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from the Who-knew-basket-weaving-could-be-so-complex? dept.
Japanese basket pattern inspires new material
Researchers have produced a metal with exotic electrical properties by mimicking a pattern from Japanese basket-weaving.
Kagome baskets are characterised by a symmetrical pattern of interlaced, corner-sharing triangles; the pattern has preoccupied physicists for decades.
Metals resembling a kagome pattern on the atomic scale should exhibit peculiar electrical characteristics.
The team behind the first kagome metal has published details in Nature.
Their product is an electrically conducting crystal, made from layers of iron and tin atoms, with each atomic layer arranged in the repeating pattern of a kagome lattice.
When they passed a current across the kagome layers within the crystal, they found that the triangular arrangement of atoms induced strange behaviour in that current.
Instead of flowing straight through, electrons instead veered, or bent back within the lattice.
Massive Dirac fermions in a ferromagnetic kagome metal (DOI: 10.1038/nature25987) (DX)
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday March 21 2018, @12:32PM (1 child)
I think you're overanalyzing that headline or need coffee.
"inspires new material" doesn't imply that ancient Japanese people knew anything about the quantum effects of an atomic lattice shape.
The headline is only claiming that a pattern was observed, and applied in a new way.
If people are led to think otherwise... too bad for them. Try opening the rare BBC comment section when you see one, and you'll know that you are fighting a losing battle.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday March 21 2018, @03:45PM
> I think you're overanalyzing that headline or need coffee.
Well I always need coffee so that much is true.
> you are fighting a losing battle.
One can live in hope for a better future.