Researchers from the University of Liège with collaborators from University of Cambridge show that moiré polar domains in bilayer hBN give rise to a topologically non-trivial winding of the polarization field, forming networks of merons and antimerons. Sliding and twisting of van der Waals layers can produce fascinating physical phenomena. In a recent publication in Nature Communications, Daniel Bennett, Eric Bousquet and Philippe Ghosez, from the group of Theoretical Materials Physics (Q-MAT, CESAM Research Unit) at the University of Liège…
Students of the University of Stuttgart launch self-built rocket into space. The Hybrid Engine Development (HyEnD) student team at the University of Stuttgart spent around three years developing, manufacturing, and testing its hybrid rocket. In mid-April, the rocket will be launched into space from the Esrange rocket launch site near Kiruna in Sweden. If all goes well, the students will set a new world altitude record for student-built rockets. The hybrid rocket is 7.80 m long and weighs around 70…
EPFL researchers have used a nanoplasmonics approach to observe the real-time production of cell secretions, including proteins and antibodies; an advancement that could aid in the development of cancer treatments, vaccines, and other therapies. Cell secretions like proteins, antibodies, and neurotransmitters play an essential role in immune response, metabolism, and communication between cells. Understanding cell secretions is key for developing disease treatments, but current methods are only able to report the quantity of secretions, without any detail as to when…
Seawater’s mix of hydrogen, oxygen, sodium, and other elements makes it vital to life on Earth. But that same complex chemistry has made it difficult to extract hydrogen gas for clean energy uses. Now, researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University with collaborators at the University of Oregon and Manchester Metropolitan University have found a way to tease hydrogen out of the ocean by funneling seawater through a double-membrane system and electricity. Their innovative…
… world’s leading cause of foodborne infection. Dual vaccine comprising two diarrhea-causing viruses generates antibodies against both. Every year, norovirus causes hundreds of millions of cases of food poisoning — and the deaths of at least 50,000 children — yet there exists no real way to control it. The virus has proven exceptionally difficult to study in the lab, and scientists have struggled to develop effective vaccines and drugs. A new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St….
A magnetic cage keeps the more than 100 million degree Celsius hot plasmas in nuclear fusion devices at a distance from the vessel wall so that they do not melt. Now researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) have found a way to significantly reduce this distance. This could make it possible to build smaller and cheaper fusion reactors for energy production. The work was published in the journal “Physical Review Letters”. The international experimental reactor ITER,…
Virtual 3D models of real objects offer numerous advantages – be it for digitization or in the quality control of industrial manufacturing. But the more complex an object, the more difficult it is to measure its shape and transfer it to a 3D model. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, in collaboration with MTU Maintenance, have now developed a portable sensor that enables particularly flexible 3D capture, for example of aircraft engines. The handheld…
»BioFusion 4.0« transfers principles from nature into industrial manufacturing to achieve sustainable and circular value creation. At this year‘s Hannover Messe from April 17 to 21, 2023, Fraunhofer IPK demonstrates how biogenic materials and digital solutions can be used to design resilient production processes and sustainable products. Biological transformation is the transfer of principles of natural systems to technical materials, structures and processes. Within the research project »BioFusion 4.0«, Fraunhofer IPK, the Technische Universität Berlin, Mercedes-Benz AG and the Werner-von-Siemens…
Bonn researchers uncover contribution of protein degradation processes to cisplatin resistance in germ cell tumors: Cisplatin is used successfully in the chemotherapy of testicular cancer. However, patients who develop resistance to the cytostatic drug urgently need alternative therapy options. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have now been able to elucidate a mechanism underlying cisplatin resistance in testicular cancer. Using CRISPR gene scissors, they identified the NAE1 gene as its driver. Inhibiting this resistance mediator by adding the NAE1…
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, in Cologne, in collaboration with an international team of researchers, have identified natural chemical strategies that bacteria use to keep competitors at bay and successfully proliferate on plants. The study is now published in the journal PNAS. In recent years, the microbiota – communities of microorganisms composed primarily of bacteria and fungi that are found in all eukaryotic organisms, including humans, animals and plants – has come into focus due…
Energy-efficient robot hand learns how not to drop the ball. Researchers have designed a low-cost, energy-efficient robotic hand that can grasp a range of objects – and not drop them – using just the movement of its wrist and the feeling in its ‘skin’. Grasping objects of different sizes, shapes and textures is a problem that is easy for a human, but challenging for a robot. Researchers from the University of Cambridge designed a soft, 3D printed robotic hand that…
Meta-optics shows physical processes in the attosecond range. A new type of meta-optics from Harvard has proven its functionality in experiments at Graz University of Technology. With it, it is possible to observe the smallest structures such as nanoparticles or transistors. Developed at Harvard, and successfully tested at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), a revolutionary new meta-optics for microscopes with extremely high spatial and temporal resolution has proven its functional ability in laboratory tests at the Institute of Experimental…
Sustainable and cost-efficient retrofitting and planning. Rising energy prices pose a great challenge to private individuals and companies. At the University Kaiserslautern-Landau, a team from the fields of building systems and building technology as well as real estate studies creates energy concepts for buildings that are newly planned or retrofitted for clients from industry and business. In doing so, it always takes into account the economic efficiency, makes a risk assessment and includes new technologies in order to be as…
Insights into gene and protein control systems that regulate the use of nitrogen by plant roots could help develop crops that require less nitrogenous fertilizers to produce acceptable yields. Plant biochemist Soichi Kojima and colleagues at Tohoku University discuss their findings and future plans in an article in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science. Nitrogen is such a crucial nutrient for plants that vast quantities of nitrogen-containing fertilizers are spread on farmlands worldwide. These fertilizers mostly contain nitrogen as ammonium…
Our brains are made of billions of neurons, which are connected forming complex networks. They communicate between themselves by sending electrical signals, known as action potentials, and chemical signals, known as neurotransmitters, in a process called synaptic transmission. Chemical neurotransmitters are released from one neuron, diffuse to the others and arrive at the targeted cells, generating a signal which excites, inhibits or modulates the cellular activity. The timing and strength of these signals are crucial for the brain to process…
Using advanced in-situ spectroscopy techniques, scientists at Binghamton University and Brookhaven Lab gain new insights into catalytic oxidation. Researchers at Binghamton University led research partnering with the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory—to get a better look at how peroxides on the surface of copper oxide promote the oxidation of hydrogen but inhibit the oxidation of carbon monoxide, allowing them to steer oxidation reactions. They were able…
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