The existence of domain walls, which separate regions of different polarization, can influence the dielectric, piezoelectric, pyroelectric and electronic properties of ferroelectric materials. In particular, domain-wall motion is crucial for polarization switching, which is characterized by the hysteresis loop that is a signature feature of ferroelectric materials. Experimentally, the observed dynamics of polarization switching and domain-wall motion are usually explained as the behaviour of...
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A hot Jupiter orbiting a 2-million-year-old solar-mass T Tauri star
Hot Jupiters are giant Jupiter-like exoplanets that orbit their host stars 100 times more closely than Jupiter orbits the Sun. These planets presumably form in the outer part of the primordial disk from which both the central star and surrounding planets are born, then migrate inwards and yet avoid falling into their host star. It is, however, unclear whether this occurs early in the...
Unhappy with Donald Trump, Apple won’t support GOP Convention — but Tim Cook hosting event for Paul Ryan
Donald Trump’s controversial comments throughout the campaign season have unnerved Apple enough to convince the tech company to pull its funding and other support for the Republican National Convention, Politico reported this weekend.
Politico cites...
‘Person of Interest’ comes to an end, but the technology central to the story will keep evolving
It’s strange to think that “Person of Interest” began as something its creator Jonathan “Jonah” Nolan described as a “Twilight Zone”-flavored scenario. Nolan pondered what would happen if,...
First experimental Zika vaccine gets nod from FDA, moves to human trials
The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first human trial of an experimental Zika vaccine, according to a joint announcement by the two companies behind the new therapy.
The companies, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., based in Pennsylvania, and GeneOne Life Science, Inc., based in South Korea, said that their DNA-based vaccine...
Beyond ping-pong and beer: What really drives company culture
Guest Commentary: During the recent Technology Alliance luncheon, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shared stories about his rise within the company...
Cryo-EM structure of a human cytoplasmic actomyosin complex at near-atomic resolution
The interaction of myosin with actin filaments is the central feature of muscle contraction and cargo movement along actin filaments of the cytoskeleton. The energy for these movements is generated during a complex mechanochemical reaction cycle. Crystal structures of myosin in different states have provided important structural insights into the myosin motor cycle when myosin is detached from F-actin. The difficulty of obtaining diffracting...
GeekWire Giveaway: Sign up now for a chance to win 10 years of free Netflix
Netflix is nearing two decades as a service, but if feels that the simplified streaming service has been around for time immemorial. However, you still have to pay for it every month, and the price keeps going up. If you win this week’s GeekWire Giveaway, you can...
A Neptune-sized transiting planet closely orbiting a 5–10-million-year-old star
Theories of the formation and early evolution of planetary systems postulate that planets are born in circumstellar disks, and undergo radial migration during and after dissipation of the dust and gas disk from which they formed. The precise ages of meteorites indicate that planetesimals—the building blocks of planets—are produced within the first million years of a star’s life. Fully formed planets are frequently detected...
Docker use up 30 percent in one year, says survey of 10,000 companies
About 10.7 percent of 10,000 firms surveyed by cloud monitoring firm Datadog have adopted technology from containerized-software vendor Docker as of this month — a 30-percent increase from last year’s 8.2 percent, according to a newly released study titled “Eight surprising facts about real Docker adoption.”
The results come as the Docker community gathers...