Forum for Science, Industry and Business

Nanowires promise to make LEDs more colorful and solar cells more efficient, in addition to speeding up computers. That is, provided that the tiny semiconductors convert electric energy into light, and vice versa, at the right wavelengths. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have managed to produce nanowires with operating wavelengths that can be freely selected over a wide range – simply by altering the shell structure. Fine-tuned nanowires could take on several roles in an optoelectronic component. That would make the components more powerful, more cost-effective, and easier to integrate, as the team reports in Nature Communications.

Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of electrically-charged molecules in space shaped like soccer balls, shedding light on the mysterious contents of the interstellar medium (ISM) - the gas and dust that fills interstellar space.

Targeted treatment offers potential options for men with progressive disease

Cyanide and carbon monoxide are both deadly poisons to humans, but compounds containing iron, cyanide, and carbon monoxide discovered in carbon-rich meteorites by a team of scientists at Boise State University and NASA may have helped power life on early Earth.

Rutgers-led study shows the benefits of removing toner with pulses of intense xenon light

Snowflakes that cover mountains or linger under tree canopies are a vital freshwater resource for over a billion people around the world. To help determine how much freshwater is stored in snow, a team of NASA-funded researchers is creating a computer-based tool that simulates the best way to detect snow and measure its water content from space.

University of Pennsylvania researchers showed that mice could be protected from the infection with a live attenuated vaccine

Active margins, where an oceanic plate slides under a continental plate, may cause the largest earthquakes and tsunamis on earth. Besides their catastrophic impact on coastal communities, they are also known for shifting large amounts of sediments from the margin slopes into deep ocean trenches. Now a study led by geologists from the University of Innsbruck discovered for the very first time direct evidence of earthquake-triggered sediment erosion of surface sediments on a submarine slope close to the rupture area of the great 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake.

An international team of researchers involving members of the University of Basel’s Biozentrum challenges the conventional understanding of the cause of Parkinson’s disease. The researchers have shown that the inclusions in the brain’s neurons, characteristic of Parkinson‘s disease, are comprised of a membranous medley rather than protein fibrils. The recently published study in “Nature Neuroscience” raises new questions about the etiology of Parkinson’s disease.

The Earth observation network PollyNet is strengthened: The sixth station of the worldwide atmosphere network starts operations on Wednesday in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. The new station is the first in Central Asia, within the global dust belt that stretches from Morocco to China.
PollyNet is a network of light radars (lidar) that use laser beams to explore the atmosphere from the ground. With its measurements it contributes to the European research infrastructure ACTRIS, which investigates aerosols, clouds and trace gases. It is coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig.

Air pollution is increasing in many cities. It is also getting warmer and warmer and flooding occurs during heavy rain because the surfaces are sealed. Therefore, new concepts are needed to ensure that cities remain livable for their inhabitants, including more green spaces that ensure a pleasant climate and keep the air clean. The greening of façades is also important. A start-up of Technische Universität Kaiserslautern has developed a system for green façades that is maintenance-free and, thanks to moss, self-greening. The founders market this system through their company "Artificial Ecosystems". For their idea, they were awarded 1st place in the Rhineland-Palatinate Ideas Prize 2019.

Biochemists identified the structure of a ring located at the opening of the TRPML2 ion channel that can be blocked by calcium ions

Can you cool with waste heat? Sure. A Swiss research project involving Empa, which ended in November, demonstrated this in an impressive way. Now a large-scale EU project is starting: industrial cooling – thanks to the Spanish sun.

Study on user acceptance for autonomous mobility concepts

People who eat less live longer and healthier lives – many studies point out the positive effect of (intermittent) fasting. However, besides calorie reduction, the quantitative relationship of the individual food components also plays an important role. Scientists at DIfE, a partner of the German Center for Diabetes Research, have now demonstrated in the animal model that the sole restriction of the amino acid methionine* prevents the onset of type 2 diabetes. Their results were published in the FASEB Journal.

Scientists discover the first known sulfur-oxidizing symbiont to be entirely heterotrophic.

Following a stroke, antibodies that inhibit the signaling molecule Nogo-A can help repair blood vessels in the affected brain regions. This also promotes the regaining of motor functions, researchers at the University of Zurich have shown in a mouse model. The study opens up new avenues for treatment.

How the components come together depends on their design and shape and the resulting dielectrophoretic forces when exposed to an electric field.

Virginia Tech researchers discovered that wheat plants "sneezing" off condensation can vastly impact the spread of spore-borne diseases, such as wheat leaf rust, which can cause crop yield losses of up to 20 percent or more in the United States and higher average losses in less developed agricultural nations.

'Hunger hormone' imbalance can trigger obesity

The non-invasive measurement of blood flow to the heart using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is on par with cardiac catheterization. This was the result of an international study published in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine and headed by researchers from Goethe University.

To guarantee high quality pharmaceuticals, manufacturers need not only to control the purity and concentration of their own products, but also those of their suppliers. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF have developed a measuring system capable of identifying a wide variety of chemical and pharmaceutical substances remotely and in real time. It is perfect for the use in the pharmaceutical, chemical and food industry.

An international team of researchers are seeking to explore the heart at a depth that was previously impossible. They have now received a grant of nearly four million US dollars from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – as one of the 38 Seed Networks working on the Human Cell Atlas. MDC researcher Norbert Hübner is co-coordinator of the project.