Science News
The Path To Pure Polynitrogen—New Compound A Crucial Step Toward Revolutionary Energy Storage
New work from an international team led by Carnegie’s Alexander Goncharov synthesized a new material composed of six nitrogen atoms in a ring, bringing scientists one step closer to creating a long-theorized, pure-nitrogen solid that could revolutionize energy storage and propulsion.
Direct images of young exoplanet points to controversial disk instability theory
A recent study published in Nature Astronomy may have revealed the first visual evidence confirming the formation of a gas giant planet via the controversial disk instability method, which was first proposed by Carnegie’s Alan Boss in 1997.
Read more...Revealed: Water Determines Magma Depth. Finding Upends Long-Held Understanding Of Volcanic Storage.
New work from a Smithsonian-led team, including Carnegie’s Diana Roman, revealed what could be the most-important factor controlling the depth at which magma is stored under a volcano, upending long-held theories about the molten material’s upward journey through the Earth’s crust. Their findings—which could inform the creation of detailed models that more accurately forecast volcanic eruptions—are published in Science.
Read more...Discovered: An Easier Way To Create Flexible Diamonds
Recently, a team of scientists led by Carnegie’s Samuel Dunning and Timothy Strobel developed an original technique that predicts and guides the ordered creation of strong, yet flexible, diamond nanothreads, surmounting several existing challenges. The innovation will make it easier for scientists to predict and synthesize the nanothreads—an important step toward applying the material to practical problems in the future. The work was recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
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Organic molecules found in a meteorite that hurtled to Earth from Mars were synthesized during interactions between water and rocks that occurred on the Red Planet about 4 billion years ago, according to new analysis led by Carnegie’s Andrew Steele and published by Science.
Read more...Tracking down the forces that shaped our Solar System’s evolution
Meteorites are remnants of the building blocks that formed Earth and the other planets orbiting our Sun. Recent analysis of their isotopic makeup led by Carnegie’s Nicole Nie and published in Science Advances settles a longstanding debate about the geochemical evolution of our Solar System and our home planet.
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