… Can Identify Early Signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Dedicated memory tests on smartphones enable the detection of “mild cognitive impairment”, a condition that may indicate Alzheimer’s disease, with high accuracy. Researchers from DZNE, the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States who collaborated with the Magdeburg-based company “neotiv” report these findings in the scientific journal “npj Digital Medicine”. Their study is based on data from 199 older adults. The results underline the potential of mobile…
Fraunhofer IWS Transfers Laser-based Sound Analysis of Surfaces into Industrial Practice with “LAwave”. Sound waves can reveal surface properties. Parameters such as surface or coating quality of components can be analyzed nondestructively using lasers and sensors. In research and some industrial laboratories, this laser-induced surface wave spectroscopy has already become an established measurement technology. With “LAwave”, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden will present the second generation of a user-friendly measuring device at the International…
…from Saxony for material characterization of printed electronics. How efficient are new materials? Does changing the properties lead to better conductivity? The Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS develops and manufactures silicon substrates for this purpose. This enables the fundamental electrical characterization of materials such as a novel graphene emulsion. Customized designs enable the optimal measurement of semiconductors and conductors. OFET substrates from Fraunhofer IPMS as wafer. (c) Sebastian Lassak / Fraunhofer IPMS Organic semiconductors are key components in organic…
‘Artificial muscles’ help fractured leg bones heal better. Orthopaedic implants are used to fixate the bone fragments of fractures. Novel smart implants are now being developed that can continuously monitor and actively promote bone healing – by, for example, micro-massaging the fracture site. This innovative medical technology is currently under development at Saarland University by an interdisciplinary team of medical specialists, engineers and computer scientists. The team of engineers led by Professors Stefan Seelecke and Paul Motzki have equipped the…
Understanding the regulatory mechanism paves the way to enhance the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory therapies and to develop strategies to counteract the negative effects of stress- and age-related cortisol excess. The research group led by Prof. Thorsten Heinzel at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, together with researchers from the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena and the University of Ulm, have now been able to clarify an important aspect of cortisol resistance. The study was funded…
Paradoxical activation of oncogenic signaling shows surprising results. Many new drugs inhibit the processes that cancer cells need to divide rapidly. So as to inhibit the cancer as a whole. But cancer cells have all sorts of workarounds to get around that effect. As a result, the tumor becomes unresponsive to treatment. That’s why researcher Matheus dos Santos Dias is taking a completely different approach. He had to convince some colleagues before he could start working on this quite surprising…
Researchers from Jena, Würzburg and Potsdam have successfully developed a design for the smallest system of its kind so far to take highly secure quantum communication to space: Led by Fraunhofer IOF, the project CubEniK developed an ultracompact payload for a satellite the size of a shoe box, a so called “CubeSat”. The goal of the mini satellite is to transmit a secure quantum key over a distance of 300 kilometers between two ground stations in Jena and Munich. When…
Brazilian scientists tested a simple and sustainable method for monitoring and degrading a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, compounds present in fossil fuels and industrial waste. An article published in the journal Catalysis Communications describes a simple, efficient and sustainable approach to the degradation and quantitative monitoring of a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), emerging pollutants that contaminate various ecosystems owing to oil and other fossil fuel spills and improper disposal of industrial waste. Emerging pollutants are chemical compounds that have recently been…
Perovskite-based solar cells were first proved in 2009 to have excellent light-absorbing properties of methylammonium lead bromide and methylammonium lead iodide, collectively referred to as lead halide perovskites or, more simply, perovskites. While the efficiency of these first perovskite solar cells was modest, it was the start of a new path in photovoltaic research. Today, it is clear that future solar cells are likely to include these perovskites in combination with traditional silicon. Erkan Aydin, Stefaan De Wolf and a…
Specialization of ant queens as mere egg-layers is reversible / Queen behavioral specialization is initiated and maintained by the presence of workers. The queens in colonies of social insects, such as ants, bees, and wasps, are considered the veritable embodiment of specialization in the animal kingdom. The common perception is that the queen’s only task is to lay eggs – and that this attribute is an inherent trait, not influenced by external factors. In contrast, recent research undertaken at Johannes…
Experimental and theoretical physicists from the Würzburg Institute for Topological Insulators observed a re-entrant quantum Hall effect in a mercury telluride device and identify it as a signature of parity anomaly. Topological insulators are materials that can conduct electricity, but only on their surface or edges. No current flows inside them. They are the subject of intensive research worldwide because they have unique electronic properties that are interesting for improving the efficiency of quantum computers, for example, and for other…
New DFG research program at Kiel University. The German Science Foundation (DFG) funds a new Research Unit “PlantsCoChallenge” at Kiel University to investigate plant adaptation mechanisms to biotic and abiotic stress. The successful strategic orientation of plant research in Kiel was again confirmed yesterday as the German Research Foundation’s (DFG) announced that it is funding the new Research Unit (RU) 5640 “PlantsCoChallenge” at Kiel University for four years with more than four million euros. The consortium of scientists aims to…
Santorini is one of the best-studied volcanic archipelagos in the world. An international drilling expedition has now for the first time used a scientific drill ship to explore and investigate the seafloor around the Greek volcanic island. The researchers have uncovered evidence of an underwater eruption in 726 CE, previously known only from historical records. Their findings are published today in the journal Nature Geoscience. – Joint press release from the Universität Hamburg and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean…
HIRI scientists identify small RNA that influences the sensitivity of the intestinal commensal Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron to certain antibiotics. The intricacies of how intestinal bacteria adapt to their environment have yet to be fully explored. Researchers from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg and the University of California, Berkeley, USA, have now successfully closed a gap in this knowledge: They have identified a small ribonucleic acid (sRNA) that affects the susceptibility of the gut pathogen Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron…
Classification system uses genetic fingerprints to identify unintentional ‘bystander’ edits linked with new disease therapies. Since its breakthrough development more than a decade ago, CRISPR has revolutionized DNA editing across a broad range of fields. Now scientists are applying the technology’s immense potential to human health and disease, targeting new therapies for an array of disorders spanning cancers, blood conditions and diabetes. In some designed treatments, patients are injected with CRISPR-treated cells or with packaged CRISPR components with a goal…
Graz University of Technology and the “Große schützen Kleine” association have investigated abdominal injuries in children following bicycle accidents as part of a Master’s thesis. Result? The design of the handlebars makes a big difference. In Austria, around 8,000 children and young people are injured in cycling accidents every year and subsequently treated in hospital. Around 600 of the injuries are directly attributable to contact with the handlebars, and around 19 per cent of these require hospitalisation. It is striking…
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