Helium 'balloons' offer new path to control complex materials

Researchers ave developed a new method to manipulate a wide range of materials and their behavior using only a handful of helium ions. The technique advances the understanding and use of complex oxide materials that boast unusual properties such as superconductivity and colossal magnetoresistance but are notoriously difficult to control.

Wearable wireless sensor work wins 'best paper' award

This research focuses on the current state of wearables in relation to environmental and physiological sensing.

Graphene-based magnetic sensor 100 times more sensitive than an equivalent silicon device

New research results show that the worst case graphene scenarios roughly match a silicon reference. In the best case scenario, the result is a huge improvement over silicon, with much lower source current and power requirements for a given Hall sensitivity.

High-performance microscope displays pores in the cell nucleus with greater precision

The transportation of certain molecules into and out of the cell nucleus takes place via nuclear pores. For some time, detailed research has been conducted into how these pores embedded in the nuclear envelope are structured. Now, for the first time, biochemists have succeeded in elucidating the structure of the transportation channel inside the nuclear pores in high resolution using high-performance electron microscopes.

The quantum spin Hall effect is also a fundamental property of light

In a paper that crystalizes knowledge from a variety of experiments and theoretical developments, scientists have demonstrated that the quantum spin Hall effect - an effect known to take place in solid state physics - is also an intrinsic property of light.

Interfering light waves produce unexpected forces

Two interfering planar waves of light can exert a surprising perpendicular force and torque on small particles.