Forum for Science, Industry and Business

EMBL researchers use optogenetics to drive structure changes in tissues

Researchers have developed a new technique to analyse cell membrane proteins in situ which could revolutionise the way in which we study diseases, such as cancer, metabolic and heart diseases.

People intuitively find good solutions even in complex, unfamiliar situations. They learn quickly and are able to cope with an almost infinite number of options. A team of researchers have created a game to experimentally investigate how this is possible and found astonishing parallels to state-of-the-art machine algorithms. The results of the study have been published in Nature Human Behaviour.

Researchers from Oldenburg support project Ocean Cleanup

Freiburg scientists elucidate the mechanism for the transport of water-insoluble protein molecules in mitochondria

Researchers from Würzburg and Toyama have discovered that a compound isolated from tropical rainforest vines inhibits the growth of pancreatic cancer cells in the lab.

It enables geckos to adhere to walls and ceilings, is involved in the formation of membranes in cells as well as in the docking of drugs to enzymes in the human body. Dispersion, i.e. the "weak interaction", is omnipresent in chemistry. A team of scientists at Jacobs University Bremen headed by Dean and Chemistry Professor Dr. Werner Nau has now succeeded for the first time in experimentally quantifying the "London Dispersion", named after the German physicist Fritz London, in solution. The results of their fundamental research have now been published in the renowned journal "Nature Chemistry".

The Swiss sportswear manufacturer KJUS presented the world's first ski jacket with an integrated electronic user-controlled membrane on November 15. Thanks to the HYDRO_BOT technology developed together with Empa, the ski jacket actively pumps out sweat from inside the jacket to keep skiers dry and warm.

A vector vaccine against Zika virus based on the measles vaccine virus protects pregnant mice and their offspring against Zika virus infection and disease. At the same time this vaccine elicits an immune response against the measles virus comparable with that of the conventional measles vaccine. The Journal of Virology in its online version of 14 November 2018 reports on these research results of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI) in co-operation with the Heinrich-Pette-Institute as well as The German Centre for Infection Research (Deutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, DZIF) and the German Federal Ministry of Health who have funded the project.

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.