The instrument exploits the phenomenon of optical levitation to "trap" glass nanospheres with light inside it, thanks to which it is possible to simultaneously observe phenomena typical of both classical physics and quantum physics, exploring from an experimental point of view the thin boundary between these two worlds. The study, published in the scientific journal Optica, is the result of the internal synergy of the extended partnership in Quantum Technologies (NQSTI), between the University of Florence, the National Institute of Optics of the Cnr, the Lens Laboratory and INFN.

Japanese collaborators detected all five nucleobases — building blocks of DNA and RNA — in samples returned from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. 

In a paper just published in Nature Communications, researchers at the Industrial Sustainable Chemistry group of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) present a solution to the challenging problem of recycling polycotton textile waste. The process, developed in cooperation with the company Avantium, starts with fully removing all cotton from the fabric using superconcentrated hydrochloric acid at room temperature. The cotton is converted into glucose, which can be used as a feedstock for biobased products such as renewable plastics. The remaining polyester fibres can be reprocessed using available polyester recycling methods.