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Researchers have designed smart, colour-controllable white light devices from quantum dots - tiny semiconductors just a few billionths of a metre in size - which are more efficient and have better colour saturation than standard LEDs, and can dynamically reproduce daylight conditions in a single light.

Manchester researchers make 'significant advance' in 2D material science with diversely behaving layers in a single bulk material Scientists from The University of Manchester have developed a novel yet simple method for producing vertical stacks of alternating superconductor and insulator layers of tantalum disulphide (TaS 2 ).

New research published in Nature explains how an international team of researchers have, for the first time, experimentally implemented a type of quantum cryptography considered to be the 'ultimate', 'bug-proof' means of communication.

Graphene scientists from The University of Manchester have created a novel 'nano-petri dish' using two-dimensional (2D) materials to create a new method of observing how atoms move in liquid. Publishing in the journal, Nature , the team led by researchers based at the National Graphene Institute (NGI) used stacks of 2D materials including graphene to trap liquid in order to further understand how the presence of liquid changes the behaviour of the solid.

A team of astronomers has developed a method that will allow them to -see- through the fog of the early Universe and detect light from the first stars and galaxies. The first stars were surrounded by clouds of hydrogen, which absorb light really well, so it's hard to detect or observe the light behind the clouds directly.

Researchers at a Scottish university have found a greener, cleaner way to produce a common chemical relied on by multibillion-dollar industries. In a new paper published today in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science , researchers from the University of Glasgow demonstrate a new method of creating anilines - chemicals commonly used in the manufacture of products including dyes, plastics and insulation, and pharmaceuticals like paracetamol.

Shockwaves caused by asteroids colliding with Earth create materials with a range of complex carbon structures, which could be used for advancing future engineering applications, according to an international study led by UCL and Hungarian scientists. Published today in  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , the team of researchers found that diamonds formed during a high-energy shock wave from an asteroid collision around 50,000 years ago have unique and exceptional properties, caused by the short-term high temperatures and extreme pressure.

On Monday, NASA released the first full-colour image from the James Webb Space Telescope. More images and data followed Tuesday afternoon, which included spectrographic data taken by hardware in part designed and built at UCL.

The Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) collaboration has announced the discovery of three new exotic particles. Exotic particles, such as these, had only been theorised but not observed until recently. These exotic particles are built out of quarks. "Like proton or neutrons, the particles that make up the nucleus of the atom, these new particles are made up of quarks", explained Chris Parkes, Professor of Experimental Particle Physics at The University of Manchester.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Harvard University have developed a method to dramatically extend the lifetime of organic aqueous flow batteries, improving the commercial viability of a technology that has the potential to safely and cheaply store energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar.

Researchers studying wave breaking have found that axisymmetric 'spike waves' can far exceed limits that were previously thought to dictate the maximum height of ocean waves. In a new study on ocean wave breaking, researchers have demonstrated that the breaking behaviour of axisymmetric 'spike waves' is quite different to the long-established theories on the breaking of travelling waves.

Credit - Artist impression of the 76s pulsar (in magenta) compared to other more rapidly spinning sources. (c) Danielle Futselaar (artsource.nl) An international team of scientists have discovered a strange radio emitting neutron star, which rotates extremely slowly, completing one rotation every 76 seconds.

A team of researchers from the UK and Japan has found that the tiny defects which limit the efficiency of perovskites - cheaper alternative materials for solar cells - are also responsible for structural changes in the material that lead to degradation.

A breakthrough in quantum imaging could lead to the development of advanced forms of microscopy for use in medical research and diagnostics. A team of physicists from the University of Glasgow and Heriot-Watt University have found a new way to create detailed microscopic images under conditions which would cause conventional optical microscopes to fail.

A research team led by The University of Manchester's National Graphene Institute (NGI) has developed a tunable graphene-based platform that allows for fine control over the interaction between light and matter in the terahertz (THz) spectrum, revealing rare phenomena known as exceptional points. The work - co-authored by researchers from Penn State College of Engineering in the US - is published today (8 April) in Science .

An international team including researchers at UCL have made the most precise measurement of an elementary particle - which does not match predictions under the guiding theory of physics. The Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) collaboration, which involves 400 scientists from around the world, have measured the mass of the W boson, one of nature's force-carrying particles.

First Light Fusion, which was co-founded by UCL's Head of Mechanical Engineering, Professor Yiannis Ventikos, has declared a world first in nuclear fusion. The Oxford University spinout has managed to accomplish the reaction by using a unique projectile method for the first time. The approach used by First Light Fusion has now been verified by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and involves using a 22-metre gas gun to fire a 100g projectile at 6.5km a second at a fuel pellet containing tritium and deuterium.

A sophisticated new observation of a cool zone on the surface of the sun could help scientists develop a new kind of solar thermometer. A team of astrophysicists led by researchers from the University of Glasgow are the first to use observations from the ALMA observatory in Chile to estimate the temperature of a solar prominence.

Some of the most fundamental questions about the Universe will be investigated by UCL particle physicists, following a £4.34 million award from the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The funding is part of a £60 investment from STFC awarded to 18 universities, helping to keep the UK at the forefront of particle physics research.

Mini particle accelerators are a step closer to being realised after a new study co-led by UCL researchers showed it would be possible to accelerate millions of bunches of electrons per second using plasma waves. The technique involves a high-energy laser or particle beam being fired into a cylinder of plasma - a soup of ionised atoms - creating waves like those produced by a speedboat in water.