273 degs C), was sent by unmanned rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) on 21 May.

New University of Nottingham research proves that advanced materials containing molecules that switch states in response to environmental stimuli such as light can be fabricated using 3D printing. The study findings have the potential to vastly increase the functional capabilities of 3D-printed devices for industries such as electronics, healthcare and quantum computing.

Correlative light-electron microscopy is being used to increase our knowledge of how platelets are made in the body and the results are challenging previously held understandings. University of Bristol Press Release State of the art imaging challenges our understanding of how platelets are made Correlative light-electron microscopy is being used to increase our knowledge of how platelets are made in the body and the results are challenging previously held understandings.

A new Oxford University research collaboration could transform the design and development of a number of next generation materials, including thermoelectrics, which are used in products that support everyday life, capturing waste heat and recycling it into electricity. A new Oxford University research collaboration could transform the design and development of a number of next generation materials, including thermoelectrics.

First ever detailed pictures of conjugated polymers - which conduct electricity and are highly sought after - captured with a novel visualisation technique developed by University of Warwick New approach realises Richard Feynman's famous remark that it would be very easy to make an analysis of any complicated chemical substance; all one would have to do would be to look at it and see where the atoms are" Polymers need alternating pattern of "A"

The international particle accelerator, which discovered the Higgs boson in 2012, is getting some serious upgrades in its hunt for new physics. The upgrade will mean a more than five-fold increase in the number of particle collisions, allowing scientists to observe rarer physical phenomena. The much larger data sets that it will make available will allow us to take our understanding of the subatomic world to the next level - helping elucidate some of the deepest mysteries of the universe.

Astronomers have for the first time directly imaged a fast-moving jet of material ejected as a supermassive black hole consumed a star. Scientists have previously detected a few cases of black holes destroying stars, but this is the first time they have imaged a bright jet of material from the event.

A faint and mysterious stream of microwaves emanating from star systems far out in the Milky Way could be caused by tiny diamonds, new research has suggested. For decades scientists have been able to measure this 'glow' of microwave light, dubbed the anomalous microwave emission (AME), coming from a number of regions in the night sky, but have yet to identify its exact source.