Metal stents or staples that disintegrate on demand inside the body could eliminate some surgical and endoscopic procedures. By taking advantage of a phenomenon that leads to fractures in metal, MIT researchers have designed medical devices that could be used inside the body as stents, staples, or drug depots, then safely broken down on demand when they’re no longer needed. The researchers showed that biomedical devices made from aluminum can be disintegrated by exposing them to a liquid metal known…
Hate needles? These researchers do too. Researchers at UC Riverside are paving the way for diabetes and cancer patients to forget needles and injections, and instead take pills to manage their conditions. Some drugs for these diseases dissolve in water, so transporting them through the intestines, which receive what we drink and eat, is not feasible. As a result, these drugs cannot be administered by mouth. However, UCR scientists have created a chemical “tag” that can be added to these…
Heidelberg physicists demonstrate the coexistence of superfluids in ultracold atomic clouds. Two superfluids can exist at the same time in ultracold atomic clouds. Until now, their coexistence could not be observed experimentally. Now, however, physicists from Heidelberg University have demonstrated such a magnetic quantum fluid – it is fluid in two ways – in an atomic gas. Researchers led by Prof. Dr Markus Oberthaler have succeeded in preparing this state in clouds of ultracold rubidium atoms and to characterise it…
Among many challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic also brought a surge of innovation in diagnostics. Within the shortest amount of time, reliable detection methods had to be developed, countless laboratories equipped, and several hundred thousand tests per week carried out. In the course of this, a team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen has developed a new readout unit for para-magnetic particles in a microfluidic system. The special feature here is the type of particles: They are…
Patients with nasopharyngeal cancer are often treated with drugs that activate their immune system against the tumor. Until now, it was feared that vaccination against Covid-19 could reduce the success of cancer treatment or cause severe side effects. A recent study by the Universities of Bonn and Shanxi in the People’s Republic of China now gives the all-clear in this regard. According to the study, the cancer drugs actually worked better after vaccination with the Chinese vaccine SinoVac than in…
The thalamus acts as central communications hub for the brain, relaying information from the senses and other brain parts. Despite its importance, however, it is far from being fully understood. Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen have now explored the correlations of the thalamus with other parts of the brain. Their statistical analyses allow them to infer which mental tasks are associated with the different parts of the thalamus. The findings, now published in the…
Researchers at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) have discovered a new material, MnBi6Te10, which can be used to create quantum highways along which electrons can move. These electron thoroughfares are potentially useful in connecting the internal components of powerful, energy-efficient quantum computers. When electrons move through traditional metal wires, they lose a small amount of energy—as heat—and some of their intrinsic properties change. Therefore, these wires cannot be used to connect parts of quantum computers…
Medical technology is a highly regulated field where reliability and safety are essential. For this reason, many medical devices are operated with cable connection or long-established primary batteries. This has safety advantages, but sometimes severely limits flexibility. The trend here is also toward battery-powered systems. However, the lithium-ion battery technology available today does not yet meet the required safety standards. Fraunhofer ISIT has addressed this issue and is developing accumulators that meet the high standards of medical technology. In the…
Using a new experimental method, physicists from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg investigated the resonant two-photon ionisation of helium with improved spectral resolution and angular resolution. For this purpose, they utilised a reaction microscope in combination with a high-resolution extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) photon spectrometer developed at the Institute. The measurements have been performed at the Free Electron Laser in Hamburg (FLASH), a brilliant radiation source, delivering intense EUV laser flashes. This allows the events from each individual…
Model accounts for scarcity of planets with masses between super-Earths and mini-Neptunes. A new model that accounts for the interplay of forces acting on newborn planets can explain two puzzling observations that have cropped up repeatedly among the more than 3,800 planetary systems cataloged to date. One puzzle known as the “radius valley” refers to the rarity of exoplanets with a radius about 1.8 times that of Earth. NASA’s Kepler spacecraft observed planets of this size about 2-3 times less…
Human homolog in C. elegans opens new window on diseases such as ALS and Alzheimer’s. In new peer-reviewed research published Nov. 3rd, 2022 in Nature Communications, Emily Spaulding, PhD. and Dustin Updike, PhD. reveal the homolog of a well-known human protein, Nucleolin, in the tiny, transparent roundworm, C. elegans. Nucleolin is linked to human neurodegenerative disease and cancer. But the new finding challenges recent theories of the role structures inside the nucleus may play in such disorders – and surfaces…
New technique can detect damage to children’s kidneys earlier than current tests. Early diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is key to managing progression of the disease. A new technique analyzing urine extracellular vesicles (uEVs) — cell-derived nanoscale spherical structures involved in multiple biological functions — in urine samples identifies changes in the kidneys earlier than conventional methods and can also predict renal function decline. A team at the University of Tokyo studied urine samples from children with and without…
Physicists at Friedrich Schiller University Jena together with European colleagues find a solution for the controllable separation of the undesired bonding between nano-components. Physicists from Friedrich Schiller University Jena, together with colleagues from Düsseldorf, Gothenburg, Lyngby and Trieste have developed an ingenious solution for separating bonded nano-components. Their idea is to immerse the nano-components in a solvent near its critical point. In the experimental setup, they succeeded in separating the components in a controllable fashion by only changing the temperature…
Successful approval of the 2nd funding period of the DFG Research Training Group 2430. Researchers based in Dresden are going to develop a completely new class of materials in which actuators and sensors are integrated directly into flexible fibre composites – contrary to the state of the art. To this end, the German Research Foundation (DFG) approved the 2nd phase of Research Training Group 2430 “Interactive Fibre-Elastomer Composites” at TU Dresden in cooperation with the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research…
A new tracking method to quantify skeletal kinematics in freely moving rodents. How can we measure a skeleton’s motion in a furry animal as it moves through its environment? Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior have developed a method to quantify skeletal motion in freely moving rodents in a new level of accuracy and detail. It is based around building a skeleton-model that calculates bone joint movement using basic anatomical principles, such as joint rotation limits,…
Congestion in container shipping is receding at a high level. This is shown by the latest data update of the Kiel Trade Indicator for the month of October. Freight rates for the transport of goods from China to Europe are at their lowest level since around 2 years. Trade values globally and for major economies compared to the previous month tend to be negative (price and seasonally adjusted). In the case of Russia, the sanctions are having an impact. The…
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