Ellison Matioli is an applied physicist and electrical engineer. He's trying to make sure that our components can keep up with technology. In the past, increasing the speed of phones, computers, etc. has been achieved by making them smaller. But at a certain point, you start to run into problems,. Get small enough and quantum effects, amongst other things, are going to give you a headache.
00:47 A metadevice for faster electronics
In the past, increasing the speeds of electronics required designing smaller components, but further reductions in size are being hampered by increasing resistance. To get around this, researchers have demonstrated a ‘metadevice’, which prevents resistance building up by concentrating the flow of signals into specific regions of the device. The hope is that this meta-method could be used to create even smaller electrical components in the future.
Research article: Nikoo & Matioli
06:27 Research Highlights
How waiting times for services are higher for people in the US with low incomes, and how your brain hears an alarm while you’re asleep.
Research Highlight: Who wastes more time waiting? Income plays a part
Research Highlight: Noise shatters deep sleep thanks to dedicated brain circuit
08:52 The research gaps in social media's impact on teen mental health
In the last ten years, levels of social media use and reported levels of mental health issues among adolescents have both increased. There is much concern that these trends are linked, but hard evidence has been hard to come by. So how can scientists get a better understanding of what’s going on? In a Comment article for Nature, researchers argue that, rather than lumping ‘young people’ into one homogeneous group, future studies should consider where they are in terms of their development, as this could influence the potential impacts of social media use.
Comment: How social media affects teen mental health: a missing link
19:52 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, we discuss self-burying devices that can plant seeds in remote areas from the air, and scientists’ reactions to a talk by CRISPR-baby researcher He Jiankui.
Nature Video: This device corkscrews itself into the ground like a seed
Nature News: Disgraced CRISPR-baby scientist’s ‘publicity stunt’ frustrates researchers
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