The 2D map of this “disk wind” may reveal clues to galaxy formation. An accretion disk is a colossal whirlpool of gas and dust that gathers around a black hole or a neutron star like cotton candy as it pulls in material from a nearby star. As the disk spins, it whips up powerful winds that push and pull on the sprawling, rotating plasma. These massive outflows can affect the surroundings of black holes by heating and blowing away the…
Small proteins play a critical role in the regulation of immune response, inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. In order to better detect and study them, scientists at the Max-Planck-Institute for the Science of Light have combined one of the most effective microscopy methods, called iSCAT, with artificial intelligence. Biological molecules such as proteins are central constituents of all living systems and dictate all physiological reactions in health and disease conditions. In particular, many small proteins play critical roles in the regulation…
People with autism spectrum disorder can be classified into four distinct subtypes based on their brain activity and behavior, according to a study from Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The study, published March 9 in Nature Neuroscience, leveraged machine learning to analyze newly available neuroimaging data from 299 people with autism and 907 neurotypical people. They found patterns of brain connections linked with behavioral traits in people with autism, such as verbal ability, social affect, and repetitive or stereotypic behaviors. They confirmed…
A cornerstone for 1000-fold improved communication rates to bridge long distances. Diamond material is of great importance for future technologies such as the quantum internet. Special defect centers can be used as quantum bits (qubits) and emit single light particles that are referred to as single photons. To enable data transmission with feasible communication rates over long distances in a quantum network, all photons must be collected in optical fibers and transmitted without being lost. It must also be ensured…
Intense laser light can induce magnetism in solids on the attosecond scale – the fastest magnetic response to date. That is the finding reached by theoreticians at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Hamburg, Germany, who used advanced simulations to investigate the magnetization process in several 2D and 3D materials. Their calculations show that, in structures with heavy atoms, the fast electron dynamics initiated by the laser pulses can be converted to attosecond magnetism….
Ice sheets can retreat up to 600 metres a day during periods of climate warming, 20 times faster than the highest rate of retreat previously measured. An international team of researchers, led by Dr Christine Batchelor of Newcastle University, UK, used high-resolution imagery of the seafloor to reveal just how quickly a former ice sheet that extended from Norway retreated at the end of the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago. The team, which also included researchers from the…
Research in Moorea shows the presence of coral skeletons influences reef recovery after bleaching. Natural disasters can devastate a region, abruptly killing the species that form an ecosystem’s structure. But how this transpires can influence recovery. While fires scorch the landscape to the ground, a heatwave leaves an army of wooden staves in its wake. Storm surges and coral bleaching do something similar underwater. UC Santa Barbara scientists investigated how these two kinds of disturbances might affect coral reefs. They…
Autonomous, self-controlling production systems have tremendous potential in the transformation towards sustainability. At the Hannover Messe, the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST will be presenting innovative solutions for real-time data acquisition directly in the running process.Through the development of integrated and wear-resistant thin-film sensors, parameters such as force, temperature or wear can be recorded in the vicinity of highly stressed forming zones. As a result, the manufacturing process for high-quality cold-forged parts can be monitored and…
Artificial muscles are making drive systems small and sustainable. Wherever electric motors or electromagnets are too large or too heavy to be incorporated into a technical component, the novel drive mechanisms being developed by a research team led by Professors Stefan Seelecke and Paul Motzki at Saarland University can help to save space, weight and energy. Their shape-memory drives have a diameter of 300–400 microns (1 micron = 1 thousandth of a millimetre) and are ultralight and very energy efficient….
Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are indispensable key components for electro mobility and the success of the energy transition. They offer high energy density and high cycle stability. Eight partners from industry and science are developing technologies and components in the funded project “revoLect” (funding reference: 03ETE041) in order to be able to produce resource-saving and more efficient LIBs. The project is pursuing two key innovations: the replacement of the usual metal foils with a metallized fabric structure and the use of…
New technology is making it possible to control valves and locking devices without the need for any additional sensors. A metal piston, a tiny chip and small pulses of current – that’s all that the drive systems specialists led by Professor Matthias Nienhaus of Saarland University need for their sustainable and cost-effective technology. The continuously adjustable piston can move back and forth slowly or quickly as required, can hold any position and can return softly to its stop position if…
Through global-scale seismic imaging of Earth’s interior, research led by The University of Alabama revealed a layer between the core and the mantle that is likely a dense, yet thin, sunk ocean floor, according to results published today in Science Advances. Seen only in isolated patches previously, the latest data suggests this layer of ancient ocean floor may cover the core-mantle boundary. Subducted underground long ago as the Earth’s plates shifted, this ultra-low velocity zone, or ULVZ, is denser than…
A UNIGE team has developed a new approach to customize treatments by testing them on artificial tumors. How to determine the most effective treatment for colon cancer? The response to chemotherapy varies greatly from one patient to another. A team from the UNIGE has developed a new method for testing different drugs, without going through the affected person’s body and without resorting to animal experiments. The researchers used organoids – miniature reproductions of organs and tissues – derived from patients…
– organoid emulates the development of the human heart. A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has induced stem cells to emulate the development of the human heart. The result is a sort of “mini-heart” known as an organoid. It will permit the study of the earliest development phase of our heart and facilitate research on diseases. The human heart starts forming approximately three weeks after conception. This places the early phase of heart development in a time…
Human tissue models instead of animal experiments? What is already possible for some questions still faces major hurdles for more complex contexts and applications. In a joint project of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, and the Translational Center for Regenerative Therapies at the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC, Würzburg, scientific principles and biomaterials for the standardized production of valid tissue models are to be developed. Modern medicine increasingly relies on three-dimensional human tissue models in preclinical…
Study is first to document reefwide dynamics of viruses that infect coral symbionts. The breathtaking colors of reef-building corals come from photosynthetic algae that live inside the corals. A groundbreaking three-year study has found that viruses may increase their attacks on these symbiotic algae during marine heat waves. Few studies have examined how heat and other forms of stress affect coral virus outbreaks, and fewer still have looked at the reef-scale dynamics of those outbreaks. The study published online today…
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