Study: Active ingredient evaluation for nerve regeneration. Injury- or disease-induced nerve damage often leads to permanent impairment in motor function, sensitivity, or chronic pain. For affected patients, this results in a significant loss of their quality of life. Nearly eight percent of Europeans older than 55 suffer from so-called peripheral neuropathies. A research team from the Center for Pharmacology in Cologne now presents a new study in which a promising compound for nerve regeneration was investigated. Longitudinal sections of damaged…
The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF) have modernized and significantly expanded their melt spinning pilot plant with support from the State of Baden-Württemberg. The new facility enables research into new spinning processes, fiber functionalization and sustainable fibers made from biodegradable and bio-based polymers. In the field of melt spinning, the DITF are working on several pioneering research areas, for example the development of various fibers for medical implants or fibers made from polylactide, a sustainable bio-based…
Quantum sensor technology promises even more precise measurements of physical quantities. A team led by Christian Roos at the University of Innsbruck has now compared the signals of up to 91 quantum sensors with each other and thus successfully eliminated the noise caused by interactions with the environment. Correlation spectroscopy can be The quantum systems employed in quantum technologies, for example single atoms, are also very sensitive: any interaction with the environment can induce changes in the quantum system, leading…
Researchers have found water vapour in the disc around a young star exactly where planets may be forming. Water is a key ingredient for life on Earth, and is also thought to play a significant role in planet formation. Yet, until now, we had never been able to map how water is distributed in a stable, cool disc — the type of disc that offers the most favourable conditions for planets to form around stars. The new findings were made…
The question of where the boundary between classical and quantum physics lies is one of the longest-standing pursuits of modern scientific research and in new research published today, scientists demonstrate a novel platform that could help us find an answer. The laws of quantum physics govern the behaviour of particles at miniscule scales, leading to phenomena such as quantum entanglement, where the properties of entangled particles become inextricably linked in ways that cannot be explained by classical physics. Research in…
Milestone for the 4MOST project: The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) will begin shipping the 4MOST instrument to Chile on Thursday 29 February with the first large shipment. A significant milestone approaches for the 4MOST project as the Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) gears up to dispatch the first major shipment of the 4MOST instrument to Chile. On Thursday, February 29, the Cable Wrap, the largest physical subsystem of 4MOST, will commence its journey from AIP’s facilities to the…
Non-rigid postal items with flexible packaging – such as poly bags – pose problems for logistics companies during automatic sorting. Thanks to modern simulation methods, there is now a widely applicable solution. Anyone who orders something online would like to have the parcel delivered reliably, quickly and undamaged. The sharp rise in the number of different types of mailing bags and mailing sacks in recent years – postal items with flexible packaging and a limited degree of dimensional stability –…
A systems change in automotive architecture. Modern cars are packed full of electronics. Managing all the computers and assistance systems is a complex task, and the cable harnesses increase the weight of the car. In the joint research project CeCaS, Fraunhofer researchers are working on a systems architecture based on the idea of managing all electronic components centrally from one computer platform. This will make it easier to construct highly automated, connected vehicles. The core element of this Fraunhofer technology…
Adhesives are almost always based on fossil raw materials such as petroleum. Researchers at Fraunhofer have recently developed a process that allows to utilize keratin for this purpose. This highly versatile protein compound can be found, for instance, in chicken feathers. Not only can it be used to manufacture a host of different adhesives for a variety of applications, but the processes and end products are also sustainable and follow the basic principles underlying a bioinspired circular economy. The project,…
Products ordered online are often shipped in oversized cartons. The size of the overall package is frequently much larger than its contents. For example, a fragrance bottle is shipped in a shoebox-sized package, which has padding to fill the empty space. This is not sustainable. Helping to combat this issue is the CASTN optimization software created by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML, which puts together the optimum order-to-carton combination for each customer’s order. Clever algorithms calculate…
Diamond is known for its outstanding thermal conductivity. This makes the material ideal for cooling electronic components with high power densities, such as those used in processors, semiconductor lasers or electric vehicles. Researchers at Fraunhofer USA, an independent international affiliate of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, have succeeded in developing wafer-thin nanomembranes from synthetic diamonds that can be integrated into electronic components, thereby reducing the local heat load by up to ten times. This helps to improve the road performance and service life…
…shapes planetary systems. Up to a certain point, very luminous stars can have a positive effect on the formation of planets, but from that point on the radiation they emit can cause the material in protoplanetary discs to disperse. Data from the James Webb Space Telescope provides new insights into how this affects the formation of planets in the Orion Nebula / publication in ‘Science’ To find out how planetary systems such as our Solar System form, an international research…
The First Protective Layer for 2D Quantum Materials. As silicon-based computer chips approach their physical limitations in the quest for faster and smaller designs, the search for alternative materials that remain functional at atomic scales is one of science’s biggest challenges. In a groundbreaking development, researchers at the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat have engineered a protective film that shields quantum semiconductor layers just one atom thick from environmental influences without compromising their revolutionary quantum properties. This puts the application…
Controlling cooperative electronic states in Kagome metals. Playing a different sound track is, physically speaking, only a minute change of the vibration spectrum, yet its impact on a dance floor is dramatic. People long for this tiny trigger, and as a salsa changes to a tango completely different collective patterns emerge.Electrons in metals tend to show only one behavior at zero temperature, when all kinetic energy is quenched. One needs to frustrate the electronic interaction to break the dominance of…
Fabricated ecosystems created at Berkeley Lab will expedite microbiome research, and help underrepresented students in the classroom. A greater understanding of how plants and microbes work together to store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil will help in the design of better bioenergy crops for the fight against climate change. Deciphering the mechanics of this mutually beneficial relationship is challenging, however, as conditions in nature are extremely difficult for scientists to replicate in the laboratory. To address this…
Process transforms glass fiber-reinforced plastic into silicon carbide. Glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP), a strong and durable composite material, is widely used in everything from aircraft parts to windmill blades. Yet the very qualities that make it robust enough to be used in so many different applications make it difficult to dispose of ⎯ consequently, most GFRP waste is buried in a landfill once it reaches its end of life. According to a study published in Nature Sustainability, Rice University researchers and…
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