EPFL researchers have succeeded in directing floating objects around an aquatic obstacle course using only soundwaves. Their novel, optics-inspired method holds great promise for biomedical applications such as noninvasive targeted drug delivery. In 2018, Arthur Ashkin won the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing optical tweezers: laser beams that can be used to manipulate microscopic particles. While useful for many biological applications, optical tweezers require extremely controlled, static conditions to work properly. “Optical tweezers work by creating a light ‘hotspot’…
… Visiting Websites and Watching Videos. Online activities can be monitored in detail simply by analysing latency fluctuations in the internet connection, researchers at Graz University of Technology have discovered. The attack works without malicious code or access to the data traffic. The team from the Institute of Applied Information Processing and Communications at TU Graz that discovered and analysed the security vulnerability (from left): Fabian Rauscher, Jonas Juffinger, Stefan Gast, Simone Franza, Daniel Gruss, Roland Czerny. (c) IAIK –…
Recent findings reveal how secondary structure in helical polymers influences their aggregation and size control. Light-triggered release offers tailored solutions for controlled substance delivery. Scientists have taken a significant step towards the development of tailor-made chiral nanocarriers with controllable release properties. These nanocarriers, inspired by nature’s helical molecules like DNA and proteins, hold immense potential for targeted drug delivery and other biomedical applications. The study, led by Professors Emilio Quiñoá and Félix Freire at the Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CiQUS), highlights…
Eliminating damages in offshore wind turbines is very expensive. When turbines are idle due to defective transmissions, repairs often require special cranes – high waves, strong winds, and poor visibility can hinder the deployment teams and further extend downtime. In the GEARFORM project, Fraunhofer IWU and its industry partners developed a hot rolling process to manufacture durable, large-module gears. In contrast to hobbing, hot rolling also boasts an outstanding material utilization rate and significantly shorter production times. With a diameter…
Using an instrument on the 4.1-meter Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope, researchers obtained the first astronomical spectrum using skipper charge-coupled devices (CCDs). The results were presented on June 16 at the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation meeting in Japan by Edgar Marrufo Villalpando, a physics PhD candidate at the University of Chicago and a Fermilab DOE Graduate Instrumentation Research Award Fellow. “This is a major milestone for skipper-CCD technology,” said Alex Drlica-Wagner, a cosmologist at the U.S. Department…
UC Santa Cruz team led research using computer simulations based on Earth’s seafloor ecosystems. We’ve all seen the surreal footage in nature documentaries showing hydrothermal vents on the frigid ocean floor—bellowing black plumes of super-hot water—and the life forms that cling to them. Now, a new study by UC Santa Cruz researchers suggests that lower-temperature vents, which are common across Earth’s seafloor, may help to create life-supporting conditions on “ocean worlds” in our solar system. Ocean worlds are planets and…
New device measures greenhouse gas captured in building material quickly and easily. A new device can measure carbon dioxide captured in concrete more simply and in a third of the time of current methods. Researchers at the University of Tokyo worked with engineers in industry to create the boxlike device called the concrete thermal gravimetry and gas analyzer. The device heats concrete samples to almost 1,000 degrees Celsius, causing the CO2 within to be released so it can be measured….
Researchers have reported previously unobserved phenomena in an ultra-clean sample of the correlated metal SrVO3. The study challenges existing theoretical models by providing new experimental insights into these unusual metals. The team demonstrated that high-purity SrVO3 exhibits unique electronic properties, revealing the importance of defect-free materials in studying electron correlation effects. The study’s breakthrough was achieved using an innovative thin film growth technique, leading to the synthesis of SrVO3 with unprecedented purity, enabling detailed exploration of its true properties. Findings…
A Czech-Bavarian research team is developing an artificial intelligence that specialises in gastroscopy. The AI is intended to assist doctors with diagnoses. During a gastroscopy, the oesophagus, stomach and duodenum are examined using an endoscope. This is a thin, flexible tube with a light and a camera at the tip. The endoscope is passed through the mouth and into the stomach. Doctors can use the camera images to assess the state of health and take tissue samples if necessary. Gastroscopies…
… with potential in drug research developed. A research team from Kiel has described a method for directly converting carbon-hydrogen bonds in carboxylic acids into carbon-fluorine bonds. Carboxylic acids are one of the most important substance classes in chemistry and are a component of many drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen. To tailor the properties of carboxylic acids, fluorine atoms can be introduced into the molecular structure. However, this requires complex, multi-step synthetic routs. An internationally composed team of researchers…
CARMEN teaches strategies to help improve memory and executive function. Meet CARMEN, short for Cognitively Assistive Robot for Motivation and Neurorehabilitation–a small, tabletop robot designed to help people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) learn skills to improve memory, attention, and executive functioning at home. Unlike other robots in this space, CARMEN was developed by the research team at the University of California San Diego in collaboration with clinicians, people with MCI, and their care partners. To the best of the…
Research team at Göttingen University discovers important function of antisense non-coding RNA. The function of non-coding RNA in the cell has long been a mystery to researchers. Unlike coding RNA, non-coding RNA does not produce proteins – yet it exists in large quantities. A research team from the University of Göttingen has now discovered an important function of antisense RNA (asRNA): the researchers found that asRNA acts as a “superhighway” in cell transport and thus accelerates gene expression. The results…
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are found throughout the human body and are involved in many complex signalling pathways. Despite their importance in many biological processes, the central mechanism of G protein-coupling and the associated signal transmission is not yet understood. A team of researchers from Leipzig University has succeeded in understanding the mechanism of signal transmission through an adrenaline-binding receptor at the atomic level. In the future, researchers may be able to use these results to better avoid side effects…
New findungs on light published by scientists from the University of Rostock. A collaboration of Professor Szameit’s research group at the University of Rostock with researchers from the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg has succeeded in stabilizing the interference of two photons in optical chips with the concept of topologically protected wave propagation. The research results were published in the renowned journal Science. (from left to right) Matthias Heinrich, Alexander Szameit and Max Ehrhardt – the authors of the Science paper – experimenting…
Scientists at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Australia have produced a first of its kind integrated map of heart cells which unlocks the process of cardiac fibrosis – a major cause of heart failure. The discovery opens new avenues to develop targeted drugs to prevent scarring damage caused after a heart attack. During and after a heart attack, the heart’s muscles are damaged leading to the formation of scar tissue which lacks the elasticity and contractility of healthy heart…
Similar to smokers, cannabis users nearly twice as likely to need hospitalization, intensive care when infected with the virus. As the deadly disease that came to be known as COVID-19 started spreading in late 2019, scientists rushed to answer a critical question: Who is most at risk? They quickly recognized that a handful of characteristics — including age, smoking history, high body mass index (BMI) and the presence of other diseases such as diabetes — made people infected with the…
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