The quantum nature of objects visible to the naked eye is currently a much-discussed research question. A team led by Innsbruck physicist Gerhard Kirchmair has now demonstrated a new method in the laboratory that could make the quantum properties of macroscopic objects more accessible than before. With the method, the researchers were able to increase the efficiency of an established cooling method by an order of a magnitude. With optomechanical experiments, scientists are trying to explore the limits of the…
NIH study provides new insights on role of gut in staph colonization. A promising approach to control Staphylococcus aureus bacterial colonization in people—using a probiotic instead of antibiotics—was safe and highly effective in a Phase 2 clinical trial. The new study, reported in The Lancet Microbe, found that the probiotic Bacillus subtilis markedly reduced S. aureus colonization in trial participants without harming the gut microbiota, which includes bacteria that can benefit people. The research was conducted by researchers at the…
An internal circadian clock controls the distinctive concentric rings of flowering in sunflowers, maximizing visits from pollinators, a new study from plant biologists at the University of California, Davis shows. The work is published Jan. 13 in eLife. A sunflower head is made up of hundreds of tiny florets. Because of the way sunflowers grow, the youngest florets are in the center of the flower face and the most mature at the edges, forming a distinctive spiral pattern from the…
The ultraviolet nail polish drying devices used to cure gel manicures may pose more of a public health concern than previously thought. Researchers at the University of California San Diego studied these ultraviolet (UV) light emitting devices, and found that their use leads to cell death and cancer-causing mutations in human cells. The devices are a common fixture in nail salons, and generally use a particular spectrum of UV light (340-395nm) to cure the chemicals used in gel manicures. While…
Hacking system converts split gene drives into full drives, offering new experimentation flexibility… but also reveals surprising fitness costs of full drive systems. Scientists continue to expand the technological frontiers of CRISPR, along with its enormous potential, in areas ranging from human health to global food supplies. Such is the case with CRISPR-based gene drives, a genetic editing tool designed to influence how genetic elements are passed from one generation to the next. Gene drives designed for mosquitoes have the…
Researchers find the genes and proteins involved in heliozoan arms withdrawal in response to environmental changes, which is one of the fastest examples of cell motility. Raphidocystis contractilis belongs to Heliozoa, a group of eukaryotes commonly found in fresh, brackish, and sea water. The organisms of this group have finger-like arms—axopodia—which radiate out from their body, giving them a sun-like appearance. Hence, they are also known as “solar worms”. Each axopodium is composed of the proteins, alpha-beta tubulin heterodimers, which…
A novel experiment sheds new light on a possible mechanism that may seed magnetic fields for the galactic dynamo. The Science Plasma is matter that is so hot that the electrons are separated from atoms. The electrons float freely and the atoms become ions. This creates an ionized gas—plasma—that makes up nearly all of the visible universe. Recent research shows that magnetic fields can spontaneously emerge in a plasma. This can happen if the plasma has a temperature anisotropy—temperature that…
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam (Germany) analyzed the inheritance of chloroplasts under different environmental conditions in almost 4 million tobacco plants. Contrary to the prevailing view that chloroplasts are only passed on by the mother plant, paternal chloroplasts can also be transmitted to the offspring under cold conditions, raising the possibility that the chloroplasts of the two parents exchange genetic material with each other. The new findings will facilitate the targeted use of…
Physicists at Leipzig University have once again gained a deeper understanding of the mechanism behind superconductors. This brings the research group led by Professor Jürgen Haase one step closer to their goal of developing the foundations for a theory for superconductors that would allow current to flow without resistance and without energy loss. The researchers found that in superconducting copper-oxygen bonds, called cuprates, there must be a very specific charge distribution between the copper and the oxygen, even under pressure….
International researcher team presents a novel microstructure design strategy for lean medium-manganese steels with optimized properties in the journal Science. Cars, buildings, infrastructures – all unimaginable without steels. While metallic materials have been known and manufactured since more than 5000 years, there is permanent need of further property improvement, especially as new processing opportunities emerge while at the same time sustainability concerns associated with alloying elements become more important. This shifts a few main constraints in the research focus: sustainability,…
Probing galaxies at much greater distances from Earth may now be within reach. How do stars form in distant galaxies? Astronomers have long been trying to answer this question by detecting radio signals emitted by nearby galaxies. However, these signals become weaker the further away a galaxy is from Earth, making it difficult for current radio telescopes to pick up. Now researchers from Montreal and India have captured a radio signal from the most distant galaxy so far at a…
UV light from the sun slowly breaks down plastics on the ocean’s surfaces. Floating microplastic is broken down into ever smaller, invisible nanoplastic particles that spread across the entire water column, but also to compounds that can then be completely broken down by bacteria. This is shown by experiments in the laboratory of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, NIOZ, on Texel. In the latest issue of Marine Pollution Bulletin, PhD student Annalisa Delre and colleagues calculate that about…
… piloted in Gaza, Sri Lanka and Ukraine. Imperial researchers have developed a low-cost, easy-to-manufacture stabiliser for broken bones to help in regions where such devices are expensive or in short supply and people sometimes resort to homemade options. The stabiliser, known as an external fixator, holds broken bones in place with metal pins or screws attached to a surrounding metal frame. When soft tissue is severely damaged together with bone, external fixators are the first step in keeping fractures…
The QUIJOTE experiment is sited at the Teide Observatory (Izaña, Tenerife) and comprises two telescopes, each of 2.25m diameter, which observe the sky in the microwave range (10-40 GHz). Led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) this experiment started observing in 2012. Now, thanks to the data obtained with its multifrequency instrument MFI, which was working until 2018, a team of scientists has presented a set of six articles in the specialized journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical…
Researchers develop a numerical processing analysis system that automatically determines optimum forming conditions. Mechanical parts in industrial machinery and structures that develop thinning or cracks need to be replaced with new ones. In recent years, attempts to repair them have been considered, in order to improve industrial sustainability. So, repair technology for machines has been a hot topic of research and development. Conventional metal 3D-printed fabrication uses the surface of a mechanically laid powder bed that is irradiated with a…
The climate-friendly NECOC process produces carbon out of the CO2 from ambient air. Germany is progressing on its way to climate neutrality – and has to close carbon cycles in its industries as soon as possible to get there. To reach the 1.5-degree target, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests to remove and permanently store already emitted CO2. “We have to find completely new technological solutions if we want to keep up industrial production,” says Dr. Benjamin Dietrich…
Feedback
