Forum for Science, Industry and Business

Improved drug delivery method is aimed at making chemotherapy easier to help treat people with various tumors

The digestive system of our body is already activated before we take the first bite. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in Cologne show how sensing food activates neurons in the brain which prime the liver for digestion.

Biotechnologists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have developed a system to accurately measure muscle weakness caused by structural changes in muscle tissue. The new method allows muscle function to be assessed using imaging without the need for sophisticated biomechanical recordings, and could in future even make taking tissue samples for diagnosing myopathy superfluous.

High above our heads, in near-Earth space, at times everything appears calm. But it's not always so. Sometimes the sparse particles and energy there provide a formidable show: a single mighty explosion, just a fraction of a second long, can lead to millions of electrons flying away at supersonic speeds.

Gut hormone secretin can do more than previously believed

The crater measures more than 31 km in diameter, corresponding to an area bigger than Paris, and placing it among the 25 largest impact craters on Earth

First example of ferroelectrically tunable skyrmions brings new hope for next-generation magnetic memory devices

Our stellar neighbourhood expands

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have succeeded in constructing protein nanotubes from tiny scaffolds made by cross-linking of engineered protein crystals. The achievement could accelerate the development of artificial enzymes, nano-sized carriers and delivery systems for a host of biomedical and biotechnological applications.

For the first time astronomers have detected gravitational waves from a merged, hyper-massive neutron star. The scientists, Maurice van Putten of Sejong University in South Korea, and Massimo della Valle of the Osservatorio Astronomico de Capodimonte in Italy, publish their results in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.

A 15-minute scan could help diagnose brain damage in babies up to two years earlier than current methods.

Simple, scalable wireless system uses the RFID tags on billions of products to sense contamination

An antibiotic called thanatin attacks the way the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria is built. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now found out that this happens through a previously unknown mechanism. Thanatin, produced naturally by the spined soldier bug, can therefore be used to develop new classes of antibiotics.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major cause of global warming. Researchers use complex computer models to calculate the global circulation of this greenhouse gas. The oceans have a major influence on climate regulation. New research now helps to calculate this influence more precisely. These new findings are the result of a research project by scientists from Jacobs University and the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen in collaboration with colleagues from the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, the Marum Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen and the University of Gothenburg.

Automation solutions developed in the „Autoglare“ project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi)

Rice scientists combine graphene foam, epoxy into tough, conductive composite

While making smart glue, a team of engineers discovered a handy byproduct: hydrogen peroxide. In microgel form, it reduces bacteria and virus ability to infect by at least 99 percent.

In collaboration with fellow researchers, chemists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a process that, according to initial calculations, can facilitate economically removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The latest World Climate Report (IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ° C) acknowledges the global relevance of the process.

National Institutes of Health scientists and their collaborators found that hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated acute liver failure (ALF)--a rare condition that can turn fatal within days without liver transplantation--results from an uncommon encounter between a highly mutated HBV variant and an unusual immune response in the patient's liver that is mainly sustained by antibody-producing B cells.

An international team of drought scientists show that while many dams and reservoirs are built, or expanded, to alleviate droughts and water shortages, they can paradoxically contribute to make them worse. The study is published in Nature Sustainability.

Technique enables direct imaging of neural tissue; could lead to earlier detection of diseases affecting eye tissue

Materials scientists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have achieved a new record in the performance of organic non-fullerene based single-junction solar cells. Using a series of complex optimisations, they achieved certified power conversion efficiency of 12.25 percent on a surface area measuring one square centimetre. This standardised surface area is the preliminary stage for prototype manufacture. The results achieved in conjunction with partners from the South China University of Technology (SCUT) have now been published in the renowned journal ‘Nature Energy’.

An international collaboration uses laser-generated stars to determine the Earth's magnetic field in the sodium layer of the atmosphere