Phys.org, Author at Spotlight Magazine

This featherweight elastic suit could transform everyday movement in ways most people would never expect

A team of Korean researchers has developed a lightweight elastic suit that can support the activities of various groups experiencing physical burdens in daily life, raising expectations.This post was originally published on this site

Colored films enable patterns on photovoltaic modules

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have succeeded in creating colored films with transparent cutouts, thereby producing realistic-looking designs on photovoltaic modules. In this way, roof tiles, for example, can be […]

Milky Way’s ‘little cousins’ may hold clues about infant universe

Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies—tiny satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way—have long been seen as cosmic fossils. Now, a new study published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society uses an unprecedented set of simulations […]

Retrospective genre bias can misread art; AI helps recover original context

Featuring gory attacks by bloodthirsty vampires, one may be quick to categorize “Sinners” as a horror movie. That classification, however, may not be fair to the artists who created it. In “Sinners,” the creators cleverly […]

We think norms spread by imitation, but one deceptively simple rule tells a more human story

A paper appearing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers a strikingly simple answer to a longstanding question: How do people learn and settle on shared social conventions, from everyday habits to workplace […]

Creating green materials with light could transform clean energy

Metal-organic frameworks, better known as MOFs, are among the most intensely studied materials for addressing major environmental challenges. Their highly ordered, ultra-porous architecture enables applications ranging from CO2 capture and air or water purification to […]

Divergent moral values could make groups more accepting of norm-breaking behavior

Individuals in a morally diverse community tend to believe that the community’s norms are looser. In turn, norm violations are more accepted, and there is a reduced willingness to police transgressions, according to research by […]

New 3D device harnesses living brain cells for computing

Princeton researchers have combined brain cells and advanced electronics into a single 3D device that can be programmed to recognize patterns using computational techniques. Past attempts at using brain cells to do computation have relied […]

Women in science: Global study finds presence without power

Academia isn’t strong on gender equality. Women are underrepresented throughout, in the research workforce and even more so as leaders in scientific organizations. This is true for science academies (prestigious bodies within national science systems) […]

Q&A: Nature plays role in national security

The security of every nation faces an increasingly severe and frequent threat: disruptions to nature. According to Bradley J. Cardinale, professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management in the Penn State College of […]