(Press-News.org)
XPANCEO, a deep tech company developing the first smart contact lenses with XR vision, health monitoring, and content surfing features, in collaboration with the Nobel laureate Konstantin S. Novoselov (National University of Singapore, University of Manchester) and professor Luis Martin-Moreno (Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragon), has announced in Nature Communications a groundbreaking discovery of new properties of rhenium diselenide and rhenium disulfide, enabling novel mode of light-matter interaction with huge potential for integrated photonics, healthcare, and AR. Rhenium disulfide and rhenium diselenide are layered materials belonging to the family of graphene-like materials. Absorption and refraction in these materials have different principal directions, implying six degrees of freedom instead of a maximum of three in classical materials. As a result, rhenium disulfide and rhenium diselenide by themselves allow controlling the light propagation direction without any technological steps required for traditional materials like silicon and titanium dioxide.
The origin of such surprising light-matter interaction of ReS2 and ReSe2 with light is due to the specific symmetry breaking observed in these materials. Symmetry plays a huge role in nature, human life, and material science. For example, almost all living things are built symmetrically. Therefore, in ancient times symmetry was also called harmony, as it was associated with beauty. Physical laws are also closely related to symmetry, such as the laws of conservation of energy and momentum. Violation of symmetry leads to the appearance of new physical effects and radical changes in the properties of materials. In particular, the water-ice phase transition is a consequence of a decrease in the degree of symmetry. In the case of ReS2 and ReSe2, the crystal lattice has the lowest possible degree of symmetry, which leads to the rotation of optical axes - directions of symmetry of optical properties of the material, which was previously observed only for organic materials. As a result, these materials make possible to control the direction of light by changing the wavelength, which opens a unique way for light manipulation in next-generation devices and applications.
“The discovery of unique properties in anisotropic materials is revolutionizing the fields of nanophotonics and optoelectronics, presenting exciting possibilities. These materials serve as a versatile platform for the advancement of optical devices, such as wavelength-switchable metamaterials, metasurfaces, and waveguides. Among the promising applications is the development of highly efficient biochemical sensors. These sensors have the potential to outperform existing analogs in terms of both sensitivity and cost efficiency. For example, they are anticipated to significantly reduce the expenses associated with hospital blood testing equipment, which is currently quite costly, potentially by several orders of magnitude. This will also allow the detection of dangerous diseases and viruses, such as cancer or COVID, at earlier stages,” says Dr. Valentyn S. Volkov, co-founder and scientific partner at XPANCEO, a scientist with an h-Index of 38 and over 8000 citations in leading international publications.
Beyond the healthcare industry, these novel properties of graphene-like materials can find applications in artificial intelligence and machine learning, facilitating the development of photonic circuits to create a fast and powerful computer suitable for machine learning tasks. A computer based on photonic circuits is a superior solution, transmitting more information per unit of time, and unlike electric currents, photons (light beams) flow across one another without interacting. Furthermore, the new material properties can be utilized in producing smart optics, such as contact lenses or glasses, specifically for advancing AR features. Leveraging these properties will enhance image coloration and adapt images for individuals with impaired color perception, enabling them to see the full spectrum of colors.
END
More than 70% of American Indian young adults aged 20-39 and 50% of American Indian teens have cholesterol levels or elevated fat in the blood that put them at risk for cardiovascular disease, suggests a study supported by the National Institutes of Health. In some cases, these levels — specifically high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, often thought of as “bad cholesterol,” — were linked to plaque buildup and cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke.
The findings, ...
New research published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology reveals the effects of wearing cosmetic foundation during aerobic exercise on the skin and its pores.
The study included 43 healthy college students (20 males and 23 females). Foundation cream was applied to participants on half of the face in two different areas (forehead and upper cheek). The other half of the face served as control.
Moisture increased after exercise in both the non-makeup and makeup zones; however, there was a greater increase in moisture in the makeup zones. This may be a result of makeup preventing ...
An increasing number of space objects, debris, and satellites in Low Earth Orbit poses a significant threat of collisions during space operations. The situation is currently monitored by radar and radio-telescopes that track space objects, but much of space debris is composed of very small metallic objects that are difficult to detect. In a study published in IET Radar, Sonar & Navigation, investigators demonstrate the benefits of using deep learning—a form of artificial intelligence—for small space object detection by ...
Research in animals has shown that the diabetes drug dulaglutide, which is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist may reduce symptoms of depression. A new study published in Brain and Behavior reveals the mechanisms that are likely involved.
By conducting a range of tests in mice treated with and without dulaglutide, investigators confirmed the effects of dulaglutide on depressive-like behaviors, and they identified 64 different metabolites and four major pathways in the brain associated with these effects.
Markers of depression and the antidepressant effects of dulaglutide were linked to lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism, ...
Artificial intelligence (AI) programs have recently acquired widespread popularity in dermatology for assessing, diagnosing, and treating skin conditions. As reported in the International Journal of Dermatology, investigators recently analyzed all published studies from the last 10 years to evaluate current AI programs in use for dermatologic purposes, uncovering significant shortcomings when applied to skin of color (SOC).
The researchers identified various challenges when this technology is applied to SOC, ...
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) aims to broaden healthcare access, but its effect on maternal and newborn health among women with gestational diabetes—or diabetes that develops during pregnancy—across diverse demographics is unclear. In a study published in the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, researchers compared the impact of the implementation of the ACA on maternal and newborn health in Maryland (with ACA implementation) and Georgia (without ACA implementation) among 52,479 women.
The investigators found that after ACA implementation, Maryland showed improved newborn outcomes compared ...
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries have increased in recent decades among children. Because re-injuries after ACL reconstruction are higher in children compared with adults, anterolateral augmentation procedures may reduce re-injury rates after ACL reconstruction in youth. A comprehensive review published in the Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics marks the first attempt to present the outcomes and surgical methods of anterolateral augmentation procedures for skeletally immature patients.
“We found many different surgical techniques ...
A specific gene may play a key role in new treatments that prevent muscle in the body from breaking down in serious muscle diseases, muscular dystrophies. This is shown in a new study at Umeå University, Sweden. Protein expressed by the gene naturally prevents the muscles around the eye from being affected when other muscles in the body are broken down during muscular dystrophies. In the study, the so-called genetic scissors were used and the gene is expressed in all muscles. The effects were that muscular dystrophin was alleviated throughout the body.
"You could say that the eye muscles function as both an eye-opener for understanding the disease and as a door ...
WASHINGTON (March 6, 2024)--Despite progress toward cleaner air in the US, a new study suggests that communities of color across the nation are shouldering a growing burden of diseases linked to air pollution. A paper published today by researchers at the George Washington University suggests that racial and ethnic disparities in cases of pollutant-linked diseases like asthma increased during the last decade.
“Redlining and systemic racism have resulted in the least white areas of the US being located near factories, congested roadways or shipping routes with heavily ...
If you recently had trouble figuring out if an image of a person is real or generated through artificial intelligence (AI), you're not alone.
A new study from University of Waterloo researchers found that people had more difficulty than was expected distinguishing who is a real person and who is artificially generated.
The Waterloo study saw 260 participants provided with 20 unlabeled pictures: 10 of which were of real people obtained from Google searches, and the other 10 generated by Stable Diffusion or DALL-E, two commonly used AI programs that generate ...
