Physical Sciences
Akatsuki: Pioneering the planetary meteorology of Venus
Venus may be the closest known planet to Earth in both size and distance from the Sun, but the atmosphere of our nearest neighbour is so thick that much of its dynamics remain shrouded in mystery. Professor Takehiko Satoh at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is exploring the Venusian atmosphere. His research utilises the orbiting probe, Akatsuki. Named after […]
Sustainable water purification using biomass
Nanoscale cellulose materials obtained from the chemical treatment of biomass are very effective agents for the removal of toxic species from water, including heavy metal ions. Professor Benjamin S. Hsiao and his collaborators at Stony Brook University have developed a simple, inexpensive and environmentally friendly approach to preparing nanostructured cellulose for water purification, based on a nitro-oxidation reaction carried out […]
François Viète’s revolution in algebra
François Viète is considered by many historians to be the founder of modern algebra, but his work has not received the academic attention it deserves. Professor Jeffrey Oaks from the University of Indianapolis seeks to redress this imbalance. Through his study of Medieval and Renaissance mathematics, Professor Oaks shows how Viète reestablished algebra on a geometrical foundation; and in the process […]
Generalising the entropy formula through master equations
Entropy is one of the most important and most widely studied quantities in physics, and for centuries, its value has been robustly described using simple mathematical relationships. Yet however elegant, Tamás Biró at the Hungarian Academy of Science believes the formula is hiding a more complex array of relationships. Through constructing ‘master equations’ to describe these relationships, Biró and his colleagues […]
NMR2: A highly accurate approach to protein-ligand binding
A novel method to determine accurately and efficiently the structure of the receptor binding sites in protein-ligand complexes promises to revolutionize drug discovery. Dr Julien Orts and his collaborators at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology are developing a powerful and general technique, based on liquid nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), to shed light on the details of how proteins interact […]
Forecasting Tsunamis using Ship Navigation Records
In recent years, the Earth has been rocked by devastating Tsunamis. The ability to predict how intense they will be is crucial in deciding how to mitigate their effects. This is what makes the work of Daisuke Inazu at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology and fellow researchers so important. Their pioneering work in using the Automatic Identification Systems […]
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 […]