Discovery of a Dying Supermassive Black Hole by Accident – Via a 3,000-Year-Long Light Echo
Supermassive black holes (SMBH) occupy the center of galaxies, with masses ranging from one million to 10 billion solar masses. Some SMBHs are in a…
Tohoku University
Changing the Silkworm’s Diet to Spin Silk 2x Stronger
Tohoku University researchers have produced cellulose nanofiber (CNF) synthesized silk naturally through a simple tweak to silkworms’ diet. Mixing CNF with commercially available food and…
New Ultrafast Control Scheme for Energy-Efficient Data Storage of the Future
The digital data generated around the world every year is now counted in zettabytes, or trillions of billions of bytes — equivalent to delivering data…
Newly Discovered Greenland Hot Rock Mantle Plume Drives Thermal Activities in the Arctic
A team of researchers understands more about the melting of the Greenland ice sheet. They discovered a flow of hot rocks, known as a mantle…
Grabbing Viruses Out of Thin Air: Portable Sensors for Detecting COVID-19 and Other Viruses
The future could hold portable and wearable sensors for detecting viruses and bacteria in the surrounding environment. But we’re not there yet. Scientists at Tohoku…
Concrete New Evidence That Big Volcanic Eruption Caused the Largest Mass Extinction
Researchers in Japan, the US, and China say they have found more concrete evidence of the volcanic cause of the largest mass extinction of life….
Qubits Hold Quantum Information for 10,000 Times Longer Than Previous Record – Paves Way for Large Quantum Computers
Quantum bits, or qubits, can hold quantum information much longer now thanks to efforts by an international research team. The researchers have increased the retention…
SnS Crystals Open Pathway for Improved Next Generation Solar Cells
Tin monosulfide (SnS) is a promising material used for next generation solar cells because of its nontoxic characteristics and abundance, in addition to its excellent…
Energy-Efficient Tuning of Spintronic Neurons to Imitate the Non-linear Oscillatory Neural Networks of the Human Brain
The human brain efficiently executes highly sophisticated tasks, such as image and speech recognition, with an exceptionally lower energy budget than today’s computers can. The…
Ion Conducting Polymer Crucial to Improving Neuromorphic Devices
“Neuromorphic” refers to mimicking the behavior of brain neural cells. When one speaks of neuromorphic computers, they are talking about making computers think and process…
Using DNA in the Water to Tell How Many Fish There Are in Rivers, Lakes, and Seas
River water, lake water, and seawater contain DNA belonging to organisms such as animals and plants. Ecologists have begun to actively analyze such DNA molecules,…
New Origin of Supermassive Black Holes Revealed by Supercomputer Simulation
Computer simulations conducted by astrophysicists at Tohoku University in Japan, have revealed a new theory for the origin of supermassive black holes. In this theory,…
Experiment Reveals Ancient Asteroid Impacts Created the Ingredients of Life on Earth and Mars
A new study reveals that asteroid impact sites in the ocean may possess a crucial link in explaining the formation of the essential molecules for…
Journey to the Center of Mars – Investigating the Composition of the Red Planet
While InSight’s seismometer has been patiently waiting for the next big marsquake to illuminate its interior and define its crust-mantle-core structure, two scientists, Takashi Yoshizaki…
Self-Moisturising Smart Contact Lenses – Electroosmotic Flow Used to Keep Eyes Moist
Researchers at Tohoku University have developed a new type of smart contact lenses that can prevent dry eyes. The self-moisturizing system, which is described in…
New, Young Volcano Discovered in the Pacific Ocean
Researchers from Tohoku University have discovered a new petit-spot volcano at the oldest section of the Pacific Plate. The research team, led by Associate Professor…
First Evidence of Bio-Essential Sugars in Meteorites
Sugar Delivered to Earth From Space Researchers from Tohoku University, Hokkaido University, JAMSTEC, and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center investigated meteorites and found ribose and…
Researchers Strengthen Machines That Produce “Super Engineering Plastics”
Industrial and automotive machinery, such as automotive engine parts, contain materials that are, heat-, wear-, and corrosion-resistant. They are known as “super engineering plastics,” and…