Energy

Scientists at the University of Rochester claim to have created a material that acts as a superconductor at room temperature and lower pressures than ever before. If confirmed, this “reddmatter,” as they call it, could mark a major breakthrough.

Solar farms and agriculture are competing for land. UCLA Scientists have now tested a way to combine the two by placing semi-transparent solar cells on the glass roofs of greenhouses, finding that they actually improve the growth of plants inside.

Researchers have used a novel 3D printing technique to create a new superalloy with "previously unobtainable combinations of high strength, low weight and high-temperature resiliency" – and they say the implications in aerospace and energy are huge.

A team of researchers has looked to the microbiome to understand what role gut bacteria may play in weight gain. The findings suggest some bacteria may be more efficient at extracting energy from food, and this could lead to weight gain.

Fitting regular walks into your daily routine can be a great way to get some active minutes into your day, but what if you make that walk as inefficient as possible? A new study has explored this idea via gaits exhibited in a Monty Python sketch.

Having achieved a self-heating “burning plasma” in the quest for producing clean, limitless energy using nuclear fusion, on closer inspection of that plasma researchers have discovered strange, unexplained behavior of ions within it.

Batteries that make use of sodium as an electrode material are showing exciting promise by some key measures when it comes to next-generation energy storage solutions, and new research has now edged them closer to mainstream use.

Engineers at UIC have developed a device that can efficiently convert captured carbon dioxide into ethylene, a plastic precursor material. When run using renewable energy, the technique could make for net negative emissions in plastic production.

Scientists have demonstrated a new electrode material that could facilitate much faster charging for lithium batteries, and one that forms in a rather unusual way – through the charging process itself.

After the summer so many of us have just sweltered through, we need better ways to cool buildings. Researchers have now spruced up the humble window with hydrogel-glass, which can selectively block heat from the Sun without blocking its light.

In less than 18 months, Energy Dome has opened the first of its remarkable grid-level energy storage plants. These "CO2 batteries" store renewable energy over long periods and release it quickly, at less than half the cost of big lithium batteries.

Arkenlight and Axorus have teamed up to prototype the first artificial neuron powered by a diamond betavoltaic battery made from nuclear waste. The goal is to develop medical-grade implants with energy sources that will last decades without charging.