Are we alone? - NASA Science (.gov)

New work helps show why the dream of high-temperature superconductivity has been so hard to realize: a quantum brawl between superconductivity and a competing state of matter. The finding resulted from a collaboration that included theorists with the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute in New York City and experimentalists at Quebec's Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS). The researchers investigated a copper alloy called a 'cuprate' as it transitioned from the superconducting state to an enigmatic neighboring state of matter called the 'pseudogap.' Using laser pulses and computer simulations, they were able to understand the behavior of electrons inside the cuprate. In a paper published October 20 in Nature Physics , the team shows how the two states — superconductivity and the pseudogap — wrestle for dominance. That finding challenges the idea that superconductivity in cuprates merely builds upon a pre-existing pseudogap phase. "We're really showing that these states are competing," says study co-author Olivier Gingras , an associate research scientist at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Quantum Physics (CCQ).

Italian researchers are exploring knitted textiles and soft robotics to develop new wearable assistive technologies. Leonardo Cappello, Assistant Professor at the BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, presents on textile wearable robotics.

Orangutans are one of the most solitary species of great apes – but a long-term study has discovered that orangutan mothers will interrupt their solitude to make sure their offspring have ‘playdates’. The findings, published in the journal PNAS, reveal that mothers look for opportunities for their young to play with similarly-aged playmates – travelling further away from their ‘core’ area and towards another mother’s core area to do so.

The biggest galaxy in the Deer Lick Group, galaxy NGC 7331 has lots to offer through a telescope, so track it down tonight. Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

Experience sub-500 nm O-PTIR featuring integrated fluorescence and simultaneous Raman spectroscopy with the mIRage-LS, a global first in microscopy systems. Fluorescence microscopy and O-PTIR spectroscopy with submicron resolution positioned together