Light
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Earth
New model sheds light on groundwater decline by linking irrigation decisions to groundwater use
Hibbard Spring at the southern end of Warm Springs Valley in Oregon’s Harney Basin. View towards the east. Credit: Joseph Kennedy, USGS. Sustainable groundwater withdrawal rates in Oregon’s Harney Basin were higher than they were 20 years before groundwater levels were generally acknowledged to be declining, a new analysis finds. Lagging recognition of the impacts of groundwater use is just…
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Physics
Fluids thicken at the speed of light: new theory extends Einstein’s theory of relativity to real fluids
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Special relativity has many surprising and counterintuitive effects, the most famous of which are length reduction and time dilation. If an object moves with a velocity relative to an observer that is a non-negligible fraction of the speed of light, the length of the object in the direction of movement will appear to the observer to…
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Chemistry
Ultrafast imaging technology reveals how ozone-depleting molecules react to light
A long-predicted ultrafast pathway in the UV photochemistry of bromoform has been visualized for the first time by femtosecond time-resolved electron diffraction. Credit: Melody Li, Debadarshini Mishra, Lars Hoffmann Researchers have observed for the first time how bromoform rearranges its atoms in less than a trillionth of a second after being subjected to an ultraviolet (UV) pulse. The imaging technique…
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Physics
Cloud-inspired way to guide light: Waveguiding mechanisms could offer new ways to see inside the human body
Photon density modes in curved waveguides. Credit: Nature Physics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-024-02665-z Inspired by the way sunlight passes through clouds, scientists have discovered an entirely new way to control and direct light. This groundbreaking research, led by physicists at the University of Glasgow, allows light waves to be guided along curved paths tunneled through opaque materials that would normally scatter…
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Earth
Tracking missing mantle plume in ancient Samoa: researchers shed light on 30 million year gap
Bathymetric map of the Pacific region focusing on the trajectory of Samoa’s Hotspot 100 Mil, from Samoa’s hotspot active volcanoes (Vailuluu Seamount) to the Dutton Ridge (near the Mariana Trench). Credit: AGU Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1029/2023AV001079 As magma plumes rise through the Earth’s lithosphere, volcanoes, islands, seamounts, and other features form on the Earth’s surface. As tectonic plates move over…
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Space & Cosmos
Carbon-storing molecules discovered in distant interstellar clouds may shed light on how our own solar system formed
The Taurus Molecular Cloud, where TMC-1 is located, appears at the top of the image as a dark cloud blocking light from background stars, as seen from Charlottesville, Virginia. Credit: Brett A. McGuire A team led by MIT researchers has discovered that distant interstellar clouds are rich in pyrene, a type of large carbon-containing molecule known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons…
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Science
Researchers study light and ultrasound therapy for melanoma treatment in pigs
Dr. Jennifer Fridley, director of the Texas A&M University Veterinary Medical Park, is collaborating on a melanoma treatment study exploring phototherapy and ultrasound therapy to fight skin cancer in pigs. Credit: Texas A&M University Texas A&M University researchers are collaborating on a new project to study how ultrasound and light can treat melanoma in pigs. Recent medical advances have made…
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Science
Add visible light energy to your carbon dioxide recycling process and you get a two-for-one deal
New research from the University of Illinois captures energy from the visible light spectrum to enhance carbon dioxide recycling. Credit: National Science Foundation By combining visible light and electrochemistry, researchers accelerated the conversion of carbon dioxide into valuable products and stumbled upon a surprising discovery. The research team shows that visible light significantly improves an important chemical property called selectivity,…
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Chemistry
Photoswitchable molecules allow writing by radiation or heat and erasing by visible light.
Ultraviolet rays disappear when you write the kanji “light” on treated paper and irradiate it with visible light. Next, marks are made on the treated paper with a soldering iron, and the marks disappear when exposed to visible light. Provided by: Osaka Metropolitan University In the age of cloud storage, few people back up their data to CD-RWs. Technology for…
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Physics
Research team succeeds in ultra-fast switching of tiny light source
Intense light pulses in the terahertz range separate the charged, emissive trions into individual electrons and neutral excitons. Credit: Giuseppe Meneghini Ultrathin materials consisting of just a few atomic layers hold promise for applications in electronics and quantum technology. An international team led by the Technical University of Dresden has made remarkable progress in experiments carried out at the Helmholtz…
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