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Better Assessing Bacterial Sensitivity to Antibiotics Could Change How Drugs Are Prescribed

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 5, 2019 — We rely on antibiotics to treat bacterial infections, but the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria forces doctors and patients to contend with shifting treatment plans. Furthermore, current laboratory tests to determine what bacteria is causing a particular infection takes days to complete and, in cases of serious infection, the results […]

Hyperbolic Metamaterials Enable Nanoscale ‘Fingerprinting’

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 12, 2019 — Hyperbolic metamaterials are artificially made structures that can be formed by depositing alternating thin layers of a conductor such as silver or graphene onto a substrate. One of their special abilities is supporting the propagation of a very narrow light beam, which can be generated by placing a nanoparticle […]

Fluid Dynamics Simulation Reveals the Underlying Physics of Liquid Jet Cleaning

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 29, 2019 — Semiconductor manufacturing and many other industrial operations involve cleaning processes, and from environmental and health perspectives, it’s become highly desirable to use physical cleaning techniques such as liquid jets or underwater ultrasound instead of toxic chemicals. Surprisingly, researchers specializing in mechanical engineering haven’t paid a lot of attention to […]

A New Way to Measure Solar Panel Degradation

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 10, 2018 — Despite many benefits and relative popularity as a renewable energy source, eventually, the sun does set on even the best solar panels. Over time, solar cells face damage from weather, temperature changes, soiling, and UV exposure. Solar cells also require inspections to maintain cell performance levels and reduce economic losses. […]

A Major Step Closer to a Viable Recording Material for Future Hard Disk Drives

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 20, 2018 — Magnetic recording is the primary technology underpinning today’s large-scale data storage. Now, companies are racing to develop new hard disk devices (HDDs) capable of recording densities greater than 1 terabit per square inch. Perpendicular recording HDDs store data as tiny areas of “up” or “down” magnetization within a thin […]

A New Model of Ice Friction Helps Scientists Understand How Glaciers Flow

Assessing the Promise of Gallium Oxide as an Ultrawide Bandgap Semiconductor

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 18, 2018 — In microelectronic devices, the bandgap is a major factor determining the electrical conductivity of the underlying materials. Substances with large bandgaps are generally insulators that do not conduct electricity well, and those with smaller bandgaps are semiconductors. A more recent class of semiconductors with ultrawide bandgaps (UWB) are capable […]

Magnetoresistance ratio enhancement in Heusler-based alloy opens the door to highly sensitive magnetic field sensors

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 18, 2018 — Magnetic field sensors can enhance applications that require efficient electric energy management. Improving magnetic field sensors below the picoTesla range could enable a technique to measure brain activity at room temperature with millisecond resolution — called magnetic encephalography — without superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) technology, which requires cryogenic […]

Advancing the Description Of ‘Mysterious’ Water To Improve Drug Design