Forum for Science, Industry and Business

A chemist from RUDN was the first to use catalysts with ruthenium nanoparticles to obtain hydrogen under the influence of visible light and UV radiation. In the future, such catalysts may be used for large-scale production of hydrogen fuel under the influence of sunlight. The results of the study were published in Applied Catalysis B: Environmental.

First comprehensive assessment of Pando reveals critical threats

Researchers from Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) have sped up the movement of electrons in organic semiconductor films by two to three orders of magnitude. The speedier electronics could lead to improved solar power and transistor use across the world, according to the scientists.

They published their results in the September issue of Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, where the paper is featured on the cover.

Study explains why the plant is among the best fliers in the natural world

UNIGE researchers have developed a new technology that can bore a hole in the clouds to pave the way for laser-transmitted data from a satellite

On 26 September, the United Nations announced a plan to raise $13 billion annually for the fight to eradicate tuberculosis by 2030. With 10 million new cases and 1.6 million deaths in 2017, it is the most common infectious disease in the world, ahead of HIV.

Current study shows: Impact on natural climate processes greater than previously thought

Electric vehicles and most electronic devices, such as cell phones and laptop computers, are powered by lithium-ion batteries. Until now, manufacturers have had to design their devices around the size and shape of commercially available batteries. But researchers have developed a new method to 3D print lithium-ion batteries in virtually any shape. They report their results in ACS Applied Energy Materials.

A study led by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has shown that carbon fibres can work as battery electrodes, storing energy directly. This opens up new opportunities for structural batteries, where the carbon fibre becomes part of the energy system. The use of this type of multifunctional material can contribute to a significant weight-reduction in the aircraft and vehicles of the future - a key challenge for electrification.

Allergen-specific immunotherapy can make everyday life much more pleasant for allergy sufferers and provide long-term protection against asthma. It is unclear, however, what exactly happens during this treatment. A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Helmholtz Zentrum München investigated the processes taking place in the body over the course of a three-year allergen-specific immunotherapy. The researchers found clues as to why the allergy immunization takes so long and how the chances of success can be determined at a very early stage.

According to the prevailing opinion, species-rich ecosystems are more stable against environmental disruptions such as drought, hot spells or pesticides. The situation is not as simple as it seems, however, as ecologists at the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) have now discovered. Under certain environmental conditions, increased biodiversity can also lead to an ecosystem becoming more unstable.

Computational image analysis of behaving cuttlefish reveals principles of control and development of a biological invisibility cloak

In many industrial sectors, material defects in the final product can lead to premature failure and impair their safe use. Intelligent, nondestructive sensor systems play a key role in quality assurance: without damaging the material itself or changing the surface, components or parts can be inspected quickly and cost-effectively during the production process. From 23 to 26 October 2018, experts from Fraunhofer IZFP will present a robot-assisted sensor system providing quality monitoring as integral element of production processes at EuroBLECH in Hanover (hall 11, booth A25).

Tübingen Neuroscientists decipher the pathways by which the brain alters its own perception of the outside world

With scarce nutrients and weak gravity, growing potatoes on the Moon or on other planets seems unimaginable. But the plant hormone strigolactone could make it possible, plant biologists from the University of Zurich have shown. The hormone supports the symbiosis between fungi and plant roots, thus encouraging plants’ growth – even under the challenging conditions found in space.

The share of renewable energy sources in electricity production is to be increased. However, the supply of wind and solar energy varies. Conversion of biogas into electricity offers an opportunity to compensate for such fluctuations through an adapted production. The prerequisite for this is that there is a sufficient and free storage capacity available in the systems at all times. The new BINE Projektinfo “Adjusting operation of biogas plants to power requirements” (07/2018) presents improved systems for filling level measurements and forecasts, and summarises recommendations for plant operation.

Unicellular diatoms are able to adapt their behavior to different external stimuli based on an evaluation of their own needs. This was discovered by scientists of the Friedrich Schiller University and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, together with partners from Belgium. The algae depend on nutrients in order to reproduce. They also need sexual mates which they find when they follow pheromone traces. In experiments, Seminavis robusta diatoms directed their orientation either towards nutrient sources or mating partners, depending on the degree of starvation and the need to mate. The tiny organisms demonstrated in fact a primitive form of behavioral biology.

An international research team led by Bernhard Hube from the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology in Jena has solved another mystery of the yeast Candida albicans: They discovered that its fungal toxin Candidalysin boycotts its pathogenic effect by attracting immune cells. The scientists published their results in the journal Nature Communications.

Selfish genes are genes that are passed on to the next generation but confer no advantage on the individual as a whole, and may sometimes be harmful. Researchers at Uppsala University have, for the first time, sequenced (or charted) two selfish genes in the fungus Neurospora intermedia that cause fungal spores to kill their siblings. Unexpectedly, the genes were not related to each other, perhaps indicating that selfish genes are more common than previously thought.

The element phosphorus can exist in various allotropes and changes its properties with each new form. So far, red, violet, white and black phosphorus have been known. While some phosphorus compounds are essential for life, white phosphorus is poisonous and inflammable and black phosphorus - on the contrary - particularly robust. Now, another allotrope has been identified: In 2014, a team from Michigan State University, USA, performed model calculations to predict that "blue phosphorus" should be also stable.

Mechanical structures are only as sound as the materials from which they are made. For decades researchers have studied materials from these structures to see why and how they fail. Before catastrophic failure, there are individual cracks or dislocations that form, which are signals that a structure may be weakening. While researchers have studied individual dislocations in the past, a team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Tennessee, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory has made it possible to understand how dislocations organize and react at nanoscale.

Engineers and software developers around the world are seeking to create technology that lets users touch, grasp and manipulate virtual objects, while feeling like they are actually touching something in the real world.

New observations suggest that kilonovae -- immense cosmic explosions that produce silver, gold and platinum--may be more common than thought