electrical

Photo of the experimental laboratory model for detecting hidden attractors in the Chua circuit. Credit: St. Petersburg State University Scientists from St Petersburg University and the Kotelnikov Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IRE RAS), together with Professor Leon Chua from the University of California, Berkeley, have demonstrated experimentally the existence of hidden…

Copper Labs just launched a neighborhood-level detector that wirelessly unlocks data from utility meters at scale, without the need for retrofits. Consumers will be able to access that data in near real time so they can tailor their electricity use as they charge their EVs and increasingly electrify their homes in order to save money. Copper Labs already has a household-level detector deployed in up to five US states that’s offered to customers by such utilities as National Grid and Xcel Energy.…

Cross-section of a fulgurite sample showing fused sand and melted conductor metal from a downed powerline. Credit: Luca Bindi et al A team of researchers from Università di Firenze, the University of South Florida, California Institute of Technology and Princeton University has found an incidence of a quasicrystal formed during an accidental electrical discharge. …

The brain’s natural defenses can make tumors in this part of the body difficult to treat, but scientists have found some early success using electrical fields in laboratory models. The technique involves using electrical energy to selectively target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed, with the scientists also demonstrating how it could be used to open up the blood-brain barrier for more effective chemotherapy.The work was carried out by researchers at the University of Saskatchewan and looks to leverage…

With an ability to turn friction into small amounts of electricity, triboelectric generators may one day be used in clothes that turn movement into power, in battery-free brain implants, and a host of other scenarios. Scientists working on cheap and easy versions of these tiny generators have landed upon a design that makes use of store-bought double-sided tape, and which they say can perform on par with more complex versions when it comes to producing electricity.We’ve seen many versions of triboelectric generators over…

It's a sad fact that threatened species of sharks are routinely caught on fishing lines intended for other types of fish. A new device could help change that, by harmlessly scaring sharks away from baited hooks via pulses of electricity.Known as SharkGuard, the gadget is manufactured by British company Fishtek Marine. It's designed for use on longline fishing rigs, which consist of a long main line with baited hooks attached at intervals via short branch lines.Attached to each branch line directly above the hook, the…

By using machine learning and cutting-edge microscopes, scientists have uncovered what they believe to be a new form of communication between cancer cells. Described as a “type of electrical language,” the discovery may be key to the way cells within the same tumor work together to coordinate growth, and suggests breaking down these communications could offer new ways to treat the disease.Shifts in electrical activity are known to take place in various cells in the human body, such as those in the heart that facilitate…

Red sprites formed above thunderstorms in the southeast Aegean Sea, as captured from the eastern suburbs of Athens, Greece on December 4, 2021. Credit: Copyright Thanasis PapathanasiouA flash of lightning, and then – something else. High above the storm, a crimson figure blinks in and out of existence. If you saw it, you are a lucky witness to a sprite, one of the least-understood electrical phenomena in Earth’s upper atmosphere. But if you caught it on camera, your photo could contribute to a ground-breaking scientific…

Renewable energy – solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, biomass – provided almost a quarter of electrical generation in the US during the first two-thirds of 2022, according to data just released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), which was reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign. The latest issue of EIA’s “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through August 31, 2022) reflects that, year-to-date, renewables provided 23.3% of total US electrical generation, compared to 20.6% a year earlier.  Further,…

Kinetic installation artist David Bowen has given a rhododendron a really big knife, the power to use it, and therefore, a degree of agency not enjoyed by the kingdom Plantae since the Cambrian era. His latest piece, Plant Machete, melds a woody shrub with an industrial robot arm and slaps a machete to the business end of it. On the other end, a series of electrical pickups monitor the bioelectrical noise generated by the plant. “The system uses an open source microcontroller connected to the plant to read varying…