Thermodynamics News

August 8, 2025

Top Headlines

AI Just Found 5 Powerful Materials That Could Replace Lithium Batteries

Aug. 2, 2025 — AI is helping scientists crack the code on next-gen batteries that could replace lithium-ion tech. By discovering novel porous materials, researchers may have paved the way for more powerful and sustainable energy storage using abundant elements ...

Building Electronics That Don’t Die: Columbia's Breakthrough at CERN

July 29, 2025 — Deep beneath the Swiss-French border, the Large Hadron Collider unleashes staggering amounts of energy and radiation—enough to fry most electronics. Enter a team of Columbia engineers, who built ultra-rugged, radiation-resistant chips that now ...

Digital Twins Are Reinventing Clean Energy — But There’s a Catch

July 29, 2025 — Researchers are exploring AI-powered digital twins as a game-changing tool to accelerate the clean energy transition. These digital models simulate and optimize real-world energy systems like wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, and biomass. But while ...

Scientists Twist DNA Into Self-building Nanostructures That Could Transform Technology

July 20, 2025 — Scientists have used DNA's self-assembling properties to engineer intricate moiré superlattices at the nanometer scale—structures that twist and layer like never before. With clever molecular ...

One Tiny Trick Just Broke Light’s Oldest Rule — And Changed Optics Forever

July 14, 2025 — Researchers have cracked a fundamental optical challenge: how to control both angle and wavelength of light independently—a problem that’s limited imaging and display technologies for years. By ...

Breakthrough Battery Lets Physicists Reverse Entanglement—and Rewrite Quantum Law

July 7, 2025 — Scientists have finally uncovered a quantum counterpart to Carnot’s famed second law, showing that entanglement—once thought stubbornly irreversible—can be shuffled back and forth without loss ...

Invisible Quantum Waves Forge Shape-shifting Super-materials in Real Time

June 20, 2025 — Scientists have, for the first time, directly observed phonon wave dynamics within self-assembling nanomaterials unlocking the potential for customizable, reconfigurable metamaterials with applications ranging from shock absorbers to advanced ...

This Quantum Sensor Tracks 3D Movement Without GPS

June 14, 2025 — Physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder have created a groundbreaking quantum device that can measure 3D acceleration using ultracold atoms, something once thought nearly impossible. By chilling rubidium atoms to near absolute zero and ...

Atmospheric Chemistry Keeps Pollutants in the Air

June 3, 2025 — A new study details processes that keep pollutants aloft despite a drop in ...

Does Outdoor Air Pollution Affect Indoor Air Quality? It Could Depend on Buildings' HVAC

May 30, 2025 — Researchers determined how much outdoor particulate pollution affects indoor air quality. Their study concluded pollution from inversion and dust events is kept out of buildings, but wildfire smoke ...

An Iron Oxide 'Oxygen Sponge' for Efficient Thermochemical Hydrogen Production

May 29, 2025 — As the world shifts toward sustainable energy sources, 'green hydrogen' - hydrogen produced without emitting carbon - has emerged as a leading candidate for clean power. Scientists have now developed ...

Solitonic Superfluorescence Paves Way for High-temperature Quantum Materials

May 28, 2025 — A new study in Nature describes both the mechanism and the material conditions necessary for superfluorescence at high ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:14pm EDT

AI Cracks a Meteorite’s Secret: A Material That Defies Heat

Aug. 5, 2025 — A rare mineral from a 1724 meteorite defies the rules of heat flow, acting like both a crystal and a glass. Thanks to AI and quantum physics, researchers uncovered its bizarre ability to maintain ...

Defying Physics: This Rare Crystal Cools Itself Using Pure Magnetism

July 6, 2025 — Deep in Chile’s Atacama Desert, scientists studied a green crystal called atacamite—and discovered it can cool itself dramatically when placed in a magnetic field. Unlike a regular fridge, this ...

Scientists Just Solved a 40-Year-Old Mystery About Quasicrystals

June 14, 2025 — Scientists at the University of Michigan have unlocked a long-standing mystery about quasicrystals exotic materials that straddle the line between the orderly structure of crystals and the chaos of ...

Cryogenic Hydrogen Storage and Delivery System for Next-Generation Aircraft

May 28, 2025 — Researchers have designed a liquid hydrogen storage and delivery system that could help make zero-emission aviation a reality. Their work outlines a scalable, integrated system that addresses several ...

Machine Learning Simplifies Industrial Laser Processes

May 27, 2025 — Laser-based metal processing enables the automated and precise production of complex components, whether for the automotive industry or for medicine. However, conventional methods require time- and ...

New Fuel Cell Could Enable Electric Aviation

May 27, 2025 — Engineers developed a fuel cell that offers more than three times as much energy per pound compared to lithium-ion batteries. Powered by a reaction between sodium metal and air, the device could be ...

Engineers Discover a New Class of Materials That Passively Harvest Water from Air

May 24, 2025 — A serendipitous observation has led to a surprising discovery: a new class of nanostructured materials that can pull water from the air, collect it ...

Efficiency Upgrade for OLED Screens: A Route to Blue PHOLED Longevity

May 23, 2025 — Blue phosphorescent OLEDs can now last as long as the green phosphorescent OLEDs already in devices, researchers have demonstrated, paving the way for further improving the energy efficiency of OLED ...

Extreme Weather Cycles Change Underwater Light at Lake Tahoe

May 21, 2025 — Large shifts in UV radiation at Lake Tahoe are associated with wet and dry climate extremes, finds a new ...

Personal Space Chemistry Suppressed by Perfume and Body Lotion Indoors

May 21, 2025 — In 2022 a team discovered that high levels of OH radicals can be generated indoors, simply due to the presence of people and ozone. This means: People generate their own oxidation field and change ...

Chemists Develop Compact Catenane With Tuneable Mechanical Chirality

May 19, 2025 — A team of chemists has made significant strides in the field of mechanically interlocked molecules (MIMs). Their work showcases the development of a compact catenane with tuneable mechanical ...

A Novel Hybrid Charge Transfer Crystal With Reversible Color-Changing Property

May 15, 2025 — Charge transfer, or the movement of electrons, can occur either within a molecule or between two molecules. Combining the two types of charge transfer is challenging. Now, scientists have developed a ...

Got Data? Breastfeeding Device Measures Babies' Milk Intake in Real Time

May 14, 2025 — New device can give peace of mind and reduce anxiety for breastfeeding moms. It uses bioimpedance, which is currently used to measure body fat, and streams clinical-grade data to a smartphone or ...

Tapping a New Toolbox, Engineers Buck Tradition in New High-Performing Heat Exchanger

May 12, 2025 — A team engineers created a twisty high-temperature heat exchanger that outperformed a traditional straight channel design in heat transfer, power density and effectiveness and used an innovative ...

Satellite Measures CO2 and NO2 Simultaneously from Power Plant Emissions for the First Time

May 9, 2025 — A research team used the German environmental satellite EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) to simultaneously detect the two key air pollutants carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen ...

Mercury Levels in the Atmosphere Have Decreased Throughout the 21st Century

May 8, 2025 — Mercury is released by environmental and human-driven processes. And some forms, specifically methylmercury, are toxic to humans. Therefore, policies and regulations to limit mercury emissions have ...

Advancing Electrocatalyst Discovery Through the Lens of Data Science

May 8, 2025 — Data science has revolutionized the hunt for high-performing catalysts, enabling scientists to quickly identify and test suitable ...

New Microscope Reveals Heat Flow in Materials for Green Energy

May 8, 2025 — Scientists have developed a new microscope that significantly improves the way heat flow in materials can be measured. This advancement could lead to better designs for electronic devices and energy ...

Groundbreaking Device Instantly Detects Dangerous Street Drugs, Offering Hope for Harm Reduction

May 7, 2025 — Groundbreaking device instantly detects dangerous street drugs, offering hope for harm reduction A portable device that instantly detects illicit street drugs at very low concentrations, thereby ...

Smart Spongy Device Captures Water from Thin Air

May 7, 2025 — Engineers have invented a sponge-like device that captures water from thin air and then releases it in a cup using the sun's energy, even in low humidity where other technologies such as fog ...

'Cold' Manufacturing Approach to Make Next-Gen Batteries

May 2, 2025 — Lithium-ion batteries have been a staple in device manufacturing for years, but the liquid electrolytes they rely on to function are quite unstable, leading to fire hazards and safety concerns. Now, ...

Shelters at Bus Stops Intended to Provide Relief from Heat Can Actually Result in Higher Temperatures

May 1, 2025 — Some public transit shelter designs can actually do more harm than good when it comes to shielding from summer temperatures, according to a new ...

Green Nickel for Sustainable Electrification

Apr. 30, 2025 — Scientists have developed a carbon-free, energy-saving method to extract nickel for batteries and stainless ...

Rapid Lithium Extraction Eliminates Use of Acid and High Heat, Scientists Report

Apr. 30, 2025 — Lightweight lithium metal is a heavy-hitting critical mineral, serving as the key ingredient in the rechargeable batteries that power phones, laptops, electric vehicles and more. As ubiquitous as ...

Physicists Uncover Hidden Order in the Quantum World Through Deconfined Quantum Critical Points

Apr. 25, 2025 — A recent study has unraveled some of the secrets concealed within the entangled web of quantum ...

High-Tech Sticker Can Identify Real Human Emotions

Apr. 21, 2025 — Saying one thing while feeling another is part of being human, but bottling up emotions can have serious psychological consequences like anxiety or panic attacks. To help health care providers tell ...

A Wearable Smart Insole Can Track How You Walk, Run and Stand

Apr. 18, 2025 — A new smart insole system that monitors how people walk in real time could help users improve posture and provide early warnings for conditions from plantar fasciitis to Parkinson's ...

A Cool Fix for Hot Chips: Advanced Thermal Management Technology for Electronic Devices

Apr. 17, 2025 — Researchers have demonstrated a significant performance increase in cooling technology for high-power electronic devices. They designed novel capillary geometries that push the boundaries of thermal ...

A New Super Metal Stands Strong, No Matter the Temperature

Apr. 16, 2025 — A research team develops a new alloy that maintains tensile properties from -196 degrees Celsius to 600 degrees ...

Physics Reveals the Optimal Roof Ratios for Energy Efficiency

Apr. 14, 2025 — There are roof shapes and ratios that maximize heat retainment and energy efficiency and, interestingly, ancient Italian architects and builders seemed to know it, ...