Forum for Science, Industry and Business

It does not require any cabling and its supporting structure is at the same time a battery: research teams from Braunschweig and Würzburg are working on such a cleverly constructed small satellite. Tests of the satellite in orbit are planned in 2023.

Scientists from the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Thorax Clinic at Heidelberg University Hospital, whose collaboration is taking place under the auspices of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), have examined samples from non-virus infected patients to determine which cells of the lungs and bronchi are targets for novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection.

There is currently no industrial recycling process tailored to fuel cells. As part of the "BReCycle" project, a research consortium led by Fraunhofer IWKS is now developing a recycling management concept specifically for PEM fuel cells.

There is one major challenge in converting our energy system to purely renewable energy sources: winter – or rather the supply gap at this time. The conversion of surplus summer electricity into synthetic gas offers a way of ensuring that renewable energy could be available in sufficient quantities during the winter months. It would also allow to operate long-distance trucks. The Canton of Zurich has great interest in replacing fossil fuels with renewable energies and is, therefore, providing financial support for the Empa's "Power-to-gas" project.

Researchers find the foundations of toxin production in Amanita muscaria, confirming a 50-year old theory

Alexander von Humboldt research fellow Ran Du fabricates various noble metal aerogels (NMAs), and pioneers demonstrating their impressive performance for pH-universal electrocatalysis for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and electrochemical water splitting at TU Dresden. Thus, TU Dresden chemists pave the way for new applications, such as for electrochemical hydrogen production and fuel cells.

Heavy-load vehicle traffic is responsible for 6 percent of the CO2 emissions in the European Union. Solar electricity generated directly on the vehicle can improve this balance by 5 to 7 percent. In the “Lade-PV” project under the direction of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, four industrial companies and two Fraunhofer institutes want to demonstrate the market feasibility of PV applications in the heavy-load transport. The aim is to develop an overall concept that makes the widespread use of integrated PV modules on electrical and other commercial vehicles (over 3.5 tons commercial load) possible.

Although Swiss internet users use online services where algorithms select search results, recommendations and information daily, they know little about their role and function. This leads to uncertainty, a feeling of powerlessness and a desire for more control, as a representative survey of Swiss internet users conducted by the University of Zurich shows.

Electrolytes play a key role in many areas: They are crucial for the storage of energy in our body as well as in batteries. In order to release energy, ions - charged atoms - must move in a liquid such as water. Until now the precise mechanism by which they move through the atoms and molecules of the electrolyte has, however, remained largely unknown. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have now shown that the electrical resistance of an electrolyte, which is determined by the motion of ions, can be traced back to microscopic vibrations of these dissolved ions.

Modern scientific research on materials relies heavily on exploring their behavior at the atomic and molecular scales. For that reason, scientists are constantly on the hunt for new and improved methods for data gathering and analysis of materials at those scales.

The first 21 SARS-CoV-2 genomes in Austria have now been completed and published within the scope of the “Mutational Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2” project recently launched by CeMM in close collaboration with the Medical University of Vienna. The project aims at sequencing 1,000 viral genomes obtained from Austrian patient-derived samples, in order to learn more about the molecular understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic and the causative pathogen. The project results will integrate Austrian viral genome data into a global map of SARS-CoV-2 mutations, which will help decipher the mutational dynamics underlying the COVID-19 pandemic.

Melatonin controls the body clock – high melatonin levels make us feel tired in the evening. However, the hormone also plays an important role in animals’ biological rhythms. Artificial light at night – light pollution – can suppress the production of melatonin in fish, even at very low light intensities, a finding established by researchers from the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB).

The "Flora Incognita" research team is pleased to announce a substantial increase in the use of their identically named smartphone app used to identify wild flowering plants by photo and to collect digital observations.

Drops of water falling on or sliding over surfaces may leave behind traces of electrical charge, causing the drops to charge themselves. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) in Mainz have now begun a detailed investigation into this phenomenon that accompanies us in every-day life. They developed a method to quantify the charge generation and additionally created a theoretical model to aid understanding. According to the scientists, the observed effect could be a source of generated power and an important building block for understanding frictional electricity.

The European large-scale research initiative BATTERY 2030+ presents the long-term research roadmap that outlines the actions needed to invent the sustainable batteries of the future.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers has advanced remote tracking technology to study previously unobserved animal behaviours. Bio-logging, the automated remote recording of animal behaviour has so far been limited through the minimum size and weight of sensors to attach to animals. Now, small vertebrates like bats, lizards and birds can be tagged with miniaturized sensors providing information about their behaviour and habitat use in unprecedented resolution, the team reports in the journal “PLoS Biology”.

New measurements from single electron tunneling provide spectroscopic evidence and cinch the case for a 'pair density wave' coexisting with superconductivity

Researchers at the Institute of Industrial Science, a part of The University of Tokyo, demonstrated a novel artificial intelligence system that can find and label 2D materials in microscope images in the blink of an eye. This work can help shorten the time required for 2D material-based electronics to be ready for consumer devices.

A research team led by scientists from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT), Japan, has successfully established 3D cultured tissue that mimics liver fibrosis, a key characteristic of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). For making the 3D culture, cells were collected from liver tissues of NASH model mice. Their findings open up an alternative avenue for developing drugs for NASH patients, identifying new markers for early diagnosis, and better understanding the disease progression.

Their findings were published in Biomaterials on Jan 27th, 2020.

Actuators that can convert various environmental stimuli to mechanical works have revealed great potential for developing smart devices such as soft robots, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), and automatic Lab-on-a-Chip systems.

One of the most devastating pathogens that lives inside human cells is Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacillus that causes tuberculosis. According to the World Health Organization, 1.5 million people died in 2019 from this disease that generally affects the lungs.

In the EU project "High Performance Alexandrite Crystals and Coatings for High Power Space Applications" (GALACTIC), the LZH wants to develop a solely European supply chain for space-qualified high-performance laser crystals made of Alexandrite with the partners Optomaterials S.r.l. (Italy) and Altechna Coatings UAB (Lithuania). These laser crystals are to be used in earth observation satellites in space.

While audio-visual VR systems are limited to image and sound reproduction, the FaceHaptics research project at the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg is working on integrating haptic feedback like soft touches on the face in order to intensify the VR experience.