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The messy breakup of a liquid droplet that occurs when it hits a surface can be suppressed by giving the droplet an electrical charge.

Liquid droplets hit solid surfaces in a range of technological processes, such as spray coating and inkjet printing. Typically, the collision causes the droplet to break up into many tiny fragments, creating a splash. A research team has now shown that electrical charging of droplets can reduce or even entirely suppress the splashing, offering greater control over the impact process [1]. The findings could be useful in the design of more precise and efficient droplet-related technologies.

Electrical charging of droplets is very common both in nature and in technology, for example, in thundercloud electrification. The charging usually results from contact electrification, where friction, or even mere contact, between two surfaces results in electrons or ions passing between them. The effect can be exploited technologically: For example, mechanical engineer Zuankai Wang, now at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and his colleagues have previously shown that the charge on falling water droplets can be harnessed for electricity generation [2].

Researchers have discovered that the underside of the North American continent is dripping away in blobs of rock—and that the remnants of a tectonic plate sinking in Earth’s mantle may be the reason why.

A paper published in Nature Geoscience describes the phenomenon, which was discovered at The University of Texas at Austin. It’s the first time that “cratonic thinning” may be captured in action.

“We made the observation that there could be something beneath the ,” said the study’s lead author Junlin Hua, who conducted the research during a postdoctoral fellowship at UT’s Jackson School of Geosciences. “Luckily, we also got the new idea about what drives this thinning.”

Europe’s CERN laboratory said on Monday that a detailed analysis revealed no technical obstacles to building the world’s biggest particle collider, even as critics took issue with the “pharaonic” $17-billion project.

The Future Circular Collider (FCC) project is essential for ensuring that Europe maintains its global leadership in , CERN chief Fabiola Gianotti told AFP.

“There is real competition” from China in particular, she cautioned, hailing that the giant FCC “project is absolutely on the good track” and urging states to release the funding needed to move forward.

Interventions to increase resilience to misinformation work but decay over time. Here, the authors show that memory—which can be strengthened—is a key predictor for the longevity of intervention effects, more so than motivation.