The interlocking bricks, which can be repurposed many times over, can withstand similar pressures as their concrete counterparts. What if construction materials could be put together and taken apart as easily as LEGO bricks? Such reconfigurable masonry would be disassembled at the end of a building’s lifetime and reassembled into a new structure, in a sustainable cycle that could supply generations of buildings using the same physical building blocks. That’s the idea behind circular construction, which aims to reuse and…
… that can harvest energy at room temperature. Researchers have succeeded in developing a framework for organic thermoelectric power generation from ambient temperature and without a temperature gradient. Researchers have developed a new organic thermoelectric device that can harvest energy from ambient temperature. While thermoelectric devices have several uses today, hurdles still exist to their full utilization. By combining the unique abilities of organic materials, the team succeeded in developing a framework for thermoelectric power generation at room temperature without…
A new paper unravels the mysteries of a bizarre physical state known as the pseudogap, which has close ties to the sought-after state called high-temperature superconductivity, in which electrical resistance disappears. By cleverly applying a computational technique, scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding the ‘pseudogap,’ a long-standing puzzle in quantum physics with close ties to superconductivity. The discovery, presented in the September 20 issue of Science, will help scientists in their quest for room-temperature superconductivity, a holy grail of…
A single step from ores to sustainable metals. Max Planck scientists design a process that merges metal extraction, alloying and processing into one single, eco-friendly step. Their results are now published in the journal Nature. Metal production is responsible for 10% of global CO2 emissions, with iron production emitting two tons of CO2 for every ton of metal produced, and nickel production emitting 14 tons of CO2 per ton and even more, depending on the ore used. These metals form…
Study on pulsed field ablation with promising results. An international study involving the Heart Center of the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) shows that pulsed field ablation is more effective, gentler and associated with fewer complications than other methods for treating atrial fibrillation. With the pulsed field method, the areas of the heart tissue responsible for the development of atrial fibrillation are specifically sclerosed by means of electrical impulses and not by heat or cold as with other methods. The…
Human settlement pressure increases disaster risk in mountain regions. Climate change together with population expansion will increase disaster risk especially for people in mountain regions. An underestimated danger in the mountains are slow-moving landslides, which damage buildings and infrastructure and can cause many fatalities in the event of a sudden collapse. The rapidly growing population is increasingly settling on steeper slopes and is therefore exposed to this risk, as researchers from the University of Potsdam and the Potsdam Institute for…
BMBF Future Cluster QSens starts the second round of funding. In the future cluster QSens of the Universities of Stuttgart and Ulm, scientists, companies, and start-ups are researching innovative quantum sensors and their transfer into practical applications. These have promising potential for health care, the Internet of Things, and renewable energies, among others. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding QSens with approximately EUR 15 million for another three years as part of the Clusters4Future competition. Quantum…
5-formylcytosine activates genes in the embryonic development of vertebrates. The team of Professor Christof Niehrs at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) in Mainz, Germany, has discovered that a DNA modification called 5-formylcytosine (5fC) functions as an activating epigenetic switch that kick-starts genes in early embryonic development. This finding proves for the first time that vertebrates have more than one type of epigenetic DNA mark and sheds new light on how genes are regulated in the earliest stages of development….
… shape-shift into versatile robots. Scientists at MPI-IS have developed electrically driven robotic components, called HEXEL modules, which can snap together into high-speed reconfigurable robots. Magnets embedded along the outside of the modules allow them to electrically and mechanically connect to other modules, forming robots with diverse shapes and capabilities. HEXEL modules are a promising technology for use in resource-limited environments, such as on space or rescue missions, and can be used to construct versatile robots from redundant parts, altogether…
Researchers from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands have been able to initiate a controlled movement in the very heart of an atom. They caused the atomic nucleus to interact with one of the electrons in the outermost shells of the atom. This electron could be manipulated and read out through the needle of a scanning tunneling microscope. The research, published in Nature Communications today, offers prospects for storing quantum information inside the nucleus, where it is safe from…
The integration of efficient, scalable, and cost-effective nanoscale lasers is essential for optical interconnects, medical diagnostics, and super-resolution imaging. Particularly, telecom-band NW lasers are promising for on-chip coherent light sources in photonic integrated circuits, which drive innovations in optical and quantum communication and computing. Achieving high-quality NWs with smooth sidewalls, controlled dimensions, and precise crystal composition is imperative for these applications. However, the epitaxial growth of high-quality multi-quantum well (MQW) nanowires (NWs) with both good structural and optical properties, along…
Research led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has studied the migratory movement of groups of cells using light control. In processes such as embryonic development, wound healing or cancer invasion, cells are known to move in groups in a coordinated way. Leading these groups of cells are so-called leader cells, which are highly mobile and seem to direct the migration of the whole group, just as groups of animals often organise themselves according to the instructions of…
Brigham researchers develop strategy to improve immunotherapy by helping T cells penetrate and kill tumor cells. Fighting cancer is exhausting for T cells. Hostile tumor microenvironments can drain their mitochondrial activity, leading to a condition known as T cell exhaustion. This phenomenon also hinders adoptive cell therapies, in which healthy, tumor-targeting T cells are infused into patients with cancer. A novel method to boost mitochondrial activity and charge up T cells is needed. Investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a…
New method developed by researchers of KIT and voxalytic GmbH allows easy elucidation of the spatial arrangement of atoms –tool for drug discovery. The chirality of a molecule refers to its basic structure: Some molecules, so-called enantiomers, occur in pairs and are mirror images of each other. They differ in the way a left and a right glove do. Depending on whether the “twisted” structure of a molecule is left-handed or right-handed, its influence on biochemical and chemical reactions is…
Smile for the camera! An interaction between an elliptical galaxy and a spiral galaxy, collectively known as Arp 107, seems to have given the spiral a happier outlook thanks to the two bright “eyes” and the wide semicircular “smile.” The region has been observed before in infrared by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope in 2005, however NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope displays it in much higher resolution. This image is a composite, combining observations from Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) and NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). NIRCam highlights the…
The global use of lithium-ion batteries has doubled in just the past four years, generating alarming amounts of battery waste containing many hazardous substances. The need for effective recycling methods for spent lithium-ion batteries is becoming increasingly critical. In the journal ChemElectroChem, scientists from various Polish research institutions, including Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology (PBS), the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the PAS in Warsaw, and Wroclaw…
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