Technology

Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool for researchers, but with a significant limitation: The inability to explain how it came to its decisions, a problem known as the 'AI black box.' By combining AI with automated chemical synthesis and experimental validation, an interdisciplinary team of researchers has opened up the black box to find the

Scanning ultraviolet (UV) light through a slit can boost the efficiency of photopolymerization reactions and produce polymers with higher molecular weight, scientists reveal. This straightforward strategy induces molecular diffusion in the reactants that ultimately favor the formation of longer polymer chains while also saving massive amounts of energy, paving the way to more sustainable and

Simulating particles is a relatively simple task when those particles are spherical. In the real world, however, most particles are not perfect spheres but take on irregular and varying shapes and sizes. Simulating these particles becomes a much more challenging and time-consuming task. Simulating particles is a relatively simple task when those particles are spherical.

As electronic devices continue to get smaller and smaller, physical size limitations are beginning to disrupt the trend of doubling transistor density on silicon-based microchips approximately every two years according to Moore's law. Molecular electronics -- the use of single molecules as the building blocks for electronic components -- offers a potential pathway for the

Over the past three years, a team of researchers has been pioneering an environmentally friendly method to separate critical rare-earth elements from watery mixtures. Rare-earth elements are everywhere in modern life, found in everything from the smart device you're reading this on to the LED lightbulbs overhead and neodymium magnets in electric vehicles and wind

Scientists have observed new details of how plasma interacts with magnetic fields, potentially providing insight into the formation of enormous plasma jets that stretch between the stars. Whether between galaxies or within doughnut-shaped fusion devices known as tokamaks, the electrically charged fourth state of matter known as plasma regularly encounters powerful magnetic fields, changing shape

Electron microscope (EM) has revolutionized our ability to visualize the intricate details inside cells. The advancement to 3D electron microscopy, known as volume EM (vEM), has further expanded this three-dimensional, nanoscale imaging capacity. However, trade-offs between imaging speed, quality, and sample size still limit the achievable imaging area and volume. Concurrently, artificial intelligence (AI) is

Lunar igneous activities including intrusive and extrusive magmatism, and their products contain significant information about the lunar interior and its thermal state. Their distribution is asymmetrical on the nearside and farside, reflecting the global lunar dichotomy. In addition to previously returned lunar samples all from nearside (Apollo, Luna, and Chang'e-5), samples from the South Pole-Aitken

Astronomers have achieved the highest resolution ever obtained from the surface of Earth. They managed this feat by detecting light from distant galaxies at a frequency of around 345 GHz, equivalent to a wavelength of 0.87 mm. They estimate that in future they will be able to make black hole images that are 50% more

Fluctuations in solar radiation are a problem for solar power plants as they cause problems in the power grid and other reliability issues. In a recent study, scientists aimed to deepen our understanding of variations in solar irradiance in time and space over the Asia Pacific region by analyzing satellite data. Their findings provide valuable

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted six likely rogue worlds -- objects with planet-like masses but untethered from any star's gravity -- including the lightest ever identified with a dusty disk around it. The elusive objects offer new evidence that the same cosmic processes that give birth to stars may also play a common

The new estimates of the parameters that form the basis of the standard model of cosmology are far more precise than previous approaches using the same galaxy distribution data. The standard model of the universe relies on just six numbers. Using a new approach powered by artificial intelligence, researchers at the Flatiron Institute and their