Physics

Professor Tetsuo Endoh, leading a group of researchers at Tohoku University, has announced the development of an MTJ (Magnetic Tunnel Junction) with 10 ns high-speed write operation, sufficient endurance (>10¹¹), and with highly reliable data retention over 10 years at 1X nm size. Realizing a 1X nm STT-MRAM (Spin Transfer Torque-Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) and NV(Non-Volatile)-Logic has wide application to a variety of fields.

We move our eyes several times per second. These fast eye movements, called saccades, create large image shifts on the retina - making our visual system work hard to maintain a stable perceptual world. Remapping the retinal image compensates for this; however, errors in actual eye movements cause image shifts, even with remapping.

Scientists from Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) have developed a novel technique that can produce pure therapeutic drugs without the associated side effects.

The group clarified for the first time whether formate dehydrogenase reduces carbon dioxide, biocarbonate ion, or carbonate ion to formic acid. Points to a catalyst in developing and designing an artificial photosynthesis system that efficiently converts carbon dioxide into organic molecules.

There is currently a strong demand to replace organic liquid electrolytes used in conventional rechargeable batteries, with solid-state ionic conductors which will enable the batteries to be safer and have higher energy density.

A multinational team of researchers from Tohoku University and institutions in the UK, Germany and Switzerland has revealed the magnetic states of nanoscale gyroids, 3D chiral network-like nanostructures. The findings add a new candidate system for research into unconventional information processing and emergent phenomena relevant to spintronics.

Astronomers obtained the first resolved image of disturbed gaseous clouds in a galaxy 11 billion light-years away by using ALMA.

Astronomers have captured new, detailed maps of three nearby interstellar gas clouds containing regions of ongoing high-mass star formation.

Researchers found that dust encircling a young gas giant can create a “safety zone,” which keeps a large moon from falling into the planet as the system evolves.

An international team of astronomers using ALMA has captured the very moment when an old star first starts to alter its environment.

A physicist and mathematician have found a string theory link in a class of complex numbers.

Planetary scientists using ALMA revealed the secrets of the atmosphere of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.

Lattice thermal conductivities of MgSiO3 bridgmanite and postperovskite (PPv) phases under the Earth’s deepest mantle conditions were determined by quantum mechanical computer simulations. We found a substantial increase in the conductivity associated with the phase change. This indicates that the PPv phase boundary is the boundary not only of the mineralogy but also the thermal conductivity. The effect of anisotropy on the conductivity of PPv in the heat transport properties at the lowermost mantle was also found to be minor.

A research team from the Centre for Genomic Studies on Plant-Environment Interaction for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security recently found that some non-coding RNA can produce very short proteins (small peptides), which play an important role in regulating organismal development and stress resistances. The findings challenge the very definition of non-coding RNAs and may open a new research path for future drug and crop improvement. The research article has been published in the journal Plant Physiology. (See note)

Pressing issues in science and technology, including in healthcare and climate change, took centre-stage at the recent Global Young Scientists Summit 2020 where eminent scientists and talented young researchers worldwide convened in Singapore.

Gravitational waves could contain evidence to prove that neutrino particles reshuffled matter and anti-matter, explains a new study.

Silly questions lead to surprising answers about the fundamental nature of the universe. We might have been getting it wrong this whole time.

Researchers at Tohoku University have developed a new type of smart contact lenses that can prevent dry eyes. The self-moisturising system, which is described in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies, maintains a layer of fluid between the contact lens and the eye using a novel mechanism.

Vortex-like flows of light particles within an optical fibre could help solve the unsolvable.

Astronomers at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan have analyzed the paths of two objects heading out of the Solar System and determined that they likely originated from outside of the Solar System.

A new method could speed up drug discovery and lead to purer, side-effect-free medications.

Opening plenary lecture by Sir Konstantin Novoselov, Nobel Prize in Physics (2010), at the Global Young Scientists Summit 2020.

Astronomers uncovered the true identity of the fireball spotted on April 29, 2017.

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) found a young star surrounded by an astonishing mass of gas.

Researchers revealed the evolutionary changes in neurotransmitter uptake of VMAT1 by reconstructing ancestral VMAT1 proteins.

A distant galaxy more massive than our Milky Way has revealed that the 'cores' of massive galaxies in the Universe had formed already 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.

Researchers have discovered gigantic clouds of gaseous carbon more than a radius of 30,000 light-years around young galaxies using ALMA.

JAXA and NASA satellite observations show where killer electrons are generated in the Van Allen radiation belts surrounding Earth.

Theoreticians in two different fields defied the common knowledge that planets orbit stars like the Sun. They proposed the possibility of thousands of planets around a supermassive black hole.

Researchers using telescopes around the world confirmed and characterized an exoplanet orbiting a nearby star through gravitational microlensing.