Highly dexterous robot hand can operate in the dark -- just like us

Columbia Engineers design a robot hand that is the first device of its kind to join advanced sense of touch with motor-learning algorithms--it doesn’t rely on vision to manipulate objects

Reports and Proceedings

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE

 

IMAGE: USING A SENSE OF TOUCH, A ROBOT HAND CAN MANIPULATE IN THE DARK, OR IN DIFFICULT LIGHTING CONDITIONS. view more 

CREDIT: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ROAM LAB

New York, NY—April 27, 2023—Think about what you do with your hands when you’re home at night pushing buttons on your TV’s remote control, or at a restaurant using all kinds of cutlery and glassware. These skills are all based on touch, while you’re watching a TV program or choosing something from the menu. Our hands and fingers are incredibly skilled mechanisms, and highly sensitive to boot.

Robotics researchers have long been trying to create “true” dexterity in robot hands, but the goal has been frustratingly elusive. Robot grippers and suction cups can pick and place items, but more dexterous tasks such as assembly, insertion, reorientation, packaging, etc. have remained in the realm of human manipulation. However, spurred by advances in both sensing technology and machine-learning techniques to process the sensed data, the field of robotic manipulation is changing very rapidly.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/mYlc_OWgkyI

Highly dexterous robot hand even works in the dark

Researchers at Columbia Engineering have demonstrated a highly dexterous robot hand, one that combines an advanced sense of touch with motor learning algorithms in order to achieve a high level of dexterity. 

As a demonstration of skill, the team chose a difficult manipulation task: executing an arbitrarily large rotation of an unevenly shaped grasped object in hand while always maintaining the object in a stable, secure hold. This is a very difficult task because it requires constant repositioning of a subset of fingers, while the other fingers have to keep the object stable. Not only was the hand able to perform this task, but it also did it without any visual feedback whatsoever, based solely on touch sensing. 

In addition to the new levels of dexterity, the hand worked without any external cameras, so it's immune to lighting, occlusion, or similar issues. And the fact that the hand does not rely on vision to manipulate objects means that it can do so in very difficult lighting conditions that would confuse vision-based algorithms--it can even operate in the dark.

“While our demonstration was on a proof-of-concept task, meant to illustrate the capabilities of the hand, we believe that this level of dexterity will open up entirely new applications for robotic manipulation in the real world,” said Matei Ciocarlie, associate professor in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. “Some of the more immediate uses might be in logistics and material handling, helping ease up supply chain problems like the ones that have plagued our economy in recent years, and in advanced manufacturing and assembly in factories.”

Leveraging optics-based tactile fingers

In earlier work, Ciocarlie’s group collaborated with Ioannis Kymissis, professor of electrical engineering, to develop a new generation of optics-based tactile robot fingers. These were the first robot fingers to achieve contact localization with sub-millimeter precision while providing complete coverage of a complex multi-curved surface. In addition, the compact packaging and low wire count of the fingers allowed for easy integration into complete robot hands. 

Teaching the hand to perform complex tasks

For this new work, led by CIocarlie’s doctoral researcher, Gagan Khandate, the researchers designed and built a robot hand with five fingers and 15 independently actuated joints--each finger was equipped with the team’s touch-sensing technology. The next step was to test the ability of the tactile hand to perform complex manipulation tasks. To do this, they used new methods for motor learning, or the ability of a robot to learn new physical tasks via practice. In particular, they used a method called deep reinforcement learning, augmented with new algorithms that they developed for effective exploration of possible motor strategies. 

Robot completed approximately one year of practice in only hours of real-time

The input to the motor learning algorithms consisted exclusively of the team’s tactile and proprioceptive data, without any vision. Using simulation as a training ground, the robot completed approximately one year of practice in only hours of real-time, thanks to modern physics simulators and highly parallel processors. The researchers then transferred this manipulation skill trained in simulation to the real robot hand, which was able to achieve the level of dexterity the team was hoping for. Ciocarlie noted that “the directional goal for the field remains assistive robotics in the home, the ultimate proving ground for real dexterity. In this study, we've shown that robot hands can also be highly dexterous based on touch sensing alone. Once we also add visual feedback into the mix along with touch, we hope to be able to achieve even more dexterity, and one day start approaching the replication of the human hand.”

Ultimate goal: joining abstract intelligence with embodied intelligence

Ultimately, Ciocarlie observed, a physical robot being useful in the real world needs both abstract, semantic intelligence (to understand conceptually how the world works), and embodied intelligence (the skill to physically interact with the world). Large language models such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 or Google’s PALM aim to provide the former, while dexterity in manipulation as achieved in this study represents complementary advances in the latter.  

For instance, when asked how to make a sandwich, ChatGPT will type out a step-by-step plan in response, but it takes a dexterous robot to take that plan and actually make the sandwich. In the same way, researchers hope that physically skilled robots will be able to take semantic intelligence out of the purely virtual world of the Internet, and put it to good use on real-world physical tasks, perhaps even in our homes.

The paper has been accepted for publication at the upcoming Robotics: Science and Systems Conference (Daegu, Korea, July 10-14, 2023), and is currently available as a preprint.

About the Study

Conference: Robotics: Science and Systems Conference (Daegu, Korea, July 10-14, 2023)

The study is titled “Sampling-based Exploration for Reinforcement Learning of Dexterous Manipulation.” 

Authors are all from Columbia Engineering: Gagan Khandate and Tristan Luca Saidi (Computer Science), Siqi Shang, Eric Chang, Johnson Adams, and Matei Ciocarlie (Mechanical Engineering). The tactile sensors were developed in collaboration with Ioannis Kymissis (Electrical Engineering).

This work was supported in part by the Office of Naval Research grant N00014-21-1-4010 and the National Science Foundation grant CMMI-2037101.

The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest.

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ARTICLE TITLE

Sampling-based Exploration for Reinforcement Learning of Dexterous Manipulation

A dexterous robot hand equipped with five tactile fingers. One of the fingers is shown here with the outermost "skin" layer removed, to show the internal structure.

Machine learning algorithms process the data from the tactile sensors to produce coordinated finger movement patterns for manipulation.

CREDIT

Columbia University ROAM Lab

Is the ocean a solution for ushering in the era of environmentally friendly energy?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

POHANG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (POSTECH)

Water blankets around 70 percent of the Earth's surface. Moreover, 97 percent of all the water on earth is seawater, which is impotable because of its salt content. But what if we could harness its potential as a new source of renewable energy?

Recently, a research team led by Professor Changshin Jo (Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Energy Materials Technology (GIFT), Department of Chemical Engineering) and Ph.D. candidate Hyebin Jeong (Chemical Engineering) at POSTECH has made strides in this area by confirming the superior performance of seawater batteries (SWBs) that incorporate chelating agents.  Their findings were published in Chemical Engineering Journal.

Lithium-ion batteries have become ubiquitous in portable electronic devices and automotive batteries. However, they are not without limitations, as they present a risk of explosion and may become unusable if lithium supplies are depleted. To address these challenges, the development of next-generation batteries is currently underway. Among them, seawater batteries represent a promising option that utilizes Na-ions found in seawater to generate energy. These batteries offer the distinct advantage of easy resource accessibility and are environmentally friendly, as they require no separate treatment processes.

The high salinity of seawater can be attributed to the presence of Na-ions, which are utilized by seawater batteries to generate and store electrical energy as they move back and forth between the cathode and anode. However, one of the challenges in suing nickel hexacyanoferrate (NiHCF) as an intercalation cathode material for SWBs is the high occurrence of defects during fabrication. To address this issue, the research team synthesize NiHCF with a chelating agent (Sample A) and compared its performance with untreated NiHCF (Sample B) to evaluate the effectiveness of the chelating agent.

A look at the two samples under a microscope reveals the striking difference in their shape and structure.  Sample B consists of randomly aggregated nanosized primary particles to form micro-level particles, whereas Sample A comprises individual 200-300 nanometer-sized cubic-shaped particles. Although the individual particle size of Sample B is smaller, it is less advantageous for battery production due to the aggregation of multiple particles into larger cohesive structures.

The researchers additionally assessed the electrochemical performance of both samples. Firstly, they measured the water content, and it was found that Sample A had lower water content than Sample B did. Generally, higher water content tends to impede electrochemical performance. Furthermore, measurements of current and voltage showed that Sample A had high energy efficiency and capacity.

The research team achieved a groundbreaking feat by performing 2,000 cycles of charging and discharging on batteries using two samples, where Sample A demonstrated a remarkable capacity retention rate of approximately 92.8%. Furthermore, the defect generation rate, a previous drawback of NiHCF, was observed to decrease to 6% in Sample A.

The results of the study demonstrate the superior performance achieved by adding a chelating agent to nickel hexacyanoferrate and using this as a cathode material in seawater batteries. This discovery can promote the development of seawater batteries as a promising candidate for next-generation energy storage systems

This work was supported by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).

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JOURNAL

Chemical Engineering Journal

DOI

10.1016/j.cej.2023.142834 

ARTICLE TITLE

Effects of chelating agent on the nanostructure of nickel hexacyanoferrate and its performance in seawater battery application

Music therapy could help children with brain injuries

ARU expert involved in study suggests technique could aid walking rehabilitation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY

A new pilot study has highlighted the potential of a music therapy technique to help children with severe acquired brain injuries (ABI) meet their walking rehabilitation goals.

The first of its kind research project suggests rhythmic auditory stimulation could augment the physiotherapy ordinarily offered to children and young people who sustain a severe acquired brain injury – of whom there are believed to be around 350 each year in the UK.

The practice aims to improve walking speed and quality of movement by using rhythms to provide cues for patients’ stepping rate. In establishing neurological connections between the auditory prompts and physical movements, the technique has been shown to facilitate smoother and more coordinated walking patterns.

While the potential of rhythmic auditory stimulation has never before been explored in the context of treating children with ABIs, the approach has been found to improve walking speed among people who have suffered a stroke, those living with Parkinson’s disease and, more recently, children with cerebral palsy.

All participants in the pilot study, published in the International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation and involving a music therapy expert from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), showed improvement as a result of rhythmic auditory stimulation being added to their rehabilitation programme, with the most marked advances evident in walking quality.

In light of these findings, the study’s authors believe adding the technique to other interventions could help improve the outlook for children with ABIs.

Dr Jonathan Pool, Senior Research Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University’s Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research and an author of the study, said: “This is the first study to look at rhythmic auditory stimulation for children and young people with acquired brain injury.

“As a pilot study, it provides initial evidence of the effect of music on gait rehabilitation for this population and has revealed insights into some of the issues for researchers in this area.

“While showing variation across participants in the benefits of rhythmic auditory stimulation, the study findings are encouraging and indicate that the detailed assessment of quality of movement should be considered alongside other tests when measuring functional gains in gait rehabilitation.”

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JOURNAL

International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation

DOI

10.12968/ijtr.2022.0121 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Rhythmic auditory stimulation to improve gait rehabilitation outcomes for children with acquired brain injury: a pilot study

Liverpool begins first human trial of new Zika vaccine

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

The first participant has received a dose of a new Zika virus vaccine being trialled by the University of Liverpool at the Clinical Research Facility within the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

Although now not as prevalent as during its peak in 2016, Zika remains an ongoing threat, with thousands of cases of the mosquito-borne virus reported each year, mainly in countries close to the equator. Pregnant women continue to be the population at highest risk for the infection as the virus can cause severe foetal birth defects.

It’s hoped that the vaccine, designed to be suitable for use during pregnancy, will generate highly protective and long-lasting immunity. Having shown promising results in animal studies, the vaccine has now moved into a ‘first in human’ Phase I trial. If successful, the new trial could lead to a major breakthrough in tackling the Zika virus, for which there are still no approved vaccines or treatments available anywhere in the world.

The vaccine originates from a 2016 Zika Rapid Response grant awarded to Dr Tom Blanchard (Consultant at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool) and colleagues in his former position at the University of Manchester, in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Dr Blanchard has since developed a number of iterations to enhance the vaccine’s effectiveness and manufacturing scale-up.

Liverpool researchers have been driving this project forward since 2017 despite the unanticipated challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The team has used an approach to develop a vaccine based on studies to understand immunity to Zika and other related viruses.

Healthy volunteers recruited to the trial will receive two doses of the new vaccine to evaluate its safety, tolerability and its ability to produce an immune response. The vaccine will be assessed in groups of four volunteers at a time, with numbers increasing as evidence of safety accumulates. Up to 40 volunteers in this phase of work is planned which will be taking place over the next nine months. In addition, the performance of the vaccine will also be assessed in people who have had exposure to other viruses that circulate in the places where Zika virus is found, such as dengue virus, or yellow fever vaccine.

The vaccine work was supported by a £4.7 million Innovate UK SBRI Vaccines for Global Epidemics award and includes collaborators from the University of Manchester, the UKHSA and industry.

Project lead Professor Neil French, Director of the Centre for Global Vaccine Research at the University of Liverpool and Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases at Royal Liverpool University Hospital said: “The development of this Zika vaccine has been achieved through a strong collaborative effort in both Liverpool and our partners. It is important that we turn our excellent science into products that can protect and improve human health. This is the first of several vaccines which are moving from laboratory concept to human use, created by Liverpool researchers and strengthening UK vaccine innovation.”

“Zika should not be forgotten especially since climate change is contributing to the spread of the Aedes mosquitoes (the mosquitoes that can carry the Zika virus) to countries where immunity is not there. Vaccines like ours will enable us to be better prepared for the next Zika outbreak,” says Dr Krishanthi Subramaniam, a tenure-track research fellow who led on the studies demonstrating the effectiveness of the vaccine to lower virus levels in animals.

“The pandemic taught and continues to teach us that infectious diseases are a global issue but with the help of vaccines we can make great strides in keeping everyone safe.”

Dr Richard Fitzgerald, Clinical Research Facility Director at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and Associate Consultant in Clinical Pharmacology and General Internal Medicine said: “We are pleased to be taking part in this ground-breaking trial working with University of Liverpool, which aims to find a vaccine that will protect current and future generations of people against the devasting effects of the Zika virus.

“The study is taking place in our state-of-the-art NIHR Clinical Research Facility, a new space designed with our participants in mind, giving those on the unit the best environment to take part in life changing research.”

This trial is open to healthy individuals aged between 18-59. Those interested in taking part can text ZIKA to 07342065915 for more info or email cru.contact@liverpoolft.nhs.uk. Participants will be reimbursed for their inconvenience plus travel costs.

Professor Isabel Oliver, Chief Scientific Advisor at UKHSA, said: “UKHSA is proud to play a critical role in this milestone moment – carrying out vital work on testing the impact of this novel vaccine in the laboratory using our unique vaccine evaluation capabilities and deploying our recombinant vaccine platform technology to produce the vaccine for testing. UKHSA continues to enhance its work in vaccine discovery, development and evaluation, with the aim of strengthening preparedness for future pandemics and other high consequence infectious diseases.”

Ends

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

Field experiment reveals: “Blinding” is not a silver bullet to deal with gender bias

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ESMT BERLIN

The researchers wanted to find out if there were biases in how managers evaluate their employees’ ideas. They conducted a field experiment in a large multinational technology company where they tested two different ways of evaluating ideas: one where managers did not know anything about the person who came up with the idea (what is known as ”blinding”) and one where they did see the person’s name, which unit they worked for, and where they were located. The results were surprising. The researchers found no bias against women and employees who did not work in the same location and unit as the evaluator.  

“Often, evaluators use the information they know about an idea proposer as a signal for idea quality. This may be reinforced when evaluators lack information, expertise, or resources to assess an idea’s details,” says Linus Dahlander. “Prior research shows that nepotism and hierarchy, for instance, can impact whether an idea is seen more favorably. Counterintuitively, our new findings clearly show that the gender or a shared unit or location of the evaluator has no impact on whether the idea is approved. It is clear that biases against these groups exist in other places but may not be universal.” 

What can companies do in light of these findings? “Our research tells managers that simply hiding the identity of idea proposers, that is, what we call ‘blinding,’ is no silver bullet to improving idea evaluation,” Linus Dahlander explains. 

To conduct the study, the researchers used a blind evaluation tool, similar to those used in blind recruitment, blind auditions, and blind academic reviews, to remove any potential unconscious biases that evaluators might have. The logic was simple: is an idea evaluated differently when you can see the identity of the person who suggested it, as opposed to when you only see the idea but know nothing about its origin? 

The researchers asked 38 innovation managers from a leading multinational company in the information and communication technology sector, all of whom had experience in evaluating early business ideas, to evaluate ideas proposed by other employees. Some ideas were displayed in a blind condition where evaluators were given no information on the idea proposer, while others were displayed in a non-blind condition with information on the employee behind the idea. Each innovation manager evaluated almost 50 different ideas, of which half were blind, and half were not. To ensure that the innovation managers acted candidly in their decision-making, they were unaware that the evaluation task was part of a wider experiment.  

The researchers found that innovation managers provided the same evaluation score to ideas proposed by men and women, showcasing that the gender of the idea proposer had no impact on whether the innovation manager thought it was a good idea or not. The researchers also found that whether an evaluator shared the same unit and location as the proposer of the idea had no impact on the likelihood of the evaluator approving the idea. 

The researchers suggest that these findings harm the business case for implementing blinding to erase biases. Although blinding ideas is technically straightforward and relatively cost-neutral to implement, missing out on blocked information can have some opportunity costs. According to the researchers, the flip side of blinding is that it reduces the potential to connect employees with similar interests and learn from what other people are working on.  

Given that evaluation is not an end goal for companies but one of many steps from an idea to a successful product, the researchers suggest that blinding is most helpful on a smaller scale to determine whether, how, and where biases exist before scaling any idea evaluation initiative within or across organizations. They encourage companies to carefully test and experiment with blinding to figure out how widespread biases are in their organization. Because biases are not as general as we may think, and clearly blinding is not the one-solution to improving idea evaluation.  

This research was published in Strategic Management Journal. 

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JOURNAL

Strategic Management Journal

DOI

10.1002/smj.3501 

ARTICLE TITLE

Blinded by the person? Experimental evidencefrom idea evaluation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-Apr-2023 

When and how did dextral strike-slip movement of Tanlu Fault Zone in late Cenozoic occur?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

 

IMAGE: THE SURFACE RUPTURE ZONE OF THE 1668 TANCHENG M8½ EARTHQUAKE IS DIVIDED INTO FIVE SECTIONS FROM NORTH TO SOUTH, NAMELY THE ZHAOXIANTULING-LINGYANG SECTION (S1), SHIJIN-DADIAN SECTION (S2), ZUOSHAN SECTION (S3), TENGMA-ZHONGHUASHAN SECTION (S4) AND HUAQIAO-YAOSHAN SECTION (S5). THE BANQUAN PULL-APART BASIN IS LOCATED BETWEEN THE S3 AND S4 SEGMENT. view more 

CREDIT: ©SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

This study was mainly conducted by Dr. Peng SHU (State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration), Dr. Xiwei Xu (National Institute of Natural Hazard, Ministry of Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China), Dr. Shaoying Feng (Geophysical Exploration Center, China Earthquake Administration, Zhengzhou) with some other researchers in China.

The sedimentary history of the pull-apart basin faithfully records the strike-slip process of the faults that control the development of the pull-apart basins. The Banquan Basin is the largest and most typical pull-apart basin along the surface rupture zone of the 1668 Tancheng M8½ earthquake where the TLFZ shows the strongest seismic activity.

The researchers (Peng Shu, Xiwei Xu, Shaoying Feng, et al.,) studied the sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the Banquan Basin by seismic reflection exploration, borehole detection and cosmogenic nuclide chronology, analyzed the coupling relationship between the pull-apart basin and the strike-slip fault and discussed the start time and tectonic significance of the right-lateral strike-slip of the TLFZ. The researchers recently published their study results in Science China Earth Sciences. The following are several major conclusions of this study.

The study showed that the Banquan basin has undergone three main evolutionary stages. During the pre-pull-apart period, the TLFZ that controls the evolution of the basin showed very weak activity, and then fault activity intensified and led to two periods of pull-apart and extension of the basin. During these two periods, especially in the second period of pull-apart and extension, fault activity migrated to the central basin. Then, the basin expansion reached its peak. Following that period, the basin entered the subsidence stage. New strike-slip fault formed in the center of the basin, which effectively accommodated normal faulting of the boundary faults of the basin and caused the basin to shrink and die out.

The sedimentary filling and depositional cycle of the basin has strong response to the episodic pull-apart and extension of the basin. Before the intense pull-apart, a thin layer of Miocene mudstone slowly accumulated in the basin due to local rifting. In the early and late stages of pull-apart and extension, the basin was successively filled with coarse-grained alluvial fan facies (sedimentary system I) and braided river-meandering river facies (sedimentary system II) with frequent facies changes. During the subsidence stage of post-pull-apart, the basin was filled with a set of floodplain facies deposits (sedimentary system III).

The sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the Banquan Basin was directly controlled by strike-slip movement of the TLFZ. The latest tectonic movement of the TLFZ in late Cenozoic was dominated by episodic dextral strike-slip movement that started at 4.01±1.27 Ma. By comprehensive analysis of dynamic background of eastern China, the authors held that the latest tectonic deformation of the North China Plain has been governed by the eastward tectonic extrusion and orogenesis of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau since late Miocene. The eastward thrusting of the Liupanshan fault zone and sinistral shearing of the Qinling fault zone led to anticlockwise rotation and pushing of secondary blocks in North China, resulting in a planar bookshelf faulting and rotation pattern. This unique deformation pattern transferred eastwards to the North China Plain at ~4.01 Ma and the process continues to the present time. This planar bookshelf rotation, accompanied with regional sinistral strike-slip movement of the ~EW-trending boundary fault zones to the north and south of the North China Block and dextral strike-slip motion of the NNE-trending boundary faults between secondary blocks, is likely to be the long-range effect of the strong extrusion of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.

See the article:

Shu P, Xu X, Feng S, Liu B, Li K, Tapponnier P, Deng X, Chen G, Xia N, Xu H, Qin J, He F, Ma Y, Zheng R. 2023. Sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the Banquan pull-apart basin and implications for late Cenozoic dextral strike-slip movement of the Tanlu Fault Zone. Science China Earth Sciences, 66(4): 797–820, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-022-1028-5

Lithology, sample locations, log curves and sedimentary facies classification of the borehole in the deposition center of the Banquan basin

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JOURNAL

Science China Earth Sciences

DOI

10.1007/s11430-022-1028-5 

Hypoxic environment is conductive to the organic carbon storage in the coastal ecosystem

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

 

IMAGE: BASED ON THE IN SITU SAMPLING AND THE LABORATORY INCUBATION EXPERIMENT, IT IS DEMONSTRATED THAT THE METABOLIC ACTIVITY OF MICROORGANISMS REDUCED IN HYPOXIC ENVIRONMENT, WHICH WAS CONDUCIVE TO THE PRESERVATION OF LABILE ORGANIC MATTER AND CARBON STORAGE IN THE COASTAL ECOSYSTEM. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO CREDIT: WENQING SHI.

Recently, Science China Earth Sciences published a paper about the transformation of organic matter by microorganisms under anoxic/hypoxic conditions. As the intensification of water eutrophication and global warming, hypoxia occurs frequently in coastal waters. In this study, the researchers performed an experiment to investigate changes in microbial community and the molecular characteristics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) under hypoxic conditions. Microbial-mediated DOM transformation was compared in different media (natural and artificial seawater with and without laminarin) at different dissolved oxygen levels (7, 5, and 2 mg L−1). They also investigated differences in DOM composition among groups using spectroscopic analysis and ultrahigh-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). The experiments shed light on the interactions between microorganisms and DOM, as well as processes and mechanisms of DOM preservation in the hypoxic coastal ecosystem.

The researchers found that microbial community structure and molecular characteristics of DOM were obviously different between hypoxic group (O2<2mg L−1) and the other two experimental groups (O2=5 or 7 mg L−1). The utilization rate of total organic carbon (TOC) by microorganisms was decreased by 36.9%~46.7% under hypoxic condition. The growth of strictly aerobic bacterial groups such as Pseudomonas and Sphingomonas was inhibited, and Rhodobacteraceae can thoroughly degrade available organic matter and maintain relatively high abundance until the end of the experiment. Protein-like fluorescent DOM components such as tyrosine and tryptophan were preserved, while DOM humification was significantly decreased under low oxygen conditions. The percentage of S-containing DOM molecules was significantly higher in hypoxic group than the other oxygen concentration groups. The molecular aromaticity index (representing refractory degree) of DOM decreased significantly under the hypoxic conditions. The experimental results showed that deceasing microbial activity and community succession resulted in the preservation of labile organic matter under the hypoxic conditions.

The researchers predict that more labile organic matter will be stored in coastal waters or buried in sediments when hypoxic regions expand due to global warming and eutrophication. The responses of microbial communities to low oxygen concentration and the effects of hypoxia on DOM composition may provide important negative feedback regulation in marine carbon cycle and global climate change.

See the article:

Xiao S, Chen J, Shen Y, Chen Q, Wang Y, Li Y, He C, Cai Y, Shi Q, Jiao N, Zheng Q. 2023. Molecular characterization of organic matter transformation mediated by microorganisms under anoxic/hypoxic conditions. Science China Earth Sciences, 66(4): 894–909, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-022-1080-8

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JOURNAL

Science China Earth Sciences

DOI

10.1007/s11430-022-1080-8 

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! 

Perovskite solar cells' instability must be addressed for global adoption, say Surrey researchers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SURREY

Mass adoption of perovskite solar cells will never be commercially viable unless the technology overcomes several key challenges, according to researchers from the University of Surrey. 

Perovskite-based cells are widely believed to be the next evolution of solar energy and meet the growing demand for clean energy. However, they are not as stable as traditional solar-based cells.  

The Surrey team found that stabilising the perovskite "photoactive phases" – the specific part of the material that is responsible for converting light energy into electrical energy – is the key step to extending the lifespan of perovskite solar cells.  

The stability of the photoactive phase is important because if it degrades or breaks down over time, the solar cell will not be able to generate electricity efficiently. Therefore, stabilising the photoactive phase is a critical step in improving the longevity and effectiveness of perovskite solar cells. 

In the study, the Surrey team analysed how new technological advances can be used to strengthen the perovskite's phases.  

Dr Xueping Liu, the first author at the Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, said:  

"Perovskite solar cells are not yet as reliable as traditional solar cells, even though they are more efficient at converting sunlight into electricity. To make these cells more reliable, it is important to understand why they are unstable and to find ways to control how they are made to prevent them from breaking down over time. This research aims to do just that by better understanding the cells' stability and how to improve their design. By doing this, perovskite solar cells could be used on a larger scale, helping to provide more clean energy for everyone." 

Dr Wei Zhang, the main corresponding author and project lead from the University of Surrey, said:  

"The scientific community will have to work on breaking through the stability bottleneck of perovskite materials. Revisiting scientific mechanisms of phase instability and seeking opportunities derived from light harvesting material will potentially trigger the evolution of the next generation perovskite PVs."  

The study has been published in Nature Reviews Chemistry. 

The research was conducted in collaboration with the University of Toronto, the University of Stuttgart, and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology. 

The University of Surrey is a world-leading centre for excellence in sustainability – where our multi-disciplinary research connects society and technology to equip humanity with the tools to tackle climate change, clean our air, reduce the impacts of pollution on health and help us live better, more sustainable lives. The University is committed to improving its own resource efficiency on its estate and being a sector leader, aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030. A focus on research that makes a difference to the world has contributed to Surrey being ranked 55th in the world in the Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings 2022, which assesses more than 1,400 universities' performance against the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

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Notes to editors 

• For more information, please contact the University of Surrey's press office via mediarelations@surrey.ac.uk 

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JOURNAL

Nature Reviews Chemistry

DOI

10.1038/s41570-023-00492-z 

ARTICLE TITLE

Stabilization of photoactive phases for perovskite photovoltaics

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Apr-2023

Frontiers for Young Minds: Chinese speakers are the latest audience to access high-quality science for kids

Business Announcement

FRONTIERS

 

IMAGE: FRONTIERS FOR YOUNG MINDS IN CHINESE view more 

CREDIT: FRONTIERS

Chinese speakers can now access a growing catalog of Frontiers for Young Minds scientific resources as part of the journal’s expansion into new languages.  

The launch in China is part of a wider strategy to bring high-quality, understandable science to kids, teens, teachers, and the public globally. Five articles written by Nobel Prize laureates will be featured in the first Chinese-version launch, with more content coming in September. 

Frontiers for Young Minds is an award-winning, non-profit, open-access scientific journal for kids. Articles are written by leading scientific authors and are peer-reviewed by young reviewers aged 8-15, before being widely disseminated online and in a downloadable format. Its broad subject areas of publishing cover the whole of STEM: Astronomy and Physics, Biodiversity, Chemistry and Materials, Earth Sciences, Human Health, Mathematics, Neuroscience and Psychology, Engineering and Technology. Frontiers for Young Minds’ mission is to inspire and engage the next generation of scientists and citizens by publishing fun-to-read science that is globally accessible to all.  

Hundreds of articles are already available in Hebrew and Arabic, with French coming later in 2023 and plans underway for Spanish, Portuguese, and Hindi.   

Laura Henderson, Head of Public Outreach at Frontiers for Young Minds said: “We’re very excited to expand our journal into a key new language demographic, giving millions more kids the chance to build their scientific literacy for life – and we’re not stopping here! We have many more languages we’d like to target, with support from funding partners. We’re also running a new pilot for educational resources, supporting teachers to use our top science articles in their classrooms – we are constantly innovating as we become a leading global open-education resource.”  

Diane Wang, Frontiers General Manager China said: “As one of Frontiers’ most unique journals, Frontiers for Young Minds has brought scientific enlightenment to countless young minds. To our knowledge, there are already many loyal readers of the English version of Frontiers for Young Minds in China, and some schools have even incorporated its content into their teaching materials. With the launch of the Chinese version, we will also organize creative activities for young minds in China, to bring the great content of this journal to all the curious minds out there.” 

All research published in Frontiers for Young Minds is based on evidence-based scientific research and has seen considerable success to date. Since its launch in 2013, the journal has received published articles from over 3,400 authors which have been reviewed by over 6,500 young reviewers from 65 countries worldwide.