Forum for Science, Industry and Business

Complexity in nature, whether in chlorophyll or in living organisms, often results from self-assembly and is considered particularly robust. Compact clusters of elemental particles can be shown to be of practical relevance, and are found in atomic nuclei, nano particles or viruses. An interdisciplinary team of researchers led by professors Nicolas Vogel and Michael Engel at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have decoded the structure and the process behind the formation of one class of such highly ordered clusters. Their findings have increased understanding of how structures are formed in clusters and have now been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Astrophysicists discover a large population of potential young planets in distant solar systems

Ship-to-shore conversations with deep-sea scientists will take place during the American Geophysical Union fall meeting

Under threat of being scrubbed away with disinfectant, individual bacteria can improve their odds of survival by joining together to form colonies, called biofilms. What Arnold Mathijssen, postdoctoral fellow in bioengineering at Stanford University, wanted to understand was how stationary biofilms find food once they've devoured nearby nutrients.

Thawing and slumping permafrost in the western Canadian Arctic is releasing unprecedented levels of mercury into waterways.

Topics include remote sensing of seasonal snow, forest ecohydrology in a changing climate, plant stress in drought-prone forests

Argonne researchers have demonstrated a new technique's viability for membranes.

Using laser light to trap atoms in a checkerboard-like pattern, a team led by Princeton scientists studied how resistance -- the loss of electrical current as heat -- can develop in unconventional metals.

Soot from road traffic in emerging countries can reach high altitudes, where it can be transported over long distances and thus contributes to global warming. This is the conclusion of a study performed by an international team of researchers in the Bolivian cities of La Paz, El Alto and the neighboring Chacaltaya mountain observatory. The reduction of pollutants from road traffic such as soot particles from diesel cars should therefore have high priority in order to both protect the health of the population in the growing conurbations of emerging countries and reduce global warming. The results have been published in the journal Atmospheric Environment.

Astronomers discover unknown structures in belts of dust and gas around young stars

Team joins national network focused on neurodegenerative disorders

A new computational model developed by researchers from The City College of New York and Yale gives a clearer picture of the structure and mechanics of soft, shape-changing cells that could provide a better understanding of cancerous tumor growth, wound healing, and embryonic development.

Pain is a negative feeling that we want to get rid of as soon as possible. In order to protect our bodies, we react for example by withdrawing the hand. This action is usually understood as the consequence of the perception of pain. A team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now shown that perception, the impulse to act and provision of energy to do so take place in the brain simultaneously and not, as was expected, one after the other.

Cell biologists at the University of Münster have developed a new method for measuring how mechanical forces in cells are processed. The results have been published in the journal “Nature Communications”.

Chemists at Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) synthesise molecule as possible component for quantum computers

Traumatic experiences can become deeply entrenched in a person's memory. How can fears following a traumatic event be reduced in the long term and prevented from becoming a permanent stress-related disorder? Researchers at the Mainz University Medical Center have recently shed new light on these questions. The key to their approach lies in firmly anchoring new, positive experiences in the person's memory. As in classical treatment, traumatized patients would first have to be exposed to their fear-inducing stimuli to learn that these stimuli are often harmless. This experience would then be made durable using a safe and simple drug treatment.

A widely used diabetes medication combined with an antihypertensive drug specifically inhibits tumor growth – this was discovered by researchers from the University of Basel’s Biozentrum two years ago. In a follow-up study, recently published in “Cell Reports”, the scientists report that this drug cocktail induces cancer cell death by switching off their energy supply.

New study by the University of Konstanz: Animals are much better at smelling a complex “soup” of odorants rather than a single pure ingredient

Retrofitting with modern emitters simplifies polymer coating

A research team from the University of Zurich has developed a new drone that can retract its propeller arms in flight and make itself small to fit through narrow gaps and holes. This is particularly useful when searching for victims of natural disasters.

University of Konstanz chemist Professor Stefan Mecking publishes a new catalysis concept for obtaining polyester from castor oil

It is a general consensus that understanding of the normal state is a pre-requisite for understanding the superconductivity mechanism.

Key advance for future topological transistors