Physical Sciences
Stripping paintings of their secrets with hyperspectral imaging
What lies beneath hundreds of years of paint? Professor Costas Balas at the Technical University of Crete, Greece is privy to some of the secrets of the great Renaissance masters with his hyperspectral imaging devices. Such devices can be used to identify not just what chemicals are present in pigments on the surface layers of paintings, but also what lies underneath. Art restoration is […]
The power of light: Production of solar fuels
Harnessing the power of the sun as a source of energy is highly appealing for many reasons, but primarily because it is a renewable, clean source of energy. Plants are already incredibly proficient at not just converting light to useable energy but also at storing that energy in the form of glucose, which can be considered a solar fuel. Professor Michael […]
The Dressed Photon: Shining light on the unknown using the unconventional area of off-shell science
The seas of science are unrelenting: researchers have spent lifetimes trying to attain the unattainable – and fallen overboard into obscurity when they were unsuccessful. In the disciplines of Quantum Field Theory and Materials Science, the ability to create light emitting devices from silicon has long been seen as a perpetual white whale. But, as Professor Motoichi Ohtsu, of Research […]
Laser ablation in liquid: A powerful route to new nanoparticle catalysts
Dr Katharine Tibbetts (Virginia Commonwealth University) has been developing a novel approach for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles, based on a reactive laser ablation in liquid technique. She uses ultra-short laser pulses to ionise water molecules and generate a highly energetic plasma of electrons capable of reducing soluble metal ions to neutral atoms, which then coalesce to generate a nanoparticle […]
Evaluating students’ perceptions of the roles of mathematics in society
Toshikazu Ikeda, Professor of Mathematics Education at Yokohama National University, has found that while mathematical modelling is often evaluated with respect to mathematical attributes, little academic consideration has been given to the non-mathematical viewpoint. To fill this knowledge void, he has developed an analytical tool to evaluate the changes in students’ perceptions of the roles of mathematics in society following […]
Setting new horizons in electroplating of zinc die castings
Our supply of zinc, a metal abundant in our planet’s crust, could run out by 2100 unless we begin to change the way we use it. Collini Holding AG creates a step change in uncovering and addressing the core causes of common faults of plating on zinc die cast by investigating this material and the ways of it surface finishing […]
Peering inside: 3D imaging in materials
New strong materials are in demand in many sectors, leading to the development of different hybrid structures. These can be made from dissimilar light materials such as aluminium alloys, which are joined by incorporating reinforcing fillers into the weld, or self-compacting fibre-reinforced concrete, which is reinforced using fibres. However, creating new materials is not without its problems. The process […]
Black hole binaries and gravitational waves: Unlocking the secrets of our universe in unexpected ways
When Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves over one hundred years ago, nobody could foresee what the implications could possibly be – but, as they make the move from predicted theory to proven fact, researchers like Professor Zoltan Haiman, of Columbia University, are devising ways of using them to study binary systems of colliding black holes and the […]
Dynamic versus static: Evolving mechanical characterisation
Materials used for aerospace applications have to be incredibly robust. For commercial airlines, the materials used to build the aircraft need to be capable of withstanding temperatures from -45 to 45 °C and windspeeds of over 400 kilometres per hour. All materials must undergo stringent testing, designed to replicate the real dynamic conditions encountered during use. Dr Meysam Rahmat, in his research […]
When kinetic theories clash, mind the lattice step: A statistical physics approach to the motion of atoms within materials
What happens when the method used to search out an answer appears to have an effect on the answer itself? In the field of Statistical Physics, two different approaches have been used to describe the particle kinetics: the so-called Master Equations; and their counterpart, the Fokker–Planck Equations. But which is better and why does the approach used have an effect on the […]