The images shed light on how electrons form superconducting pairs that glide through materials without friction. When your laptop or smartphone heats up, it’s due to energy that’s lost in translation. The same goes for power lines that transmit electricity between cities. In fact, around 10 percent of the generated energy is lost in the transmission of electricity. That’s because the electrons that carry electric charge do so as free agents, bumping and grazing against other electrons as they move…
A new type of ferroelectric polymer that is exceptionally good at converting electrical energy into mechanical strain holds promise as a high-performance motion controller or “actuator” with great potential for applications in medical devices, advanced robotics, and precision positioning systems, according to a team of international researchers led by Penn State. Mechanical strain, how a material changes shape when force is applied, is an important property for an actuator, which is any material that will change or deform when an…
A new technique produces perovskite nanocrystals right where they’re needed, so the exceedingly delicate materials can be integrated into nanoscale devices. Halide perovskites are a family of materials that have attracted attention for their superior optoelectronic properties and potential applications in devices such as high-performance solar cells, light-emitting diodes, and lasers. These materials have largely been implemented into thin-film or micron-sized device applications. Precisely integrating these materials at the nanoscale could open up even more remarkable applications, like on-chip light…
In June, the EU-wide research project STEEP-UP, coordinated by the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (IPF), has started its work on the development of novel absorber materials for vacuum-processable, organic solar cells. STEEP UP unites four European leading research institutes with Heliatek to accelerate the development of next generations of organic solar materials, with higher efficiency without compromising on durability. The project STEEP UP is funded under the EU M-ERA.NET program, a Europe-wide network of national funding organization authorities….
A new study on the coexistence of bacteria and fungi shows that a mutually beneficial, functioning symbiosis can be very fragile. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI) in Jena found out that the bacterial species Mycetohabitans rhizoxinica lives happily in the hyphae of the fungus Rhizopus microsporus only when the bacteria produce a certain protein. In a symbiosis, two organisms join together and benefit from each other; in endosymbiosis, one of the organisms…
An interdisciplinary team of clinicians and scientists has published a consensus paper recommending appropriate quantitative imaging techniques for coronary artery stenosis and atherosclerosis related treatment and procedural planning. Quantitative imaging has become increasingly important for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) over the past five years. This is because new quantitative techniques can detect narrowed coronary arteries (coronary artery stenoses) and atherosclerosis, which play a major role in CHD patients. It is important to correctly diagnose and accurately assess…
As envisioned, first-of-its-kind African mosquito suppression system would reduce child mortality and aid economic development. Malaria remains one of the world’s deadliest diseases. Each year malaria infections result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, with the majority of fatalities occurring in children under five. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that five cases of mosquito-borne malaria were detected in the United States, the first reported spread in the country in two decades. Fortunately, scientists are developing safe…
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a heavy burden for those affected and for the healthcare system. The “EXTINCT post COVID” project is investigating the effectiveness of apheresis therapy and is seeking participants for a study. The Corona pandemic seems to have been overcome; mandatory masks and other restrictions have largely been abolished. However, about one in ten people continue to suffer the consequences of a Corona infection for longer: persistent fatigue, exhaustion, heart problems, poor concentration and shortness of breath….
Targeted control of growth dynamics of finest tin layers. Nanometer-scale coatings with functional materials play an important role in many sensory, electronic and photonic applications. An international team of researchers – coordinated by Leibniz IPHT in Jena, Germany – has succeeded for the first time in observing novel growth effects of tin coatings on silicon nanometer-structured surfaces. With the knowledge gained, the chemical composition of deposited thin films can be precisely controlled and monitored in the future, opening up new…
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) have designed a carbohydrate sequence capable of folding into a stable secondary structure. Until now, such self-folding biopolymers had only been developed for DNA and proteins, and sugars were previously considered too flexible to assume a stable conformation. Folded carbohydrates could open up completely new perspectives in biomedicine and materials science. Carbohydrates make up about 80 percent of the earth’s biomass – half on land and half in the…
Researchers have developed a metallic gel that is highly electrically conductive and can be used to print three-dimensional (3D) solid objects at room temperature. “3D printing has revolutionized manufacturing, but we’re not aware of previous technologies that allowed you to print 3D metal objects at room temperature in a single step,” says Michael Dickey, co-corresponding author of a paper on the work and the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. “This…
More than two dozen researchers with ties to West Virginia University have helped unearth evidence of ripples in spacetime that have never been observed before now. Gravitational waves travel outwards from a source at light speed, stretching and squeezing the very fabric of spacetime — for instance, making the length of a ruler longer or shorter, or making time tick a little faster or slower as the wave passes. The first evidence for these ripples at very low frequencies was…
The new photonic chip enables exponentially faster and more energy-efficient artificial intelligence The data centers and high-performance computers that run artificial intelligence programs, such as large language models, aren’t limited by the sheer computational power of their individual nodes. It’s another problem — the amount of data they can transfer among the nodes — that underlies the “bandwidth bottleneck” that currently limits the performance and scaling of these systems. The nodes in these systems can be separated by more than…
Anions, negatively charged ions, are reluctant to be cooled. Physicists led by Matthias Weidemüller from Heidelberg University and Roland Wester from the University of Innsbruck have now developed a method for cooling molecular anions to below 3 Kelvin in a remarkably short time. This enables, for example, new investigations of chemical reactions in space. Cooling atoms and ions to near absolute zero is routine in many laboratories today. The particles can be very well controlled at these temperatures, and such…
How a molecular switch controls lipid metabolism. Our body’s fat metabolism plays a vital role in energy production in our body. A research team at the University of Basel, has discovered a molecular switch that regulates lipid metabolism in our cells. This switch controls the storage or conversion of lipids into energy. All organisms need energy to live. We get energy from various components of our food. Our body uses a part of this energy directly and stores the rest….
HITS researchers publish new findings on collagen, the most abundant protein in our body: So-called “sacrificial bonds” in collagen break faster than the basic structure and thus protect the tissue as a whole because they track down harmful radicals that are produced during mechanical stress. The work was published in “Nature Communications.” One of the more unusual ways objects can increase longevity is by sacrificing a part of themselves: From dummy burial chambers used to deceive tomb raiders, to a…
Feedback
