A method developed at the University of Duisburg-Essen makes it possible to read data from noisy signals: Theoretical physicists and their experimental colleagues have collaborated on this and published their findings in the current issue of the renowned journal “Physical Review Research”. The method they describe could also be significant for quantum computers. You know it from the car radio: the weaker the signal, the more disturbing the noise. This is even more true for laboratory measurements. Researchers from the…
UNITE4TB, the largest public-private collaboration in tuberculosis drug development, announces start of clinical trials. The TB challenge TB is a major threat to public health, being among the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2021, the disease claimed the lives of 1.6 million people, making it the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19.[1] Drug-resistant TB and long treatment regimens have increased the urgency for action and investment in TB research. For people affected by TB, the most important outcome is…
Under the ocean’s surface, marine organisms are constantly releasing invisible molecules. Some of the chemical clues reveal which creatures are nearby, while others could be used someday as medications. Now, researchers in ACS Central Science report a proof-of-concept device that “sniffs” seawater, trapping dissolved compounds for analyses. The team showed that the system could easily concentrate molecules that are present in underwater caves and holds promise for drug discovery in fragile ecosystems, including coral reefs. A drop of seawater is…
Nature has no shortage of patterns, from spots on leopards to stripes on zebras and hexagons on boxfish. But a full explanation for how these patterns form has remained elusive. Now engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder have shown that the same physical process that helps remove dirt from laundry could play a role in how tropical fish get their colorful stripes and spots. Their findings were published Nov. 8 in the journal Science Advances. “Many biological questions are…
The results open the door to exploring superconductivity and other exotic electronic states in three-dimensional materials. Electrons move through a conducting material like commuters at the height of Manhattan rush hour. The charged particles may jostle and bump against each other, but for the most part they’re unconcerned with other electrons as they hurtle forward, each with their own energy. But when a material’s electrons are trapped together, they can settle into the exact same energy state and start to…
Hodgkin’s lymphoma is one of the most common types of lymphoma in young adults. It is characterized by the presence of enlarged B lymphocytes, which are unusual in that they bear on their surface the identifying markers of many other immune cells – such as those found on phagocytes, dendritic cells, or T cells. Now, a team led by Stephan Mathas from the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC) has explained how these changes take place in the cells and…
… low-cost and multifunctional. A research team led by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a microprinter that can print piezoelectric films 100 times faster for the production of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for sensors, wearable or implantable medical devices, offering the possibility to lower the mass production costs. The microprinter, built at a comparatively lower cost as compared with other printers on the market, utilizes an electrostatic field to propel streams of ink onto a…
Pancreatic cancer is not just one disease, but that’s the way it is currently treated. New work from Tannishtha Reya’s lab could help pave the way for a change. Though most pancreatic cancers are classified as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) several other subtypes exist. “Everyone gets the same chemotherapy, even though some subtypes are dramatically less responsive to the treatment and even more lethal,” says Tannishtha Reya, Ph.D., the Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Basic Cancer Science (in Physiology & Cellular Biophysics) at Columbia…
Scientists using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope just made a breakthrough discovery in revealing how planets are made. By observing water vapor in protoplanetary disks, Webb confirmed a physical process involving the drifting of ice-coated solids from the outer regions of the disk into the rocky-planet zone. Theories have long proposed that icy pebbles forming in the cold, outer regions of protoplanetary disks — the same area where comets originate in our solar system — should be the fundamental seeds of…
Scientists have trained an artificial intelligence (AI) system to accurately map – in one-hundredth of a second – the surface area and outline of giant icebergs captured on satellite images. It is a major advance on existing automated systems which struggle to distinguish icebergs from other features in the image. Manual – or human – interpretation of the image is more accurate but it can take several minutes to delineate the outline of a single iceberg. If that has to be repeated numerous times, the process quickly becomes time-consuming and laborious. Icebergs…
One of the crucial questions of transforming mobility is “how can e-vehicles be manufactured sustainably and economically at the same time?” The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen, Germany, which has developed electrifying solutions for laser technology together with industrial partners, has several answers. nLight Plasmo, Precitec and 4D Photonics, among others, will be presenting the monitoring of laser-welded joints at the LSE – Laser Symposium Electromobility 2024 on 23 and 24 January, 2024. The companies will be…
Researchers at Auburn University have made a groundbreaking discovery that sheds light on how our brain cells manage to efficiently replace older proteins. This process is crucial for maintaining effective neural communication and ensuring optimal cognitive function. Published in the prestigious journal, Frontiers in Cell Development and Biology, the study titled, “Recently Recycled Synaptic Vesicles Use Multi-Cytoskeletal Transport and Differential Presynaptic Capture Probability to Establish a Retrograde Net Flux During ISVE in Central Neurons”, details how older proteins in brain…
Low-cost error compensation for fabrication of high-precision microstructures. Two-photon polymerization 3D printing faces a critical challenge of correcting tilt and curvature errors. In today’s fast-paced technological landscape, the proverb “the bigger the better” was turned upside down and a race to make everything smaller has started. From miniature optical components to micro-scale medical devices, the quest for creating ever smaller yet more intricate structures has led to remarkable progress in a wide range of fields. An important manufacturing technique enabling…
KU research boat on its first mission… On land, in the air – and now also by water: Geographers of Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) are broadening the scope of their research. Their equipment now includes a research boat with a high-precision depth sounder. It allows researchers to survey the bottom of lakes, rivers, and the sea. This technology has now been used for the first time in a research project in Kaunertal, Austria, where KU scientists have been studying…
Conventional microscopes irradiate a sample, usually with light or electrons. Any reflected or scattered radiation can be used to build a detailed image and obtain characteristic information about a material’s surface. This is called an active measurement, but it isn’t the only technique that can be used. Researchers from Japan have been developing a new form of microscopy that can probe details in an object’s surface, like the distribution of a material’s lattice and electron temperatures, with nanoscale precision. Evanescent…
Photosynthesis is one of the most important metabolic processes in nature: It is critical for plant growth and thus for the production of plant-based foods. In close cooperation with the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (MPI-MP), a German-American research team headed by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has now investigated whether a specific metabolic pathway in photosynthesis that competes with carbon fixation has a protective function for plants. The results are also relevant for crop plant breeding, as…
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