Reference Terms
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Oil refinery
An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into useful petroleum products. Raw oil or unprocessed ("crude") oil is not very useful in the form it comes in out of the ground. Oil needs to be separated into parts and refined before use in fuels and lubricants, and before some of the byproducts could be used in petrochemical processes to form materials such as plastics, and foams. Petroleum fossil fuels are used in ship, automobile and aircraft engines. These different hydrocarbons have different boiling points, which means they can be separated by distillation. Since the lighter liquid elements are in great demand for use in internal combustion engines, a modern refinery will convert heavy hydrocarbons and lighter gaseous elements into these higher value products using complex and energy intensive processes.
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Matter & Energy News
November 9, 2025
Nov. 9, 2025 — Stanford scientists found that strontium titanate improves its performance when frozen to near absolute zero, showing extraordinary optical and mechanical behavior. Its nonlinear and piezoelectric ...
Nov. 9, 2025 — Researchers have discovered quantum oscillations inside an insulating material, overturning long-held assumptions. Their work at the National Magnetic Field Laboratory suggests that the effect originates in the material’s bulk rather than its ...
Nov. 9, 2025 — A team at the University of Stuttgart has engineered a compact short-pulse laser that achieves up to 80% efficiency—far surpassing current models. Their new multipass design reuses light within a small crystal, combining power and precision in a ...
Nov. 8, 2025 — MIT scientists uncovered direct evidence of unconventional superconductivity in magic-angle graphene by observing a distinctive V-shaped energy gap. The discovery hints that electron pairing in this material may arise from strong electronic ...
Nov. 6, 2025 — Researchers are exploring MXenes, 2D materials that could transform air into ammonia for cleaner fertilizers and fuels. Their atomic structures can be tuned to optimize performance, making them promising alternatives to expensive ...
Nov. 5, 2025 — A new copper-magnesium-iron catalyst transforms CO2 into CO at low temperatures with record-breaking efficiency and stability. The discovery paves the way for affordable, scalable production of carbon-neutral synthetic ...
Nov. 5, 2025 — Engineers at the University of Delaware have uncovered a way to bridge magnetism and electricity through magnons—tiny waves that carry information without electrical current. These magnetic waves can generate measurable electric signals within ...
Nov. 2, 2025 — Researchers at Maynooth University have achieved a forensic milestone by revealing fingerprints on fired bullet casings using a safe electrochemical process. The method uses mild voltage and ...
Nov. 2, 2025 — Scientists have achieved a breakthrough in light manipulation by using topological insulators to generate both even and odd terahertz frequencies through high-order harmonic generation (HHG). By embedding these exotic materials into nanostructured ...
Nov. 2, 2025 — Cambridge researchers have engineered a solar-powered “artificial leaf” that mimics photosynthesis to make valuable chemicals sustainably. Their biohybrid device combines organic semiconductors and enzymes to convert CO₂ and sunlight into ...
Oct. 30, 2025 — From mini-brains to spider-inspired gloves and wolf apple coatings, scientists are turning eerie-sounding experiments into real innovations that could revolutionize health and sustainability. Lab-grown brain organoids may replace animal testing, ...
Oct. 30, 2025 — Researchers have made germanium superconducting for the first time, a feat that could transform computing and quantum technologies. Using molecular beam epitaxy to embed gallium atoms precisely, the team stabilized the crystal structure to carry ...
Latest Headlines
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Nov. 9, 2025 — New supercomputer simulations hint that dark energy might be dynamic, not constant, subtly reshaping the Universe’s structure. The findings align with recent DESI observations, offering the ...
Nov. 8, 2025 — Researchers are using black hole shadows to challenge Einstein’s theory of relativity. With new simulations and future ultra-sharp telescope images, they may uncover signs that his famous equations ...
Nov. 7, 2025 — Using CERN’s Super Proton Synchrotron, researchers generated plasma fireballs to simulate blazar jets. The beams stayed stable, suggesting plasma ...
Nov. 6, 2025 — A new theory claims dark matter and dark energy don’t exist — they’re just side effects of the universe’s changing forces. By rethinking gravity and cosmic timelines, it could rewrite our ...
Nov. 5, 2025 — Researchers using new simulations suggest that the Milky Way’s past collisions may have reshaped its dark matter core. This distorted structure could naturally explain the puzzling gamma-ray glow ...
Nov. 4, 2025 — Scientists at TU Wien found that electrons need specific “doorway states” to escape solids, not just energy. The insight explains long-standing anomalies in experiments and unlocks new ways to ...
Nov. 4, 2025 — Astronomers are rethinking one of cosmology’s biggest mysteries: dark energy. New findings show that evolving dark energy models, tied to ultra-light axion particles, may better fit the ...
Nov. 3, 2025 — Physicists have uncovered how direct atom-atom interactions can amplify superradiance, the collective burst of light from atoms working in sync. By incorporating quantum entanglement into their ...
Oct. 31, 2025 — Penn State scientists have devised a new method to predict superconducting materials that could work at higher temperatures. Their model bridges classical superconductivity theory with quantum ...
Oct. 30, 2025 — Two recently observed black hole mergers, occurring just weeks apart in late 2024, have opened an extraordinary new window into the universe’s most ...