Forum for Science, Industry and Business

A 100% Québec discovery made at Polytechnique Montréal in partnership with McGill University

Scientists at the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa Department of Biology have developed a technique for measuring the amount of living coral on a reef by analyzing DNA in small samples of seawater. The new research by Patrick Nichols, a graduate student in the marine biology graduate program, and Peter Marko, an associate professor in the Department of Biology, was published in Environmental DNA.

As a partner in the newly launched "Siphon" project, the Fraunhofer FEP will be presenting the Institute's current research focused on the field of hygiene and sanitation at the MedTecLIVE trade fair in Nuremberg (Hall 10, Booth 10.0 - 621) May 21-23, 2019.

Photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) is a non-invasive hybrid imaging technique that excites biological tissues with light and detects the subsequently generated ultrasound to form images. PACT combines the advantages of both optical imaging--high optical contrast, and ultrasonic imaging--high resolution and deep penetration in biological tissues. PACT has been widely used for vascular network mapping, functional brain imaging, and tumor detection in deep tissues.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP are working with Israeli and German partners to develop long-wearing contact lenses that can release medicine. The active ingredient is encapsulated in liposomes and bound to the inside of the contact lenses. This enables it to remain in the eye for longer. Sugars are added to make the contact lens particularly comfortable to wear.

HeH+ was the first molecule that formed when, 13 billion years ago, falling temperatures in the young Universe allowed recombination of the light elements produced in the Big Bang. At that time, ionized hydrogen and neutral helium atoms reacted to form HeH+.

They may be small, but CubeSats are mighty when it comes to affordably obtaining scientific data in space

A research group from Tohoku University has developed spintronics devices which are promising for future energy-efficient and adoptive computing systems, as they behave like neurons and synapses in the human brain.

In cooperation with the Saarland University Hospital, the INM has developed bioinspired adhesive structures for the treatment of eardrum injuries. The adhesive structures are now to be transferred into a biomedical product.

Even thousands of years ago people wore clothing with colourful patterns made from plant and animal-based dyes. Chemists from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have created new analytical methods to examine textiles from China and Peru that are several thousand years old. In the scientific journal "Scientific Reports" they describe their new method that is able to reconstruct the spatial distribution of dyes, and hence the patterns, in textile samples.

Personal drug delivery or nano-robotic systems could be a key concept for future medical applications. In this context, scientists around David Ng (Department of Prof. Tanja Weil) of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) have recently developed a technology to customize the shapes of polymers and polymeric nanoparticles using DNA. In both 2D and 3D, precise patterns of structures composed of biocompatible polymer materials can be easily designed and constructed on a template.

First direct look at how atoms move when a ring-shaped molecule breaks apart could boost our understanding of fundamental processes of life

Scientists from the University of Groningen have succeeded in incorporating a light-controlled switch into a molecule used by bacteria for quorum sensing - a process by which bacteria communicate and subsequently control different cellular processes. With the molecule described, it is possible to either inhibit or stimulate communication. This makes it a very useful tool for further research into bacterial communication and its influence on different genetic pathways. The results were published on 15 April in the journal Chem.

A Princeton-led team of researchers have discovered a factor that promotes the spread of cancers to bone, opening the way toward treatments that could mitigate cancer's ability to colonize bone. The study by Mark Esposito, Yibin Kang and colleagues appears in the April 15 issue of Nature Cell Biology.

Hydrogen fuel, with the advantages of clean, renewable and of high fuel efficiency, is seen as the "ultimate fuel" and getting more attention around the world. Water electrolysis is an ideal way to produce hydrogen, yet it requires active and stable catalysts which make this process more efficient and cheaper. Without suitable catalysts, turning water into fuel only seems too good to be true.

A new type of light-emitting diode has been developed at TU Wien. Light is produced from the radiative decay of exciton complexes in layers of just a few atoms thickness.

Scientists from TU Dresden find ways to reduce the number of dying neurons and search for therapeutic approaches to treat ALS

Researchers combine CRISPR gene-editing technology with drug discovery to understand why treatment works (or doesn't)

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) discovered a new method to passivate defects in next generation optical materials to improve optical quality and enable the miniaturization of light emitting diodes and other optical elements.

Biotechnologists, physicists, and medical researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have developed technology for microscopic imaging in living organisms. A miniaturised multi-photon microscope, which could be used in an endoscope in future, excites the body’s own molecules to illuminate and enables cells and tissue structures to be imaged without the use of synthetic contrast agents. The findings have now been published in the renowned journal ‘Advanced Science’.

A nearby system hosts the first Earth-sized planet discovered by NASA's Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite, as well as a warm sub-Neptune-sized world

A study in Nano Letters reports on the development of a graphene-enabled detector for terahertz light that is faster and more sensitive than existing room-temperature technologies

Astronomers from the United States and South Korea have made the first high-resolution, radio telescope observations of the molecular clouds within a massive star-forming region of the outer Milky Way.