Forum for Science, Industry and Business

A team of scientists from the `International Pulsar Timing Array’ consortium, led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, has used pulsar timing data to measure the masses of the dwarf-planet Ceres and other asteroids. The result for the mass of Ceres is 1.3% of the mass of the Earth’s moon. The team has also measured the masses of the major planets of the solar system with much improved precision than a past study and demonstrated how pulsar-timing data can be used to explore unknown massive objects orbiting the Sun.

Scientists are working on the totally bug-proof communication – the so-called quantum communication. Current approaches for long-distance signal transmission rely on repeaters which are based on a crucial effect, the interference of two photons, that is, two individual light quanta coming from distant sources. Physicists from University of Stuttgart and Saarland University, in Germany, were now able to manipulate the single photons by means of small crystals without compromising their quantum mechanical nature. This manipulation is necessary to transmit the signal via optical fibers which may enable a large-area quantum network. The results were now published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Drexel researchers find optimal polymer coating to preserve nanoparticles

Neuroprosthetics - implants containing multi-contact electrodes that can substitute certain nerve functionalities - have the potential to work wonders. They may be able to restore amputees' sense of touch, help the paralyzed walk again by stimulating their spinal cords and silence the nerve activity of people suffering from chronic pain.

At MEDICA Fraunhofer FIT presents the teliFIT platform for telemedicine and telecoaching, a modular system that can be tailored to a wide range of application requirements and guarantees a very high level of data security. At COMPAMED we present our EWOD-BioPro system that combines electrowetting and confocal microscopy and thus makes it possible to observe the process of biochemical reactions at the single-molecule level.

Chronic excessive caloric intake leads to the deposition of fat droplets in the liver. This condition, known as fatty liver, can cause permanent damage to the organ. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried have now investigated the effects of this fat overflow on liver proteins. They showed that fatty liver is associated with changes in the location and activity of numerous cellular proteins. The study, which was published in the journal Developmental Cell, shows the effect of lipid deposition on fundamental cellular processes in the liver.

Novel, atomically thin materials could be used in the future as energy-efficient and versatile light sources. Physicists at the University of Bremen have now unlocked interesting secrets from these two-dimensional layers. The results of the Bremen scientists and their cooperating partners have recently been published in the internationally renowned journal “Nature Physics.”

Lobachevsky University scientists, together with colleagues from the Technical University of Madrid (Spain), have first proposed and developed an optoelectronic interface for the interaction of electronic neuron-like generators with live brain neurons

Osaka University-led Japanese researchers identify huge motor complex that imports proteins into chloroplasts

A new study provides a more comprehensive accounting of the greenhouse gas emissions from EU diets. It shows that meat and dairy products are responsible for the lion’s share of greenhouse emissions from the EU diet.

Migratory birds are influenced by environmental factors in different parts of the world, which could make them particularly vulnerable to global change. In a study published in Nature Climate Change, HU researcher Damaris Zurell together with collaborators now shows that ignoring seasonal migration could misguide conservation targets.

Environmental researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) have developed a novel mobile device for recording microplastics in surface waters. They call it the “Rocket”, a design with which depending on the amount of suspended matter in the water up to 60 litres per minute can be sucked through four cartridge filters, and which is particularly advantageous for sampling the fine fraction of the microplastic in the range down to 10 µm. The scientists were specially challenged by the fact that plastic had to be avoided as far as possible. The successful results of the test phase have now been published by them in the international scientific journal “Water”.

The word "HAZMAT" describes substances that pose a risk to the environment, or even to life itself. Imagine the term being applied to entire planets, where violent flares from the host star may make worlds uninhabitable by affecting their atmospheres.

Osteoarthritis is a disabling disease characterised by joint pain and restricted mobility, affecting especially the elderly. The disease generally progresses slowly, even over decades. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis, however, affects people of all ages and is initiated by joint trauma, for example, as a result of falling. The disease is most prevalent in articulating joints, such as the knee.

Findings can help scientists engineer nanoparticles that are 'benign by design'

Solar power accounts for less than 2 percent of U.S. electricity but could make up more than that if the cost of electricity generation and energy storage for use on cloudy days and at nighttime were cheaper.

Measuring the properties of superconducting materials in magnetic fields at close to absolute zero temperatures is difficult, but necessary to understand their quantum properties.

Researchers report machine learning speeds discovery of new materials

One of the major goals of biology, medicine, and robotics is to understand how limbs are controlled by circuits of neurons working together. And as if that is not complex enough, a meaningful study of limb activity also has to take place while animals are behaving and moving. The problem is that it is virtually impossible to get a complete view of the activity of motor and premotor circuits that control limbs during behavior, in either vertebrates or invertebrates.

Black holes colliding, gravitational waves riding through space-time - and a huge instrument that allows scientists to investigate the fabric of the universe. This could soon become reality when the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) takes up operations. Researchers from the University of Zurich have now found that LISA could also shed light on the elusive dark matter particle.

How to create nanocages, i.e., robust and stable objects with regular voids and tunable properties? Short segments of DNA molecules are perfect candidates for the controllable design of novel complex structures. Physicists from the University of Vienna, the Technical University of Vienna, the Jülich Research Center in Germany and Cornell University in the U.S.A., investigated methodologies to synthesize DNA-based dendrimers in the lab and to predict their behavior using detailed computer simulations. Their results are published in the high-impact journal Nanoscale.

Finally the time has come: On October 20, 2018 at 3:45 CEST, the European-Japanese BepiColombo mission for the study of Mercury will start - including thin films produced at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST.

The Fraunhofer FEP has been successfully developing OLED microdisplays based on OLED-on-silicon technology for years. Several generations of different designs have already been created. At the same time, the necessary electronics and system environment for future augmented reality (AR) applications are being developed at full speed. The developers will be debuting an innovative and powerful set of tools for independent development of wearables using OLED microdisplays at the Fraunhofer Joint Booth (no. 426, Hall C5) during electronica 2018, November 13-16, 2018 in Munich, Germany.