articles

Los aislantes topológicos, materiales que aislan en el interior pero conducen la electricidad a lo largo de sus bordes exteriores, han creado un gran ruido en la física de la materia condensada. Ahora un nuevo estudio en la revista “Science” demuestra que el mismo comportamiento topológico que gobierna estos materiales exóticos también impulsa las ondas ecuatoriales, pulsos de agua cálida del océano que juegan un papel importante en la regulación del clima de la Tierra, incluyendo el fenómeno de El Niño y sus efectos en Sudamérica

Tucked into the apple-growing hills of Western Massachusetts is the Harvard Forest, a 3,700-acre wooded preserve that hosts school kids on field trips, day-tripping hikers, and, for more than a quarter century, a highly unusual science experiment.

A new, low-cost attachment to telescopes allows previously unachievable precision in ground-based observations of exoplanets -- planets beyond our solar system. With the new attachment, ground-based telescopes can produce measurements of light intensity that rival the highest quality photometric observations from space. Penn State astronomers, in close collaboration with the nanofabrication labs at RPC Photonics in Rochester, New York, created custom “beam-shaping” diffusers -- carefully structured micro-optic devices that spread incoming light across an image -- that are capable of minimizing distortions from the Earth’s atmosphere that can reduce the precision of ground-based observations. A paper describing the effectiveness of the diffusers appears online on October 5, 2017, in the Astrophysical Journal.

Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP), in Brazil, are testing a technique in mice that combines low-intensity electric current with a formulation containing nanoencapsulated chemotherapy to treat skin cancer. 

New research shows that equatorial waves — pulses of warm ocean water that play a role in regulating Earth’s climate — are driven by the same dynamics as the exotic materials known as topological insulators.