The polar regions are exposed to an increasing load of pollutants. Under the leadership of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon and the Umweltbundesamt (UBA), experts from the European Commission, the Stockholm Convention, the Arctic Council and the Antarctic Treaty Conference, environmental sample banks, data centers and leading research institutions have now formulated the “Berlin Statement”. The resulting recommendations for action were recently published in the journal Chemosphere. Ecological crises have an impact even in the remotest corners of the earth. For example,…
The findings may provide new insights into circuit abnormalities in autism. Using a new approach for studying live embryonic mouse brains at single-cell resolution, researchers have identified an active multi-layer circuit that forms in the cortex during an unexpectedly early stage of development. Perturbing the circuit genetically led to changes similar to those seen in the brains of people with autism. The findings are reported today in Cell by a team based at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology…
Researchers have developed a drug that undercuts antibiotic resistance. A new type of drug could provide a way to treat multidrug-resistant bacteria, according to a study published in Nature Communications. Instead of targeting the bacteria directly, the drug blocks key toxins involved in the infection process. This both reduces inflammation and makes the bacteria more vulnerable to antibiotics. Antibiotics have been invaluable in the fight against bacterial infections, but bacteria are becoming more and more resistant to them. In the…
… tech adaptable for other emerging diseases. The first rapid test for mpox, more commonly known as monkeypox, has been developed by a team of researchers led by Penn State. The selective molecular sensor can detect the virus within minutes, without the use of any high-end instrumental techniques like polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Current tests require health care providers to swab lesions and send the samples to labs to be tested, which can take several days. The technique, which was…
New insights from Jefferson Lab reveal details of how strange matter forms in ordinary matter. In a unique analysis of experimental data, nuclear physicists have made the first-ever observations of how lambda particles, so-called “strange matter,” are produced by a specific process called semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS). What’s more, these data hint that the building blocks of protons, quarks and gluons, are capable of marching through the atomic nucleus in pairs called diquarks, at least part of the time….
CSU chemists are proposing to make solar cells using not silicon, but an abundantly available natural material called molybdenum disulfide. Solar power technologies, which use solar cells to convert sunlight to electricity or storable fuels, are gaining momentum in a world looking beyond fossil fuels for its energy needs. The dark bluish solar panels that dot rooftops and open fields today are typically made from silicon, a well-tested semiconductor material. Silicon photovoltaic technology has its limitations, though, losing up to…
KyotoU probes the computing potential of ecological networks. Development of neural networks or AI tools for data analysis is increasing exponentially. However, networks existing in natural ecosystems, such as webs of interspecies relationships, have information processing potential that has largely remained untapped. Now, a study conducted at Kyoto University has demonstrated the computational power of ecosystems, providing a new direction for rapidly developing AI technologies. Simulations have confirmed that ecological networks, such as prey-predator interactions, can efficiently process information and…
Electron microscopy: Nano-reporter proteins make invisible processes visible. How do the nerve cells in our brain communicate with each other? What processes take place when T cells render cancer cells harmless? Details of the mechanisms at the cellular level remain hidden from view. Now, special reporter proteins developed by a research team led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) may help unveil these mechanisms. Peering through an electron microscope provides scientists the deepest view into cellular structures – the…
Fraunhofer IFAM and Sunfire launch project to scale AEM technology for industry applications. Research and industry have recognized the potential of alkaline AEM electrolysis and expect a fast technology development during the next decade. Fraunhofer IFAM and sunfire, together with Canadian materials partner Ionomr Innovations, are now launching the “Integrate” research project to apply the promising technology on an industrial scale. To produce cost-effective green hydrogen, industry and energy companies need efficient electrolyzers on a large scale. Technologies such as…
Solids can be melted by heating, but in the quantum world it can also be the other way around: In a joint effort, an experimental team led by Francesca Ferlaino in Innsbruck, Austria, and a theoretical team led by Thomas Pohl in Aarhus, Denmark, show in Nature Communications how a quantum liquid forms supersolid structures by heating. The scientists obtained a first phase diagram for a supersolid at finite temperature. Supersolids are a relatively new and exciting area of research….
… bringing scalability to the quantum cloud. The new development is scalable and suitable for use in photonic quantum computers. An international team of researchers from Leibniz University Hannover (Germany), the University of Twente (Netherlands), and the start-up company QuiX Quantum has presented an entangled quantum light source fully integrated for the first time on a chip. “Our breakthrough allowed us to shrink the source size by a factor of more than 1000, allowing reproducibility, stability over a longer time,…
A key ingredient in the manufacture of car tires and sneaker soles could be made sustainably, following new analysis of an old catalytic process. Butadiene, an essential component of synthetic rubber, is currently produced by the petrochemical industry from fossil reserves. But it could be efficiently made in a one-step reaction from renewable ethanol using a modernized version of an unusual old catalyst. “Butadiene is currently produced as a byproduct of the petrochemical industry, which can lead to shortages in…
First graphene-based cardiac implant senses irregularities, then stimulates the heart. Researchers led by Northwestern University and the University of Texas at Austin (UT) have developed the first cardiac implant made from graphene, a two-dimensional super material with ultra-strong, lightweight and conductive properties. Similar in appearance to a child’s temporary tattoo, the new graphene “tattoo” implant is thinner than a single strand of hair yet still functions like a classical pacemaker. But unlike current pacemakers and implanted defibrillators, which require hard,…
MRI technology from Duke-led effort reveals the entire mouse brain in the highest resolution. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is how we visualize soft, watery tissue that is hard to image with X-rays. But while an MRI provides good enough resolution to spot a brain tumor, it needs to be a lot sharper to visualize microscopic details within the brain that reveal its organization. In a decades-long technical tour de force lead by Duke’s Center for In Vivo Microscopy with colleagues…
It’s a well-documented medical mystery: Patients with gum disease are less likely to respond to rheumatoid arthritis treatments. But new research may help explain this link between gum disease and an otherwise disparate condition. The findings, published in Science Translational Medicine, suggests that breaches in damaged gums allow bacteria in the mouth to seep into the bloodstream, activating an immune response that ultimately pivots to target the body’s own proteins and causes arthritis flare-ups. “If oral bacteria are getting in and repeatedly…
New study opens treatment possibilities for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases. Researchers at UC Davis are the first to report how a specific type of brain cells, known as oligodendrocyte-lineage cells, transfer cell material to neurons in the mouse brain. Their work provides evidence of a coordinated nuclear interaction between these cells and neurons. The study was published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. “This novel concept of material transfer to neurons opens new possibilities for understanding brain maturation…
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