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Human biology inspires”unbreakable” encryption.

Researchers at Lancaster University, UK have taken a hint from the way the human lungs and heart constantly communicate with each other, to devise an innovative, highly flexible encryption algorithm that they claim can’t be broken using the traditional methods of cyberattack.

Information can be encrypted with an array of different algorithms, but the question of which method is the most secure is far from trivial. Such algorithms need a “key” to encrypt and decrypt information; the algorithms typically generate their keys using a well-known set of rules that can only admit a very large, but nonetheless finite number of possible keys. This means that in principle, given enough time and computing power, prying eyes can always break the code eventually.

The researchers, led by Dr. Tomislav Stankovski, created an encryption mechanism that can generate a truly unlimited number of keys, which they say vastly increases the security of the communication. To do so, they took inspiration from the anatomy of the human body.

In nature, different systems within a living organism often interact with each other, exchanging matter and energy. The interaction between two such systems (for instance, that of the human lungs and heart) can be described by a so-called “coupling function.”

Rather than relying on a single system for the encryption, the researchers decided to use two, and use the coupling function between them as the encryption key. Although somewhat laborious, this method has the advantage of creating an infinite number of possible keys, meaning that eavesdroppers cannot simply bruteforce their way into sensitive information.

For the more technically minded, here’s how it all works. An information signal reaches the transmitter and is used as a parameter in the coupling function between two self-sustained systems, both generated inside the transmitter. The two signals are then sent over the public channel. At the other end, these two signals synchronize with the receiver and, using a private key that contains information on the coupling functions, the algorithm can infer the original parameters and decrypt the information.

The scientists say that their method is highly resistant from noise, that it can easily transmit several signals at once, and that it is highly modular, making it suitable to a wide range of applications.

A paper describing this patent-pending algorithm appears in the journalPhysical Review X.

Source: Lancaster University

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Nanoparticles found to violate second law of thermodynamics.

It may be a little late for April Fool’s, but some skepticism is nonetheless warranted when reading that researchers have shown nanoparticles to disobey a fundamental law of physics which dictates the flow of entropy and heat in, it was believed, any situation. Specifically, researchers from three universities theoretically proposed then demonstrated that a nanoparticle in a state of thermal non-equilibrium does not always behave as larger particles might under the same conditions, with implications for various fields of research.

The second law of thermodynamics is the one that makes perpetual motion machines impossible. It states that the entropy – the measure for the disorder of a system – of any isolated system cannot decrease spontaneously, with the system evolving towards the state of maximum entropy (favoring disorder). The team has shown that a nanoparticle trapped with laser light temporarily violates this law. This seeming violation of universal law is transient, something that the researchers first derived as a mathematical model of fluctuations expected at the nanoscale.

To test their theorem, scientists at the University of Vienna, the Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich trapped a nanosized silica sphere with a radius of less than 75 nm in a laser “trap.” Not only was the particle held in place, but could be precisely measured in three different directions, important when your particle is so small that 10,000 of them could line the width of a pinhead.

The nano-sphere was cooled lower than the temperature of the surrounding gas, creating a state of nonequilibrium. At a macro scale, a state of thermal non-equilibrium is what dictates that a snowman melts in a suddenly warming environment by absorbing heat from its surroundings, rather than growing more frozen by losing heat. A blindingly obvious example, yet at the nanoscale, such real-life observations are not without exception.

Indeed, by measuring the oscillations in the particle, the researchers were able to determine that the nanoparticle would, at times, effectively release heat to its warming surroundings rather than absorb heat.

Nanoparticles could range from natural parts within cells to man-made devices being developed in medicine and electronics. All of these particles experience random conditions due to their tiny scale. Both this experimental setup and the fluctuation theorem represent new ways to assess how nanoscale technology might fare when exposed to random environmental buffetings. Further studies are planned to further explore this phenomenon.

The research was originally published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Source: University of Vienna

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Stanford scientists find a new way to turn graphite into diamond

Pressure makes diamonds, but according to recent findings, there may also be a much quicker, hassle-free way. A team of researchers at Stanford University has stumbled upon a new way of turning graphite (the material used for pencil leads) into a diamond-like carbon structure simply by applying hydrogen over a platinum substrate, without the need to apply external pressure of any kind. The discovery could lead to easier and more flexible manufacturing of diamonds used in cutting tools and other industrial devices.

The excellent hardness, mechanical strength and thermal conductivity of diamonds means they have a wide range of scientific and industrial applications. Their uses range from heat sinks that cool down electronic components to “anvil cells” used to synthesize specific materials.

Synthetic diamonds are normally built by taking graphite (the material used for pencil leads, which is simply a stack of graphene layers) and applying extremely high pressures, on the order of 150 thousand atmospheres. The immense forces exerted on the graphene sheets are enough to reconfigure their atomic structure into a much more stable, diamond-like form.

But now, a new method discovered by chance by a team of Stanford researchers could make diamond manufacturing much simpler and more flexible.

While originally setting out to find a way to make graphene usable in transistors, the team led by researcher Sarp Kaya added a few layers of graphene to a platinum substrate, and then exposed the top graphene layers to hydrogen. Instead of producing a high-performance replacement for silicon like the scientists had hoped, the process started a chain reaction that altered the structure of all the graphene layers into much harder diamond-like structures.

After taking a closer look, the researchers found that the introduction of hydrogen creates chemical bonds between the bottom layer of graphene and the platinum substrate. The ability of platinum to create such bonds with graphene is what keeps this diamond-like film stable.

By using this new method, scientists may be able to understand and control the transition between the many allotropes of carbon, turning one into another at will by manipulating factors such as the number of graphene layers and the material used as a substrate.

Next-up, the researchers will investigate the possible applications of hydrogenated few-layer graphene and determine whether the diamond-like films can also be grown on substrates other than platinum.

Source: Stanford University

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Bacteria brews biofuel with potential to replace high-energy rocket fuel

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the US Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute have engineered a bacterium that could yield a new source of high-energy hydrocarbon fuel for rocketry and other aerospace uses.

High-energy, specific-use hydrocarbon fuels such as JP-10 can be extracted from oil, along with more commonly used petroleum fuels, but supplies are limited and prices are high – approaching US$7 per liter. That’s where the new bacterium, engineered by Georgia Tech scientists Stephen Sarria and Pamela Peralta-Yahya, could come in.

By introducing enzymes into the strain of E. coli bacterium a reaction is developed that yields pinene, a cyclic hydrocarbon related to isoprene – a major ingredient of pine resin and a vital precursor to a biofuel that offers an energy density comparable to JP-10.

The biofuel is then produced by “dimerising,” or linking together, two molecules of pinene via chemical catalysis.

“We have made a sustainable precursor to a tactical fuel with a high energy density,” says Peralta-Yahya, an assistant professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. “We are concentrating on making a ‘drop-in’ fuel that looks just like what is being produced from petroleum and can fit into existing distribution systems.”

Much research has gone into more efficient ways of producing ethanol andbiodiesel fuels, yet comparatively little work has been done on replacements for high-energy fuels. And while the Georgia Tech research has yielded impressive results, there are obstacles to be overcome before its process can be made competitive with the manufacture of petroleum-based JP-10.

One problem is that the action of the enzymes on the bacterium becomes inhibited once the yield of pinene solution reaches a particular concentration in its glucose growth medium.

“Now we need either an enzyme that is not inhibited at high substrate concentrations, or a pathway that can maintain low substrate concentrations throughout the run,” says Peralta-Yahya. “Both of these are difficult, but not insurmountable, problems. If you are trying to make an alternative to gasoline, you are competing against less than $1 per liter. That requires a long optimization process. Our process will be competitive with $7 per liter in a much shorter time.”

The team’s research appears in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology.

Source: Georgia Tech

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Bacteria combined with gold to produce “living material”

Scientists at MIT are developing hybrid materials that are a cross between living bacterial cells and non-living components such as gold nanoparticles or quantum dots. The resulting “living materials” are able to respond to their environment like regular living cells, while also doing things like conducting electricity or emitting light.

The research team, which was led by assistant professor of electrical engineering and biological engineering Timothy Lu, started with E. colibacteria. It was chosen because it normally produces a biofilm containing protein structures known as “curli fibers,” which help the bacteria cling to surfaces.

By selectively adding peptides to the fibers, the scientists made it possible for them to bond with items such as gold nanoparticles that had been introduced to their environment. The resulting gold particle-covered fibers formed into rows of gold nanowires, that allowed the biofilm to conduct electricity. The scientists also succeeded in producing biofilms that were covered in quantum dots, which are nanocrystals composed of semiconductor materials.

Lu and his team were inspired by materials like bone, which contains both minerals and living cells, and that grows in response to environmental cues. It is hoped that once more fully developed, the technology could be used in the production of items such as self-healing materials, batteries, solar cells, diagnostic sensors, or scaffolds for tissue engineering.

A paper on the research was recently published in the journal Nature Materials.

Source: MIT

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Scientists create world’s thinnest LEDs

In regular microchips, work is performed via the movement of electrons within the chip. Thanks to the recent creation of the thinnest-ever LEDs, however, such chips may one day be able to use light instead of electrons, saving power and reducing heat. Of course, those LEDs could also just be used as a really flat form of lighting, in any number of applications.

Created at the University of Washington, the two-dimensional LEDs are just three atoms thick, yet they’re still mechanically strong. Regular LEDs take a three-dimensional form, and as such are 10 to 20 times thicker.

They’re made from flat sheets of the molecular semiconductor tungsten diselenide. Those sheets are themselves created via a process much like that in which graphene is produced by peeling layers of carbon off of pieces of graphite, using adhesive tape.

“These are 10,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair, yet the light they emit can be seen by standard measurement equipment,” said graduate student Jason Ross. “This is a huge leap of miniaturization of technology, and because it’s a semiconductor, you can do almost everything with it that is possible with existing, three-dimensional silicon technologies.”

Ross worked with materials scientist Xiaodong Xu. A paper on their research was recently published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Source: University of Washington

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