Alexander Dax received two Distinguished Paper Awards at this year’s USENIX cybersecurity conference for research papers he has worked on. One of the two coveted awards in the research community honored him for his paper “Hash gone bad: Automated discovery of protocol attacks that exploit hash function weaknesses”. In the work, the Saarland native shows that automated security analyses of Internet protocols are often inaccurate because they are based on false assumptions – in this case, perfect hash functions. He…
With all the cameras, sensors and other devices designed for driver comfort and safety, today’s cars house more than 2000 electrical connectors. And these connectors need to provide uninterrupted electrical contact no matter how cold, wet or bumpy the ride. Materials scientist Frank Mücklich has developed a laser surface texturing procedure that makes the surfaces of the electrical contacts more stable and more efficient. In recognition of this work, the Saarbrücken professor has now been awarded the Albert Keil Prize…
Innovative atlas reveals perilous realities of permafrost thaw. The European funded Horizon 2020 “NUNATARYUK”-project, led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, has carried out a comprehensive six-year investigation into the rapidly changing permafrost regions in the northern hemisphere. The project seeks to answer pressing questions about the role of permafrost thaw in the global climate system, and the consequences for ecosystems, the economy, and the people living in these regions. The culmination of this ambitious endeavour is the “Arctic Permafrost Atlas,”…
Why are so few species able to regenerate damaged or missing body parts, even though regeneration might seem an obvious survival advantage? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen, Germany, and colleagues have now found a possible explanation in planarian flatworms. Analyzing head regeneration abilities in a large collection of planarian species, they found that these capacities vary greatly and depend on how the different species reproduce. The multi-headed monster Hydra was so terrifying, because…
Astronomers have carried out the biggest ever computer simulations from the Big Bang to the present day to investigate how the Universe evolved. The FLAMINGO simulations calculate the evolution of all the components of the Universe – ordinary matter, like stars and planets, dark matter and dark energy – based on the laws of physics. As the simulations progress, virtual galaxies and galaxy clusters emerge in precise detail. The team behind FLAMINGO, from Durham University, UK, Leiden University, the Netherlands,…
Study shows antibodies against polyethylene glycol in 83 percent of the German population. It has long been known that people can form defenses and thus antibodies against viruses. But antibodies can also develop against polyethylene glycol (PEG), a substance used in cosmetics, food and medicine. These influence the effectiveness of drugs. A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research has now investigated how widespread these antibodies already are in German society and how they might influence…
The use of biomass for the bioeconomy has so far focused primarily on sugar- or starch-based raw materials, which are associated with high environmental costs in terms of land use and energy and resource consumption. Against this background, the aim of the “CAFIPLA” research project with the participation of the DBFZ was to use at least 80 per cent biogenic waste from households as mixed input biomass for the production of platform chemicals and for fibre recovery. To this end,…
Scientists from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have gained valuable insights into producing nitroxide, a molecule with potential applications in the biomedical field. While nitric oxide (NO) has long been on researchers’ radar for its significant physiological effects, its lesser-known cousin, nitroxide (HNO), has remained largely unexplored. The study, published recently in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, was born out of a joint endeavor between teams at SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser and Stanford…
Next-generation solar materials are cheaper and more sustainable to produce than traditional silicon solar cells, but hurdles remain in making the devices durable enough to withstand real-world conditions. A new technique developed by a team of international scientists could simplify the development of efficient and stable perovskite solar cells, named for their unique crystalline structure that excels at absorbing visible light. The scientists, including Penn State faculty Nelson Dzade, reported in the journal Nature Energy their new method for creating more durable…
Scientists have discovered the deepest known evidence of coral reef bleaching, more than 90 metres below the surface of the Indian Ocean. The damage – attributed to a 30% rise in sea temperatures caused by the Indian Ocean dipole – harmed up to 80% of the reefs in certain parts of the seabed, at depths previously thought to be resilient to ocean warming. However, scientists say it serves as a stark warning of the harm caused in our ocean by…
Researchers achieve a landmark in quantum squeezing. In 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, made history when it made the first direct detection of gravitational waves, or ripples in space and time, produced by a pair of colliding black holes. Since then, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded LIGO and its sister detector in Europe, Virgo, have detected gravitational waves from dozens of mergers between black holes as well as from collisions between a related class of stellar…
Researchers from the University of Southampton, together with colleagues from the universities of Cambridge and Barcelona, have shown it’s theoretically possible for black holes to exist in perfectly balanced pairs – held in equilibrium by a cosmological force – mimicking a single black hole. Black holes are massive astronomical objects that have such a strong gravitational pull that nothing, not even light, can escape. They are incredibly dense. A black hole could pack the mass of the Earth into a…
… while moving and stretching with the body. The fibers could help with testing treatments for nerve-related pain. Scientists have a new tool to precisely illuminate the roots of nerve pain. Engineers at MIT have developed soft and implantable fibers that can deliver light to major nerves through the body. When these nerves are genetically manipulated to respond to light, the fibers can send pulses of light to the nerves to inhibit pain. The optical fibers are flexible and stretch…
Chemotherapy is essential for many cancer patients, but some suffer from cognitive impairment throughout treatment. “Chemobrain” can consist of deficits in memory, attention, and executive function. A new study now reveals that “chemobrain” may be caused by an excess of calcium floating around inside cells. The research, from investigators at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, could lead to new treatments to restore cognition in patients experiencing symptoms. Calcium serves as…
The food industry generates enormous amounts of waste and by-products, including from poultry production. Each year, some 40 million tonnes of chicken feathers are incinerated. This not only releases large amounts of CO2, but also produces toxic gases such as sulphur dioxide. Researchers at ETH Zurich and Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU) have now found a way to put these feathers to good use. Using a simple and environmentally friendly process, they extract the protein keratin from the feathers and…
A team of researchers led by the University of California San Diego has developed soft yet durable materials that glow in response to mechanical stress, such as compression, stretching or twisting. The materials derive their luminescence from single-celled algae known as dinoflagellates. The work, inspired by the bioluminescent waves observed during red tide events at San Diego’s beaches, was published Oct. 20 in Science Advances. “An exciting feature of these materials is their inherent simplicity—they need no electronics, no external…
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