The popular 1954 rock song “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” could be the theme music for the Hubble Space Telescope’s latest discovery about what is happening to the asteroid Dimorphos in the aftermath of NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) experiment. DART intentionally impacted Dimorphos on September 26, 2022, slightly changing the trajectory of its orbit around the larger asteroid Didymos. Astronomers using Hubble’s extraordinary sensitivity have discovered a swarm of boulders that were possibly shaken off the asteroid when NASA deliberately slammed…
Researchers use X-ray photocrystallography to capture the key Rh-acylnitrenoid intermediate, elucidating the transition metal-nitrenoid transfer process. Led by Director CHANG Sukbok, scientists from the Center for Catalytic Hydrocarbon Functionalizations within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) have made a breakthrough in understanding the structure and reactivity of a key intermediate in catalytic reactions. This intermediate, known as a transition metal-nitrenoid, plays a crucial role in converting hydrocarbons into amides, which are important in pharmaceuticals and materials science. In chemical reactions,…
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have identified a process by which enzymes can help prevent heart damage in chemotherapy patients. The enzymes are normally found in a cell’s mitochondria, the powerhouse that produces energy. But when heart cells are put under stress from certain types of chemotherapy drugs, the enzymes move into the cell’s nucleus, where they are able to keep the cells alive. The paper is published in Nature Communications. “As chemotherapy has become more and more effective,…
How to produce hydrogen cost-effectively and sustainably is one of the central questions of the energy transition. Highly conductive membranes for electrolyzers are a key component of hydrogen technology. A research team at Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP, together with Zentrum für Brennstoffzellen Technik ZBT GmbH, has now developed innovative anion exchange membranes (AEM) that allow to reduce the costs of electrolyzers and to tap the potential of hydrogen as a climate-neutral energy source in an environmentally friendly…
German-Indonesian research team identifies new rock-like compounds from plastic waste and coral rubble for the first time. Plastic waste is a problem on our beaches. Hence, it is largely removed in a coordinated manner within a few weeks. However, it can litter other coasts of the world for many months to years due to unregulated waste disposal. Often the garbage on the beach is simply burned and a special form of plastic waste is created: so-called plastiglomerate. This “rock” is…
… achieves efficiency of over 99.7 percent. In the Fraunhofer lighthouse project ElKaWe, researchers are working on the development of electrocaloric heat pumps as an alternative to the currently prevailing compressor technology. These new types of heat pumps promise higher efficiency and do not require refrigerants. Researchers at Fraunhofer IAF have now reached a milestone in power electronics: They have realized an ultra-efficient circuit topology for voltage converters with over 99.74 percent electrical efficiency. This result is a worldwide benchmark…
Scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and Boston University have successfully established a connection between the rotation rates of stars in star clusters and those outside them, so-called field stars, enabling the ages of the latter to be derived. The results show that the method of gyrochronology can be applied not only to cluster stars, but also works well for field stars, and thus the ages of many more stars can be determined. How old is a…
An international team led by Curtin University and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, has discovered a new type of stellar object that challenges our understanding of the physics of neutron stars. The object could be an ultra-long period magnetar, a rare type of star with extremely strong magnetic fields that can produce powerful bursts of energy. Until recently, all known magnetars released energy at intervals…
Pivotal role of DNA copy number. A study performed at IRB Barcelona unveils how the number of copies of genetic material influences the cell death processes that shape organs during development. Autophagy, which is a process related to the degradation and recycling of cellular components, plays a fundamental role in response to stress and cancer. The study has been published in the journal Autophagy. During development and associated processes, the programmed death of certain cells plays an essential role in…
Robot powered by artificial intelligence will swim the world’s seas to detect activities that harm the ocean environment. Scientists have started work on a new underwater artificial intelligence bot which can detect activities that harm the ocean environment. The technology, being developed by the University of Southampton with ocean science experts RS Aqua, will be used to spot illegal fishing and protect marine mammals during offshore wind farm construction. More than £700,000 was awarded by Innovate UK for the AI…
A team led by Prof. LI Chuanfeng and Prof. XU Jinshi from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), collaborating with Prof. CHEN Jingling from Nankai University and Prof. Adán Cabello from the University of Seville, studied the single-system version of multipartite Bell nonlocality, and observed the highest degree of quantum contextuality in single system. Their work was published in Physical Review Letters. Quantum contextuality refers to the phenomenon that the…
A team of scientists, led by the researcher at the IAC and the University of La Laguna (ULL) Sebastién Comerón, has found that the galaxy NGC 1277 does not contain dark matter.This is the first time that a massive galaxy (it has a mass several times that of the Milky Way) does not show evidence for this invisible component of the universe. “This result does not fit in with the currently accepted cosmological models, which include dark matter” explains Comerón. In…
For decades, scientists have been probing the potential of two-dimensional materials to transform our world. 2D materials are only a single layer of atoms thick. Within them, subatomic particles like electrons can only move in two dimensions. This simple restriction can trigger unusual electron behavior, imbuing the materials with “exotic” properties like bizarre forms of magnetism, superconductivity and other collective behaviors among electrons — all of which could be useful in computing, communication, energy and other fields. But researchers have…
Combining two types of heart scan techniques could help doctors to detect the deadly heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) before symptoms and signs on conventional tests appear, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, funded by the British Heart Foundation and published in the journal Circulation, opens the prospect of treating the condition at the earliest stages. Being able to detect HCM earlier than ever before will also assist trials investigating gene therapies and drug treatments…
…for safer, cheaper, more powerful batteries. A good battery needs two things: high energy density to power devices, and stability, so it can be safely and reliably recharged thousands of times. For the past three decades, lithium-ion batteries have reigned supreme — proving their performance in smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles. But battery researchers have begun to approach the limits of lithium-ion. As next-generation long-range vehicles and electric aircraft start to arrive on the market, the search for safer, cheaper,…
Carnegie Mellon University researchers design systems allowing robots to explore on their own. A research group in Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute is creating the next generation of explorers — robots. The Autonomous Exploration Research Team has developed a suite of robotic systems and planners enabling robots to explore more quickly, probe the darkest corners of unknown environments, and create more accurate and detailed maps. The systems allow robots to do all this autonomously, finding their way and creating a map without human intervention….
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