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Overview of all focus news of the innovations-report

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In the focus: A supernova cocoon breakthrough

The first evidence in X-rays of a supernova shock wave breaking through a cocoon of gas around the star has been found.

This discovery may help explain why some supernova explosions are more powerful than others.

This supernova is called SN 2010jl and is found in a galaxy about 160 million light years from Earth.

SN 2010jl was first spotted by astronomers on November 3, 2010, and probably exploded about a month before that.

Observations with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have provided the first X-ray evidence of a supernova shock wave breaking through a cocoon of gas surrounding the star that exploded. This discovery may help astronomers understand why some supernovas are much more powerful than others.

On November 3, 2010, a supernova was ...

In the focus: Fuel for the black hole

An international research team led by Gerd Weigelt from the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie in Bonn reports on high-resolution studies of an active galactic nucleus.

The use of near-infrared interferometry allowed the team to resolve a ring-shaped dust distribution (generally called "dust torus") in the inner region of the nucleus of the active galaxy NGC 3783. This method is able to achieve an angular resolution equivalent to the resolution of a telescope with a diameter ...

In the focus: Big-mouthed babies drove the evolution of giant island snakes

Some populations of tiger snakes stranded for thousands of years on tiny islands surrounding Australia have evolved to be giants, growing to nearly twice the size of their mainland cousins. Now, new research in The American Naturalist suggests that the enormity of these elapids was driven by the need to have big-mouthed babies.

Mainland tiger snakes, which generally max out at 35 inches (89 cm) long, patrol swampy areas in search of frogs, their dietary staple. When sea levels rose around 10,000 years ago, some tiger snakes found themselves marooned on islands that would become dry and frog-free. With their favorite food gone, ...

In the focus: Black holes turn up the heat for the Universe

HITS astrophysicists discover a new heating source in cosmological structure formation

So far, astrophysicists thought that super-massive black holes can only influence their immediate surroundings. A collaboration of scientists at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) and in Canada and the US now discovered that diffuse gas in the universe can absorb luminous gamma-ray emission from black holes, heating it ...

In the focus: German astronomers finish Europe’s largest solar telescope on Tenerife

After ten years of development, the new German solar telescope GREGOR will start operating at the Spanish Observatorio del Teide of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias on Tenerife. It is the largest solar telescope in Europe and number three worldwide.

It will provide the German and the international community of solar physicists with new and better instrumentation which will enable them to investigate our home star in unprecedented detail.

Studying the Sun is a key to understand the physical processes on and in the majority of stars. Moreover, there is ...

In the focus: Power Storage Buffers Fluctuating Solar Power

Siemens has developed an energy-storage system that can act as a buffer in electrical power grids.

The aim is to provide a buffer against short-term fluctuations in output from renewable energy sources. Such fluctuations can last for seconds or several minutes long. The modular designed Siestorage battery is based on lithium-ion rechargeable battery technology and fits into a normal shipping container.

In its big layout it ...

In the focus: Fighting Ecological Invaders Efficiently

Siemens is using a special water-treatment technique to make ship traffic more environmentally friendly.

By disinfecting the ballast water in ships, a system named Sicure protects marine environments from damage due to the introduction of alien plant and animal species.

In addition, Sicure can also process cooling water. This combination of features is unique worldwide. Siemens has now received full certification for Sicure from ...

In the focus: New Molecules and Star Formation in the Milky Way

SOFIA, the air-borne observatory, completed its first series of science flights, using the German GREAT receiver.

The scientific results are now being published in a special issue of the European journal "Astronomy & Astrophysics" (Volume 542, May 10) along with reports on GREAT's advanced technologies. These results demonstrate the instrument's versatility, include first detections of new interstellar molecules and important spectral lines in space, and address ...

In the focus: Climate scientists discover new weak point of the Antarctic ice sheet

The Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf fringing the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, may start to melt rapidly in this century and no longer act as a barrier for ice streams draining the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

These predictions are made by climate researchers of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association in the coming issue of the British science magazine “Nature“. They refute the widespread assumption that ice shelves in the Weddell Sea would not be affected by the direct ...

In the focus: KIT Researchers Succeed in Realizing a New Material Class

Metafluids for Transformation Acoustics

A research team lead by Professor Martin Wegener at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has succeeded in realizing a new material class through the manufacturing of a stable crystalline metafluid, a pentamode metamaterial.

Using new nanostructuring methods, these materials can now be realized for the first time with any conceivable ...