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As the spring semester officially begins, let’s take a look at some of the biggest headlines in science news from the past week.
Researchers synthesize moldable plastic
Researchers at the University of Chicago have synthesized a new type of plastic that can be molded into various shapes at high temperatures. their results are science. When common plastics are heated, they lose their rigidity and become structurally flexible. When common plastics cool, the intricate bonds in the polymers are no longer able to reform and maintain their shape.
However, this new plastic maintains its rigidity as it cools, forming a special highly cross-linked thia-Michael network at low temperatures. After heating the plastic to temperatures between 60 and 100 degrees Celsius, the researchers molded it into the desired shape and then cooled it. This process of heating and cooling a material to change its structure is called tempering. This material allowed the product to maintain its molded shape even after cooling. The research team was able to make spoons, forks, nails, and glue using this process.
Humans have been tempering metals for hundreds of years, but the temperatures required to temper this plastic are much lower and can be easily achieved in a microwave. This opens up many new uses for this plastic in new situations. The researchers discussed applications that could bring this plastic into space and allow astronauts to easily mold the material into tools needed for a variety of tasks. Additionally, this new material helps reduce plastic waste and facilitate recycling by reusing plastic for multiple purposes.
Still, there are some limitations. This material can only hold its shape for one month. Therefore, researchers are trying to further improve this new plastic before it becomes an efficient replacement for common plastic products.
NASA’s new satellite prepares for launch this week
The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, which will cost about $1 billion, is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, February 6th. The satellite will focus on understanding the growth of phytoplankton species and the exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and ocean.
Plankton, algae, and bacteria in the ocean produce about 50% of the oxygen on Earth, but current satellites only collect light in a few channels, such as red, green, and blue, so plankton can be seen in detail. It’s difficult to study. But PACE is set up to collect light in more than 200 channels, including shades of green that help scientists distinguish between plankton species. This will allow scientists to analyze the different pigments in plankton species that enable photosynthesis.
Plankton are also important for storing carbon in the ocean. Warm oceans store far less carbon dioxide than cold oceans. This means that rising global temperatures will reduce the ocean’s ability to store carbon dioxide. By using PACE to study different plankton species in different parts of the ocean, scientists can identify areas affected by this phenomenon.
In addition to its many light channels, PACE is also equipped with a polarimeter to study how aerosols and clouds reflect sunlight and investigate their contribution to climate change. Data collected by PACE can be used to design new policies to regulate emissions of specific problematic aerosols and help fight climate change.
The cerebellum plays an important role in birds’ ability to fly
Only three vertebrates have the ability to fly: birds, bats, and the now extinct pterosaurs. In addition to physical adaptations of the body, such as long upper limbs and an aerodynamic body, scientists have been looking for important neural processes underlying the development of flight. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Stony Brook University have discovered that cerebellum growth is key to the evolution of flight.
Although the cerebellum is known to be responsible for motor control, there was not enough evidence to link it to flight. When researchers examined the pigeons’ brains before and after flight using PET scans, they found increased activity in the cerebellum and the optic nerve pathway that connects the eyes to the cerebellum.
They also modeled dinosaur brains from before the appearance of ancient birds. They found that the size of the cerebellum in early dinosaurs was increased. Future research should confirm that this phenomenon is also observed in other flight-capable species. Looking to the future, the researchers hope to investigate the specific neural mechanisms within the cerebellum that make flight possible.
Ultra-cold supramolecules open a new quantum door
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and theorists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have created a four-atomic supermolecule at temperatures close to absolute zero. their results are Nature.
Atoms come together at a certain distance and form bonds that have a balance of attractive and repulsive forces. However, in supramolecules, atoms form much longer bonds, typically hundreds of times longer than the bonds in a typical molecule. Because the atoms in supramolecules are weakly bonded to each other, small changes in the environment can cause large changes in the forces holding the molecules together.
The formation of supramolecules requires extremely low temperatures. The researchers created a supramolecule from two sodium and two potassium atoms at a temperature about 10 millionths of a degree above absolute zero using a new cooling method that relies on rotating microwave magnetic fields. The formation of this supramolecular opens up the opportunity to generate Bose-Einstein condensates in which all particles assume the same quantum state. The use of a specific type of microwave field in these Bose-Einstein condensates will enable the study of new quantum molecules and fundamentally change our understanding of quantum physics.
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