Latest News Releases 10 April

In a striking demonstration of molecular control, a team of Japanese scientists has harnessed light to reverse the twist in self-assembling molecules. The study led by Professor Shiki Yagai from Chiba University identifies how trace residual aggregates in photo-responsive azobenzene solutions can reverse helical chirality through secondary nucleation. By using precise control of ultraviolet and visible light, the researchers could switch between the rotation of helices, offering a breakthrough for novel materials with tunable properties.

The European Space Agency's XMM-Newton is playing a crucial role in investigating the longest and most energetic bursts of X-rays seen from a newly awakened black hole. Watching this strange behaviour unfold in real time offers a unique opportunity to learn more about these powerful events and the mysterious behaviour of massive black holes.

Quasicrystals are intriguing materials with long-range atomic order that lack periodicity. It has been a longstanding question whether antiferromagnetism, while commonly found in regular crystals, is even possible in quasicrystals. In a new study, researchers have finally answered this question, providing the first definitive neutron diffraction evidence of antiferromagnetism in a real icosahedral quasicrystal. This discovery opens a new research area of quasiperiodic antiferromagnets, with potential applications in spintronics.

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), as a new generation of semiconductors with the potential to surpass the limitations of silicon-based technology, have long lacked empirical research on their stability in space environments. The Chinese research team, leveraging the “Shijian-19” recoverable satellite, has pioneered in-orbit verification experiments for 2D semiconductor materials and devices. The study demonstrates that these materials can maintain excellent optical and electrical performance even under extreme space conditions, providing critical experimental evidence for the development of high-performance space electronic devices.

Scientists from Nagoya University in Japan have developed an innovative cooling device—an ultra-thin loop heat pipe—that significantly improves heat control for electronic components in smartphones and tablets. This breakthrough successfully manages heat levels generated during intensive smartphone usage, potentially enabling the development of even thinner mobile devices capable of running demanding applications without overheating or impeding performance.

The research, published in the journal Applied Thermal Engineering, addresses one of the most critical challenges in mobile device engineering: effectively cooling increasingly powerful components within the confined space of slim mobile devices. The team's solution provides more efficient heat management without increasing device thickness, which could allow manufacturers to push performance boundaries while maintaining or even reducing size. This may lead to next-generation smartphones and tablets that deliver sustained high performance without compromising on design or user experience.

An article of the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló published in the journal Autism in adulthood has collected some of the needs detected in autistic women regarding motherhood, among them, the shortage of professionals with updated knowledge to identify autism and provide a better individualised attention or the convenience of a family and social support network that favours the transition to the experience of being mothers.The article signed by the lecturer and researcher Irene García Molina and the Master's student in Family Intervention and Mediation Mónica Cortés Calvo, collects the experience of nine Spanish autistic women, seven mothers and two who want to become mothers, aged between 29 and 58, who responded in an interview to open questions about motherhood and life as a couple, which were evaluated under a qualitative approach.