Tag Archive for 'Copper'

Disruption of iron and copper recycling from industrial whaling. Image credit: Monreal et al., doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01965-9.

Trace Metals and Other Nutrients from Whale Feces Fertilized Ancient Oceans, New Study Confirms

Feb 10, 2025 by News Staff

Blue whales and other baleen whales, which filter seawater through their mouths to feed on small marine life, once teemed in Earth’s oceans. In the 20th...

Aerial view of Site 201 north of the center of Timna Valley on the western outskirts of the Wadi Arabah, Israel. Image credit: Yagel et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-80939-5.

Study: Pre-Roman Copper Industry in Timna Valley Had No Polluting Impact on Environment

Dec 23, 2024 by News Staff

Scientists from Tel Aviv University have conducted geochemical surveys at two smelting camps — dating back to the 10th century BCE, the era of the...

The 4,000-year-old copper dagger found in Tina Jama Cave, Italy. Image credit: Davide Bonaduce.

Archaeologists Find 4,000-Year-Old Copper Dagger in Italy

Oct 29, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have unearthed a rare dagger dating back to the Copper Age at Tina Jama Cave in the regional decentralization entity of Trieste in the Italian...

The Marstrand cannon. Image credit: Bo Niklasson / Bohusläns Museum.

650-Year-Old Shipboard Cannon Found Off Swedish Coast

Sep 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Current knowledge concerning the introduction of shipboard artillery in Europe is limited. A small, muzzle-loading cast copper-alloy gun recovered off...

Wilkin et al. analyzed protein residues from 5,000-year-old copper alloy cauldrons. Image credit: Arnaud 25 / CC BY-SA 4.0.

5,000-Year-Old Cauldrons Shed Light on Diet of Ancient Caucasians

Aug 23, 2023 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the University of Zurich and elsewhere have analyzed protein residues from ancient cooking cauldrons and found that the people of Caucasus...

Xing et al. report printable metallic gels (pendular suspensions) consisting of an aqueous suspension of copper particles connected by bridges of liquid eutectic gallium indium alloy (EGaIn). Pendular suspensions rely on capillary forces to form networks between solid particles with a composition-dependent rheology, but prior studies have focused on insulating suspensions. Here, the rheology of a conductive solid-liquid-liquid suspension is tuned for 3D printing by varying the composition and the pH; the latter promotes metallic wetting. The dry printed parts have metallic electrical conductivity without requiring a sintering step. Drying at elevated temperatures can accelerate the removal of water while creating stress that drives shape change (i.e., 4D printing). As a demonstration, the authors print a conductive spider that lifts and assembles its own body from an initially flat shape. Such conductive inks are promising for printing metallic structures under ambient conditions. Image credit: Xing et al., doi: 10.1016/j.matt.2023.06.015.

Scientists Develop Metallic Gel for Conductive 3D and 4D Printing

Jul 6, 2023 by News Staff

Materials scientists at the North Carolina State University have connected copper particles with gallium indium alloy bridges to form a conductive printing...

The 6,000-year-old copper fish hook from Ashkelon, Israel. Image credit: Israel Antiquity Authority.

6,000-Year-Old Fish Hook Found in Israel

May 2, 2023 by News Staff

Archaeologists with the Israel Antiquity Authority (IAA) have found an ancient copper fishing hook — possibly for hunting sharks — in the Agamim...

Hala Sultan Tekke developed in the 15th century BCE from a village to an important maritime trade hub with a minimum size of 25 hectares as indicated by the results of geophysical survey. Image credit: Peter M. Fischer, doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103722.

Copper Production Turned Bronze Age Cypriot Village into Interregional Trade Hub

Mar 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Field works at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, shed light on the scope of interregional trade in which this Bronze Age harbor city participated from the 15th...

Several business premises were uncovered in the Byzantine quarter in Ephesus, Turkey. Image credit: OeAW-OeAI / Niki Gail.

Early Byzantine Quarter Unearthed in Ancient City of Ephesus

Nov 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences have uncovered the 1,400-year-old ruins of the business and gastronomy district in Ephesus, an ancient...

Copper-alloy daggers from Pragatto, a Bronze Age domestic site in northern Italy: (A) site location; (B) aerial view of the site highlighting excavation areas A, B and C; (C) copper-alloy daggers analyzed by Caricola et al. Image credit: Caricola et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09983-3.

New Study Reveals Function of Bronze Age Daggers

Apr 29, 2022 by News Staff

According to an organic residue analysis performed on 10 copper-alloy daggers from Pragatto, a Bronze Age domestic site (1550-1250 BCE) in northern Italy,...

Jaws of Glycera dibranchiata are composites of protein, melanin, and both mineral and ionic copper; to date, nanomechanical tests have correlated the ionic copper and melanin with hardness and wear resistance, but the function of protein is uncertain. Wonderly et al. characterize a Gly- and His-rich protein called multi-tasking protein (MTP) and, using recombinant protein, show that it performs six distinct functions critical for jaw formation and performance, namely (1) recruiting 22 equiv of Cu2+, (2) mediating a liquid-liquid phase separation of the MTP-copper complex, (3) catalyzing the oxidation of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (Dopa) to melanin, (4) templating the interfacial polymerization of melanin, (5) integrating melanin and itself into thin films and fibers, and (6) providing intermolecular cohesion through Cu bridging. MTP achieves all these by assuming unprecedented roles as a building block, organizer, and fabricator -- a processing feat of considerable relevance to the autonomous production of other polymer composites, blends, and/or networks. Image credit: Wonderly et al., doi: 10.1016/j.matt.2022.04.001.

Study: Bloodworms Use Copper Harvested From Marine Sediments to Form Their Unique Jaws

Apr 26, 2022 by News Staff

Bloodworms Glycera dibranchiata are known for their unusual jaws, which are made of protein (∼50% w/w), ionic and mineralized copper (up to 10%), and...

Scanning electron microscopy image of a nanopatterned YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) thin film. The 12-nm-thick nanopatterned YBCO thin film was fabricated by reactive ion etching through an anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) membrane directly placed atop the YBCO. By RIE, the anodized aluminium oxide pattern of a triangular array of holes with ~70-nm diameter and ~103-nm period was duplicated onto the YBCO film. Image credit: Yang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04239-y.

Physicists Discover New Type of ‘Strange Metal’

Jan 14, 2022 by News Staff

A team of physicists from the United States and China has detected the unexpected signatures of strange metallicity in a material in which electrical charge...

The copper magnified 500,000 times under a scanning electron microscope shows its tiny nano-scale pores. Image credit: RMIT University.

Novel Copper Surface Shows Exceptional Bactericidal Efficacy

Dec 14, 2021 by News Staff

A team of materials scientists from RMIT University and CSIRO has designed and fabricated a micro-nano copper structure and demonstrated its exceptional...

Copper slag from Horvat Beter, Beer Sheva, southern Israel. Image credit: Anat Rasiuk, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Archaeologists Unearth 6,500-Year-Old Copper-Smelting Workshop in Israel

Oct 6, 2020 by News Staff

Archaeologists from Tel Aviv University, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Geological Survey of Israel have excavated a Chalcolithic-period (5th...

Copper represents an effective catalyst in reducing carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons or oxygenates, but it is often plagued by a low product selectivity and limited long-term stability. Choi et al report that copper nanowires with rich surface steps exhibit a remarkably high Faradaic efficiency for ethylene that can be maintained for over 200 hours. Image credit: Choi et al, doi: 10.1038/s41929-020-00504-x.

Scientists Find Efficient Way to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Ethylene

Sep 17, 2020 by News Staff

A team of U.S. researchers has developed copper nanowires with rich surface steps to catalyze a chemical reaction that reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions...

This transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 isolated from a patient in the U.S. Image credit: NIAID-RML.

SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus Stable for Several Hours to Days in Aerosols and on Surfaces

Mar 18, 2020 by News Staff

A novel human coronavirus that is now named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2019 and is now causing...

Main features of the organization of production and detailed chaîne opératoires for the copper industry in Edom during the Late Bronze and early Iron Ages. Image credit: Ben-Yosef et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221967.

Biblical Edomite Kingdom was ‘Copper Powerhouse,’ Study Reveals

Sep 19, 2019 by News Staff

Edom, an ancient kingdom of the southern Levant mentioned in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) as well as in Assyrian and Egyptian sources, experienced...

The superconducting quantum refrigerator is similar to a conventional refrigerator, in that it moves a material between hot and cold reservoirs. However, instead of a refrigerant that changes from a liquid state to a gas, the electrons in a metal change from the paired superconducting state to an unpaired normal state. Image credit: Michael Osadciw, University of Rochester illustration.

Physicists Developing Superconducting Quantum Refrigerator

Jun 11, 2019 by News Staff

A research team led by University of Rochester physicists has conceived an idea for a superconducting quantum refrigerator, which would cool atoms to nearly...

Prototype of the cooling and heating patch embedded in a mesh armband. Image credit: David Baillot / Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California, San Diego.

Researchers Develop Wearable Cooling and Heating Patch

May 20, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego, has designed and demonstrated a wearable patch with long-term, energy-efficient cooling...

Slaves’ Hill in the center of the Timna Valley (looking east); the black slag mounds on the hilltop are visible, as well as the only access path to the site; the arrow indicates the gatehouse complex. Image credit: Erez Ben-Yosef et al.

King Solomon-Era Fortification Unearthed in Israel’s Timna Valley

Jan 26, 2017 by News Staff

A team of Tel Aviv University archaeologists has uncovered a gatehouse and associated livestock pens — dating to the reign of Kings Solomon and David...