How to make bright quantum dots even brighter
To make a quantum dot consisting of a perovskite nanocrystal (left) more efficient, researchers have created special molecules (right) that form a protective layer around the quantum dot. Credit: Kovalenko Lab Quantum dots are a kind of artificial atom: just a few nanometers in size and made of semiconductor materials, they can emit light of […]
How to Convince Your Flat-Earth Friends the Earth Is Round
Illustration: Rhett Allain You can see that we have a right triangle with the hypotenuse equal to the distance from the observer’s eyes to the center of the Earth (R + h), with the other two sides being just R and the distance to the horizon (s). Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can solve for […]
Marine snails study helps clarify debate on how to view major evolutionary transitions
Littorina snails are common on the rocky shores of Europe, the U.K., and the East Coast of the U.S. Credit: Daria Shipilina Significant evolutionary changes happen gradually as opposed to in dramatic “monster” steps, biologists have discovered, answering the long-debated question as to how game-changing innovations like flight, vision, and the bearing of live offspring […]
Scientists discover how to degrade and reform thermoset polymers without loss of function
Polymers with breakable bonds inserted into the polymer chains (B) were more easily degraded and re-formed than those with breakable bonds in the cross-lnks (A). Credit: Maciek Kopec A team of UK scientists has got a step closer to making several different types of plastic much easier to recycle using a method that could be […]
How to Measure the Impact From a Collision
Not only do I get the “shape” of the acceleration curve for the colliding cart, but I also get a maximum acceleration of –6.67 meters per second squared. With that acceleration and the mass of the cart (0.566 kilogram), we get a maximum impact force of 3.73 newtons. This isn’t quite the same value I […]