Back in the late 1980s, astronomers from several countries initiated the effort to build a telescope with a collecting area approaching one square kilometer (one million square meters). Some three decades later, after years of engineering design and international science diplomacy, the project reaches another important milestone this year. On December 05, construction of the SKA Observatory (SKAO)’s telescopes formally begins with ceremonies in South Africa and Australia. It was already a long way to the foundation of the SKA…
Proteins that emit longer wavelengths of near-infrared light help create detailed, hi-res biomedical images. Biomedical and genetic engineers at Duke University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have designed a small fluorescent protein that emits and absorbs light that penetrates deep into biological tissue. Tailored to wavelengths in the near-infrared (NIR) spectrum, this protein can help researchers capture deeper, cleaner, more precise biomedical images. This work appeared Dec. 1 in the journal Nature Methods. Imaging deep tissues with light…
Interdisciplinary team at the University of Freiburg studies freely moving individuals using 3D tracking Key indicators about the respective roles of the premotor, motor, and sensory domains Findings may be helpful for further development and use of neuroprostheses An interdisciplinary research team at the University of Freiburg has found important clues about the functioning of the sensorimotor cortex. The new findings on neuronal activities in this brain area could be helpful for the further development and use of so-called neuroprostheses….
Scientists develop a meaningful approach to analyze how a material’s microstructure relates to its macroscopic physical properties. Soft magnetic materials, i.e., materials that can be easily magnetized and demagnetized, play an essential role in transformers, generators, and motors. The ability of a magnetic material to resist an external magnetic field without changing its magnetization is known as “coercivity,” a property closely linked to the energy loss. In applications such as electric cars, low-coercivity materials are highly desirable to achieve higher…
Ultrafast lightwave control of electrons in crystals. The quantum realm of atomic particles is embedded with randomness. Still, precise control of quantum systems, such as quantum computers, is of great importance for modern quantum science and prospective quantum technology. In the classical world, time is constantly moving forward. But in the quantum world, time is theoretically malleable and reversible. And it is through these time-reversal dynamics that scientists have attempted to control quantum systems. For example, spin echoes – proposed…
New Collaborative Research Center combines life sciences and polymer research. German Research Foundation has approved new CRC 1551 “Polymer Concepts in Cellular Function” under the aegis of Mainz University. The researchers of the new Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1551, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), intend to apply findings of polymer research to molecular processes in order to better understand what happens in body cells. The CRC entitled “Polymer Concepts in Cellular Function” will be initiated in January 2023…
Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, under the direction of Prof. WANG Rongsheng and Prof. LU Quanming, used data from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission to directly observe bursty and turbulent magnetic reconnection in the solar wind. Their findings were published in Nature Astronomy. Magnetic reconnection is an energy-releasing process that causes explosive phenomena in interplanetary space. During the process, the magnetic energy is rapidly released to heat and accelerate the…
… and how we can prevent it. Detailed model highlights how important girder end design is for improving resilience. Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have carried out a detailed simulation showing how a common type of bridge fails during large-scale earthquakes. They modeled “I-shaped girder” bridges, looking at the step-by-step mechanism by which they yield and deform under lateral forces, starting at the ends. Reinforcing ribs were shown to be effective against lateral forces and improve load-bearing capacity. Their work…
Researchers are using a natural material derived from seaweed to promote vascular cell growth, prevent blood clots and improve the performance of synthetic vascular grafts used in heart bypass surgery. The new approach, developed and tested at the University of Waterloo, is especially important in cases involving small artificial blood vessels – those less than six millimetres in diameter – which are prone to clots that can develop into full blockages. “There is a crucial need to develop synthetic vascular…
… highlights sea ice response to climate change. A new study published in the European Geosciences Union journal The Cryosphere could improve our understanding of changes in the atmosphere–ice–ocean system and the mass balance of sea ice in a changing Arctic. Years of research show that climate change signals are amplified in the Arctic, and that sea ice in this region is sensitive to increases in Arctic warming. Sea ice greatly modifies the exchanges of heat, momentum and mass between…
Detective work by molecular biologists and bioinformatics researchers. Basic researchers at Leipzig University have solved a puzzle in the evolution of bacterial enzymes. By reconstructing a candidate for a special RNA polymerase as it existed about two billion years ago, they were able to explain a hitherto puzzling property of the corresponding modern enzymes. Unlike their ancestors, they do not work continuously and are thus significantly more effective – these pauses in activity constitute evolutionary progress. The reconstruction of the…
Together with industrial partners, the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT has developed a novel system for producing high-resolution microcomponents by photo-crosslinking. Thanks to their work in the project “High productivity and detail accuracy in additive manufacturing by combining UV polymerization and multiphoton polymerization – HoPro-3D,” polymer microstructures can now be produced economically and customized in one machine. The experts at the Fraunhofer ILT worked together with LightFab GmbH from Aachen, Bartels Mikrotechnik GmbH from Dortmund and Miltenyi Biotec GmbH…
… also for other species. Marking trees are important hotspots of communication for cheetahs: Here they exchange information with and about other cheetahs via scent marks, urine and scats. A team from the Cheetah Research Project of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) now showed that several mammalian species on farmland in Namibia maintain a network for intra- and interspecific communication at cheetah trees. Black-backed jackals, African wildcats and warthogs visited and sniffed the cheetahs’ “places to…
International research team discovers novel quantum state. Water that simply will not freeze, no matter how cold it gets – a research group involving the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has discovered a quantum state that could be described in this way. Experts from the Institute of Solid State Physics at the University of Tokyo in Japan, Johns Hopkins University in the United States, and the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS) in Dresden, Germany, managed to cool…
… anywhere you want. Columbia researchers discover that the cationic charged P-G3 reduces fat at targeted locations by inhibiting the unhealthy lipid storage of enlarged fat cells. Researchers have long been working on how to treat obesity, a serious condition that can lead to hypertension, diabetes, chronic inflammation, and cardiovascular diseases. Studies have also revealed a strong correlation of obesity and cancer–recent data show that smoking, drinking alcohol, and obesity are the biggest contributors to cancer worldwide. The development of…
Large telescope receiver optics confirmed in lab prior to installation at Simons Observatory. Some of the largest and most sophisticated telescopes ever made are under construction at the Simons Observatory in Northern Chile. They are designed to measure cosmic microwave background – electromagnetic radiation left over from the formation of the universe – with unprecedented sensitivity. In a new study, researchers detail an analysis method that could improve these telescopes by evaluating their performance before installation. “We developed a way…
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