science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Πέμπτη 18 Ιουλίου 2013

Science News SciGuru.com

Broadband photodetector for polarized light
"Intelligent knife" tells surgeon which tissue is cancerous
Deciphering Butterflies’ Designer Colors: Findings Could Inspire New Hue-Changing Materials

Broadband photodetector for polarized light

Posted: 17 Jul 2013 02:06 PM PDT

Using carpets of aligned carbon nanotubes, researchers from Rice University and Sandia National Laboratories have created a solid-state electronic device that is hardwired to detect polarized light across a broad swath of the visible and infrared spectrum.

The research is available online from the American Chemical Society’s journal ACS Nano.

"Intelligent knife" tells surgeon which tissue is cancerous

Posted: 17 Jul 2013 11:00 AM PDT

Scientists have developed an "intelligent knife" that can tell surgeons immediately whether the tissue they are cutting is cancerous or not.

In the first study to test the invention in the operating theatre, the "iKnife" diagnosed tissue samples from 91 patients with 100 per cent accuracy, instantly providing information that normally takes up to half an hour to reveal using laboratory tests.

Deciphering Butterflies’ Designer Colors: Findings Could Inspire New Hue-Changing Materials

Posted: 17 Jul 2013 09:34 AM PDT

Butterfly wings can do remarkable things with light, and humans are still trying to learn from them. Physicists have now uncovered how subtle differences in the tiny crystals of butterfly wings create stunningly varied patterns of color even among closely related species. The discovery, reported today in the Optical Society’s (OSA) open-access journal Optical Materials Express, could lead to new coatings for manufactured materials that could change color by design, if researchers can figure out how to replicate the wings’ light-manipulating properties.