Combining two additives instead of one to facilitate the incorporation of lithium within capacitors: that is the solution proposed by researchers from l’Institut des matériaux Jean Rouxel (CNRS/Université de Nantes), in collaboration with Münster Electrochemical Energy Technology (University of Münster, Germany), in order to promote the low-cost, simple, and efficient development of the lithium-ion capacitors…
Aerial Robot That Can Morph In Flight
Marking a world first, researchers from the Étienne Jules Marey Institute of Movement Sciences (CNRS / Aix-Marseille Université) have drawn inspiration from birds to design an aerial robot capable of altering its profile during flight. To reduce its wingspan and navigate through tight spaces, it can reorient its arms, which are equipped with propellers that…
Shedding Light on Pluto’s Glaciers
What is the origin of the large heart-shaped nitrogen glacier revealed in 2015 on Pluto by theNew Horizons spacecraft? Two researchers from the Laboratoire de météorologie dynamique (CNRS/École polytechnique/UPMC/ENS Paris)[1] show that Pluto’s peculiar insolation and atmosphere favor nitrogen condensation near the equator, in the lower altitude regions, leading to an accumulation of ice at the…
Newborn Giant Planet Grazes Its Star
For the past 20 years, exoplanets known as ‘hot Jupiters’ have puzzled astronomers. These giant planets orbit 100 times closer to their host stars than Jupiter does to the Sun, which increases their surface temperatures. But how and when in their history did they migrate so close to their star? Now, an international team of…
Nanoporous Material’s Strange ‘Breathing’ Behavior
High-tech sponges of the infinitely small, nanoporous materials can capture and release gaseous or liquid chemicals in a controlled way. A team of French and German researchers from the Institut de Recherche de Chimie Paris (CNRS/Chimie ParisTech) and the Institut Charles Gerhardt de Montpellier (CNRS/Université de Montpellier/ENSCM) has developed and described one of these materials,…
Great Tilt Gave Mars a New Face
The surface of the planet Mars tilted by 20 to 25 degrees 3 to 3.5 billion years ago. This was caused by a massive volcanic structure, the Tharsis volcanic dome, which is the largest in the Solar System. Because of its extraordinary mass, it caused the outer layers of Mars (its crust and mantle) to…
Taking Transistors into a New Dimension
A new breakthrough could push the limits of the miniaturization of electronic components further than previously thought possible. A team at the Laboratoire d’Analyse et d’Architecture des Systèmes (LAAS-CNRS, Toulouse) and Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie (IEMN, CNRS / University of Lille 1 / University of Valenciennes and Hainaut-Cambresis / Isen) has built…