HZDR researchers seek to harness muon imaging for bridges, chemical parks, and Castor containers. Earth is constantly being struck by cosmic particles. High-energy muons can easily penetrate several meters of steel or concrete. A team at the German independent research institute Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) seeks to harness the potential of this unavoidable background radiation to view the interior of industrial facilities or structures. The problem is that muon detectors used in high-energy physics at research centers such as CERN are…
… by capturing cancer DNA using nanowires. A group led by researchers at Nagoya University in Japan has developed a technology to capture and release cell-free DNA (cfDNA) on nanowire surfaces from urine. By extracting this DNA, they were able to successfully detect IDH1 mutation, a characteristic genetic mutation of gliomas, a type of brain tumor. Their findings increase the effectiveness of cancer detection tests using urine. They published their results in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics. Brain tumors are…
Autonomous watercraft… Surveying bodies of water precisely is a challenging task. Authorities and port operators are required to provide up-to-date maps of riverbeds and port facilities. Until now, this has required the use of special mapping vessels and a great deal of manpower. It is costly and is not being carried out with the frequency and precision that will be required for future applications, such as autonomous shipping. For this reason, a team of researchers at the Fraunhofer IOSB has…
Software for virtual court proceedings. Since the coronavirus pandemic, video conferences have become an everyday occurrence across a variety of professions. Online court hearings are also becoming increasingly important around the world. In large countries such as Canada and Australia, virtual court hearings have become commonplace to avoid long journeys. A research team at Fraunhofer Austria is currently working on software to take online court cases to a new level: The aim is to develop virtual avatars that will represent…
… in making decisions and reducing costs. New perspectives for the healthcare sector: The support system for decision-making developed as part of the MED²ICIN project should increase the treatment success rate. It supports physicians in their decision-making process by pooling all of the information on an individual patient and comparing this to that of cohorts made up of similar individuals. As well as helping to select the best option for therapy, this solution reduces treatment time and costs. Seven institutes…
Tubulin is a protein that plays a crucial role in the structure and function of cells. It is the main component of microtubules, which are long, hollow fibers that provide structural support, help the cell divide, give it its shape, and act as tracks for moving molecular cargo around inside the cell. There are two types of tubulin: alpha-tubulin and beta-tubulin. Together, they form dimeric (two-part) building blocks, spontaneously assembling into microtubules that undergo further continuous cycles of assembly and…
Scientists have made a new discovery on how small planets might form. Researchers at the University of Warwick investigated the “birth environment” of planets – areas of gas and dust that swirl around a central star – known as the protoplanetary disc. They discovered a new method of planet formation in this region, not yet described in previous research. The work has been submitted to the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and is showcased at the National…
In 1929, astronomers discovered that galaxies are streaming away from us and each other. They interpreted this observation that the universe is expanding. However, when they measured how fast it is expanding, they got different answers using different methods. The difference continues to be a thorn in their description of the expanding universe. A team of researchers led by Souvik Jana at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bengaluru, have proposed a solution. Their paper, to be published in the…
Since the mid-1600s, chemists have been fascinated with brightly colored, coral-like structures that form by mixing metal salts in a small bottle. Until now, researchers have been unable to model how these deceptively simple tubular structures —called chemical gardens — work and the patterns and rules that govern their formation. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Florida State University researchers lay out a model that explains how these structures grow upward,…
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe accomplished a milestone on June 27, 2023 – its 16th orbit of the Sun. This included a close approach to the Sun (known as perihelion) on June 22, 2023, where the spacecraft came within 5.3 million miles of the solar surface while moving at 364,610 miles per hour. The spacecraft emerged from the solar flyby healthy and operating normally. On Aug. 21, 2023, Parker Solar Probe will swing past Venus for its sixth flyby of the planet….
Sulphuric acid is the world’s most used chemical. It is an important reagent used in many industries and it is used in the manufacture of everything from paper, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics to batteries, detergents and fertilisers. It is therefore a worldwide challenge that sulphuric acid often contains one of the most toxic substances – mercury. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have now developed a method that can reduce the levels of mercury in sulphuric acid by more than…
Digitalization in the metal industry… Fraunhofer researchers have developed an extremely heat-resistant ceramic-based ink. For the first time, this enables metal components processed in the automotive industry at temperatures over 1,000 ºC to be marked with a code. The code can be scanned and is linked to a database in which all the manufacturing parameters for the component in question are stored. The advantages of the technology are not simply the ability to detect production glitches and defective components at…
Maintenance of modern aircraft is a complex process. The use of AR smart glasses with 3D information visualization should make repair and maintenance work easier for aircraft mechanics. Virtual elements such as instructions, displays and technical tools can be operated by way of gesture, voice and gaze control. With the help of augmented reality systems, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE have developed concepts and solutions for maintaining the Airbus A400M. Modern aircraft are…
Climate change is causing temperatures to rise and storms to increase. Especially in inner cities, summers are becoming a burden for people. While densification makes use of existing infrastructure and avoids urban sprawl, it increases the amount of sealed surfaces. This has a negative impact on the environment and climate. Green facades bring more green into cities. If textile storage structures are used, they can even actively contribute to flood protection. The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF)…
A research group led by Professor Minoru Osada at the Institute for Materials and Systems for Sustainability (IMaSS), Nagoya University in Japan, in collaboration with NIMS, has developed a nanosheet device with the highest energy storage performance yet seen. Their results were published in Nano Letters. Innovations in energy storage technology are vital for the effective use of renewable energy and the mass production of electric vehicles. Current energy storage technology, such as lithium-ion batteries, has long charging times and…
Tunneling spectroscopy uncovers the clearest proof yet that this exotic superconducting state of matter exists without a magnetic field in an iron-based superconductor. In the field of superconductivity—the phenomenon in which electrons can flow through a material with essentially zero resistance—the “holy grail” of discovery is a superconductor that can perform under everyday temperatures and pressures. Such a material could revolutionize modern life. But currently, even the “high-temperature” (high-Tc) superconductors that have been discovered must be kept very cold to…
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