Bee-friendly protection for plants

New types of sensors could help to develop plant protection products that are safe for bees

17-Oct-2024 - The increasing global demand for plant-based foods makes the use of pesticides necessary in order to protect crops from pests and ensure crop yields. However, there is one major disadvantage: among others, the widespread use of pesticides has led to a considerable reduction in insect populations ...

Better cameras with perovskite

30-May-2024 - Capturing three times more light: Empa and ETH researchers are developing an image sensor made of perovskite that could deliver true-color photos even in poor lighting conditions. Unlike conventional image sensors, where the pixels for red, green and blue lie next to each other in a grid, ...

Electron vortices in graphene detected

“Thanks to our extremely sensitive sensor and high spatial resolution, we didn’t even need to cool down the graphene...”

14-May-2024 - Researchers at ETH Zurich have, for the first time, made visible how electrons form vortices in a material at room temperature. Their experiment used a quantum sensing microscope with an extremely high resolution. When an ordinary electrical conductor – such as a metal wire – is connected to a ...

Barcodes expand range of high-resolution sensor

Optical barcodes for multimode sensing have potential applications in biomedical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, chemical sensing and more

01-May-2024 - The same geometric quirk that lets visitors murmur messages around the circular dome of the whispering gallery at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London or across St. Louis Union Station’s whispering arch also enables the construction of high-resolution optical sensors. Whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) ...

Nosy chemistry

New portable chemical nose can identify a broad range of chemicals

20-Mar-2024 - A living organism’s nose is essentially a biological molecule detector that sends neurological signals to the brain, which then decodes a particular scent. Human noses, with six million olfactory receptors, can distinguish more than one trillion scents, while some canine noses possess up to 300 ...

Sensors made from ‘frozen smoke’ can detect toxic formaldehyde in homes and offices

The proof-of-concept sensors could be adapted to detect a wide range of hazardous gases

14-Feb-2024 - Researchers have developed a sensor made from ‘frozen smoke’ that uses artificial intelligence techniques to detect formaldehyde in real time at concentrations as low as eight parts per billion, far beyond the sensitivity of most indoor air quality sensors. The researchers, from the University of ...

Let it glow: Scientists develop new approach to detect ‘forever chemicals’ in water

18-Jan-2024 - Scientists at the University of Birmingham in collaboration with scientists from the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) have developed a new approach for detecting pollution from ‘forever chemicals’ in water through luminescence. PFAS or ‘forever chemicals’ are manufactured ...

Researchers discover new ultra strong material for microchip sensors

A material that doesn't just rival the strength of diamonds and graphene, but boasts a yield strength 10 times greater than Kevlar

06-Nov-2023 - Researchers at Delft University of Technology, led by assistant professor Richard Norte, have unveiled a remarkable new material with potential to impact the world of material science: amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC). Beyond its exceptional strength, this material demonstrates mechanical ...

Virtual lab calculates optimal lubricant composition

Extending lubricant lifespan: Sensor system developed for real-time monitoring

06-Sep-2023 - Mechanical bearings and gearboxes — like those used in electric vehicles and wind farms — are often treated with lubricants to avoid friction and wear. However, these components might be under voltage. This would impair the effectiveness of the lubricants to such a degree that the tribological ...

New material transforms light, creating new possibilities for sensors

“This process gives us a whole new way of designing materials”

22-Jun-2023 - A group of scientists and engineers that includes researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have created a new class of materials that can absorb low energy light and transform it into higher energy light. The new material is composed of ultra-small silicon nanoparticles and organic ...