Forum for Science, Industry and Business

For the first time, a research team from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) has been able to determine the efficiency with which methane-oxidising bacteria from the seafloor can travel with gas bubbles from submarine methane seeps into the open water column and influence biogeochemical processes there. This transport process can be of importance for the reduction of the greenhouse gas methane in the marine environment and thus for global climate developments.

Human skin emits much more ammonia than the breath. The sticky molecule can spread on all surfaces and change the chemistry of our house.

X-ray single particle imaging (SPI) is a technique where the very bright pulses produced by X-ray Free Electron Lasers are used to image single particles like biomolecules. Now research group leader Dr. Kartik Ayyer from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg has conceived a new method to image much smaller biomolecules at a finer resolution than has been possible until now. His work has been published in Optica.

Scientists have analyzed data of about 13 million people in order to determine the risk of colorectal cancer in diabetic patients. Researchers of the German Cancer Research Center DKFZ) and National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg were able to show that diabetic patients are at increased risk of developing colorectal cancer, especially before age 50 years. Diabetic patients have a similar risk of developing colorectal cancer to people with a family history of colorectal cancer.

The drug nimodipine could prevent nerve cells from dying after brain surgery. Pharmacists at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), in cooperation with neurosurgeons at University Hospital Halle (Saale) (UKH), have developed a new method that enables the drug to be administered directly in the brain with fewer side effects. Their findings were published in the “European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics”.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. But individual tumors can vary significantly, presenting different spatial patterns within their mass. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Helmholtz Zentrum München have now succeeded in visualizing spatial changes within tumors by means of optoacoustics. This method may be helpful for the future development of new drugs.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used state-of-the-art atomic clocks, advanced light detectors, and a measurement tool called a frequency comb to boost the stability of microwave signals 100-fold. This marks a giant step toward better electronics to enable more accurate time dissemination, improved navigation, more reliable communications and higher-resolution imaging for radar and astronomy. Improving the microwave signal's consistency over a specific time period helps ensure reliable operation of a device or system.

Plant researchers from Kiel analyse the influence of genetic information on the onset of plant flowering using the example of thale cress

Columbia engineers first to build high-performance non-reciprocal devices on a compact chip, paving the way for applications from two-way wireless to quantum computing

Glass frogs are well known for their see-through skin but, until now, the reason for this curious feature has received no experimental attention.

Unique long-term videos show the bee nursery in the hive

Vitreous opacities, so-called mouches volantes or floaters, disturb many people in their vision. Up to now, the treatment of this age-related change in the eye is often not recommended. In a new research project, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) wants to lay the foundation for a safer laser-based treatment method.

Early detection of tumors is extremely important in treating cancer. A new technique developed by researchers at the University of California, Davis offers a significant advance in using magnetic resonance imaging to pick out even very small tumors from normal tissue. The work is published May 25 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Researchers at the University of Zurich have developed a new X-ray contrast agent. The contrast agent is easier to use and distributes into all blood vessels more reliably, increasing the precision of vascular imaging. This reduces the number of animals required in research experiments.

Brown algae are important players in the global carbon cycle by fixing large amounts of carbon dioxide and thus extracting this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Moreover, because microbial decomposition of dead brown algae is slower than that of other marine plants, carbon dioxide fixed by brown algae remains much longer in the sea. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, the MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen and other institutes therefore explored why brown algae degrade so slowly. They found that only highly specialized bacteria can carry out the degradation with the help of more than hundred enzymes.

By combining imaging of deformed cells and artificial intelligence, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin in Erlangen have succeeded in developing a high-speed method for identifying and sorting cells that does not require external cell labeling.

Hydrogen researchers at Graz University of Technology, together with the Graz-based start-up Rouge H2 Engineering, have developed a cost-effective process for the decentralised production of high-purity hydrogen.

How can patterns in the marine biodiversity of the past help us to understand how it may change in the future? A study published today by an international team including Prof. Michal Kucera and Dr. Kerstin Kretschmer from MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen finds that the tropical diversity decline now seen in the ocean is not purely human induced, but nonetheless will worsen considerably if we do not limit anthropogenic climate warming.

Retinal damage due to diabetes is now considered the most common cause of blindness in working-age adults. In low- and middle-income countries, an eye examination via smartphone could help to detect changes at an early stage. This is shown by a new study carried out by scientists from the University of Bonn together with colleagues from Sankara Eye Hospital Bangalore (India). The results are published in the journal "Ophthalmology".

A new maintenance system is helping to make sensors smart. A research team led by Professor Andreas Schütze of Saarland University is combining artificial intelligence with sensors that gather status data on industrial machinery. The system is able to detect damage, wear and error states, and, uniquely, is also able to recognize when previously unknown machine states arise, learning from them and assigning them to their underlying root causes. This approach offers small and medium-sized companies a means of automating their machine maintenance and servicing operations, allowing them to plan more precisely and avoid unpleasant surprises.

While many European states are currently setting up the 5th generation of mobile communication, scientists are already working on its optimization. Although 5G is far superior to its predecessors, even the latest mobile communication standard still has room for improvement: Especially in urban areas, where a direct line of sight between emitter and transceiver is difficult, the radio link does not yet function reliably. Within the recently launched EU project “ARIADNE”, eleven European partners are researching how an advanced system architecture “beyond 5G” can be developed by using high frequency bands and artificial intelligence.

Researchers have succeeded in detecting anti-avian influenza virus antibody in blood serum within 20 minutes, using a portable analyzer they have developed to conduct rapid on-site bio tests. If a suitable reagent is developed, this technology could be used to detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the causative virus of COVID-19.

We often think of asteroids and comets as distinct types of small bodies, but astronomers have discovered an increasing number of "crossovers." These objects initially appear to be asteroids, and later develop activity, such as tails, that are typical of comets.