Taking a cue from the self-cleaning properties of the lotus leaf, researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have shed new light on microscopic forces and mechanisms that can be optimized to remove dust from solar ...
Nanomaterials
Dec 9, 2019
3
542
The relationship between aerosols (particulate matter) and their cooling effect on the Earth due to the formation of clouds is more than twice as strong as was previously thought. As the amounts of aerosols decrease, climate ...
Environment
Dec 3, 2019
1
956
Building materials that clean themselves could save immense time and labor in homes and businesses, as well as reduce disease risk in settings such as hospitals. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces ...
Materials Science
Nov 20, 2019
0
16
In contrast to humans, plants cannot feel pain. However, so-called mechanical stimulation—rain, wind and physical impact from humans and animals—contributes to the activation of a plant's defence system at a biochemical ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 30, 2019
1
12
The supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy spat out an enormous flare of radiation 3.5 million years ago that would have been clearly visible from Earth.
Astronomy
Oct 8, 2019
14
154
Fears that efforts to reduce air pollution could dramatically speed up the process of global warming have been allayed with the publication of a landmark new study.
Environment
Aug 2, 2019
8
1041
Condensation might ruin a wood coffee table or fog up glasses when entering a warm building on a winter day, but it's not all inconveniences; the condensation and evaporation cycle has important applications.
Condensed Matter
Jun 25, 2019
0
1
The formation of air bubbles in a liquid appears very similar to its inverse process, the formation of liquid droplets from, say, a dripping water faucet. But the physics involved is actually quite different, and while those ...
General Physics
Jun 17, 2019
1
246
Controlling individual droplets leads to more efficient self-cleaning surfaces and lab-on-a-chip implementations. University of Groningen professor Patrick Onck and colleagues from Eindhoven University of Technology have ...
General Physics
Jun 17, 2019
0
110
A decade ago a new idea was brought into the general scientific community—shedding water from condensers was more efficient by using surface tension to make microscopic water droplets "jump" off the surface. The idea took ...
Condensed Matter
May 28, 2019
3
134
