Russian physicists discover a new approach for building quantum computers
Moscow, Russia (SPX) Jul 27, 2016 -
Physicists from MIPT and the Russian Quantum Center have developed a method which is going to make it easier to create a universal quantum computer - they have discovered a way of using multilevel quantum systems (qudits), each one of which is able to work with multiple "conventional" quantum elements - qubits.
Professor Vladimir Man'ko, Scientific Supervisor of MIPT's Laboratory of Quantu ...
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Pixel-array quantum cascade detector paves the way for portable thermal imaging devices
Washington DC (SPX) Jul 29, 2016 -
The primary source of infrared radiation is heat - the radiation produced by the thermal motion of charged particles in matter, including the motion of the atoms and molecules in an object. The higher the temperature of an object, the more its atoms and molecules vibrate, rotate, twist through their vibrational modes, the more infrared radiation they radiate.
Because infrared detectors can ...
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International team of scientists unveils fundamental properties of spin Seebeck effect
Mainz, Germany (SPX) Jul 29, 2016 -
Thermoelectric effects are a fundamental building block for the conception and development of new processes for information processing. They enable to re-use waste heat obtained in different processes for the operation of respective devices and thus contribute to the establishment of more energy-efficient, ecofriendly processes.
A promising representative of this effect category is the so- ...
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Carbon-financed cookstove fails to deliver hoped-for benefits in the field
Seattle WA (SPX) Jul 29, 2016 -
Replacing traditional cooking fires and stoves in the developing world with "cleaner" stoves is a potential strategy to reduce household air pollution that worsens climate change and is a leading global killer.
A new study by researchers from the University of British Columbia, University of Washington and elsewhere - which measured ambient and indoor household air pollution before and aft ...
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New catalyst for hydrogen production
Bochum, Germany (SPX) Jul 29, 2016 -
With the aid of platinum catalysts, it is possible to efficiently produce hydrogen. However, this metal is rare and expensive. Researchers have discovered an alternative that is just as good, but less costly.
The mineral pentlandite is a potential new catalyst for hydrogen production. As described in the journal Nature Communications, it works just as efficient as the platinum electrodes c ...
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Where have all the donkeys gone? Burkina Faso's export dilemma
Ouagadougou (AFP) July 31, 2016 -
In the small Burkina Faso village of Balole, where farmers struggle to grow tomatoes, cabbages and aubergines, angry youngsters armed with batons and machetes are barring entry to the slaughterhouse.
A sickening stench from dozens of rotting donkey carcasses hangs in the air.
This is the flipside of Burkina's booming trade with Asia in donkey meat and donkey hides.
Fed up with the fo ...
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'Ecosystem engineers' responsible for first mass extinction
Nashville (UPI) Jul 29, 2016 -
Some 540 million years ago, the first animals disappeared. It's an event known as the end-Ediacaran extinction. New research suggests another group of early animals, known as Metazoans, were responsible.
Ediacarans were the first successful group of multicellular organisms. Though largely immobile, the marine creatures thrived across much of the planet. They took on a variety of shapes ...
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