Research
Scientists find strange black 'superionic ice' that could exist inside other planets
Using the Advanced Photon Source, scientists have recreated the structure of ice formed at the center of planets like Neptune and Uranus.
Using the Advanced Photon Source, scientists have recreated the structure of ice formed at the center of planets like Neptune and Uranus.
Everyone knows about ice, liquid, and vapor—but, depending on the conditions, water can actually form more than a dozen different structures. Scientists have now added a new phase to the list: superionic ice.
This type of ice forms at extremely high temperatures and pressures, such as those deep inside planets like Neptune and Uranus. Previously superionic ice had only been glimpsed in a brief instant as scientists sent a shockwave through a droplet of water, but in a new study published in Nature Physics, scientists found a way to reliably create, sustain and examine the ice.
Earth's water was around before Earth
To understand how life emerged, scientists investigate the chemistry of carbon and water. In the case of water, they track the various forms, or isotopes, of its constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms over the history of the universe, like a giant treasure hunt.
To understand how life emerged, scientists investigate the chemistry of carbon and water. In the case of water, they track the various forms, or isotopes, of its constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms over the history of the universe, like a giant treasure hunt.
Researchers from the CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), and the University of Pau and the Pays de l'Adour (UPPA), with support from the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), have followed the trail of the isotopic composition of water back to the start of the solar system, in the inner regions where Earth and the other terrestrial planets were formed.
Could the blueprint for life have been generated in asteroids?
Using new analyses, scientists have just found the last two of the five informational units of DNA and RNA that had yet to be discovered in samples from meteorites.
Using new analyses, scientists have just found the last two of the five informational units of DNA and RNA that had yet to be discovered in samples from meteorites.
While it is unlikely that DNA could be formed in a meteorite, this discovery demonstrates that these genetic parts are available for delivery and could have contributed to the development of the instructional molecules on early Earth.
The discovery, by an international team with NASA researchers, gives more evidence that chemical reactions in asteroids can make some of life's ingredients, which could have been delivered to ancient Earth by meteorite impacts or perhaps the infall of dust.
Developing a new approach for building quantum computers
Quantum computing, though still in its early days, has the potential to dramatically increase processing power by harnessing the strange behavior of particles at the smallest scales.
Quantum computing, though still in its early days, has the potential to dramatically increase processing power by harnessing the strange behavior of particles at the smallest scales.
Some research groups have already reported performing calculations that would take a traditional supercomputer thousands of years.
In the long term, quantum computers could provide unbreakable encryption and simulations of nature beyond today's capabilities.
New evidence that water separates into two different liquids at low temperatures
A new kind of "phase transition" in water was first proposed 30 years ago in a study by researchers from Boston University.
A new kind of "phase transition" in water was first proposed 30 years ago in a study by researchers from Boston University. Because the transition has been predicted to occur at supercooled conditions, however, confirming its existence has been a challenge.
That's because, at these low temperatures, water really does not want to be a liquid, instead, it wants to rapidly become ice. Because of its hidden status, much is still unknown about this liquid-liquid phase transition, unlike the everyday examples of phase transitions in water between a solid or vapor phase and a liquid phase.
This new evidence, published in Nature Physics, represents a significant step forward in confirming the idea of a liquid-liquid phase transition first proposed in 1992.
A new experimental study tackles the unsolved mystery of 'nanobubbles'
Nanobubbles are extremely small (i.e., nanoscopic) gaseous cavities that some physicists observed in aqueous solutions, typically after specific substances were dissolved in them.
Nanobubbles are extremely small (i.e., nanoscopic) gaseous cavities that some physicists observed in aqueous solutions, typically after specific substances were dissolved in them.
While some studies reported the observation of these incredibly tiny bubbles, some scientists have argued that they are merely solid or oily residues formed during experiments.
Researchers at Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados Unidad Monterrey and Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas Unidad Monterrey in Mexico have recently carried out an experiment aimed at further investigating the nature of these elusive and mysterious objects, specifically when xenon and krypton were dissolved in water.
Their study, featured in Physical Review Letters, identified the formation of what the team refers to as "nanoblobs," yet found no evidence of nanobubbles.
New phases of water detected
Scientists at the University of Cambridge have discovered that water in a one-molecule layer acts like neither a liquid nor a solid, and that it becomes highly conductive at high pressures.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge have discovered that water in a one-molecule layer acts like neither a liquid nor a solid and that it becomes highly conductive at high pressures.
Much is known about how "bulk water" behaves: it expands when it freezes, and it has a high boiling point. But when water is compressed to the nanoscale, its properties change dramatically.
By developing a new way to predict this unusual behavior with unprecedented accuracy, the researchers have detected several new phases of water at the molecular level.