… for applications in organic electronics. Marburg chemist Prof. Dr. Michael Gottfried receives an ERC Synergy Grant. Marburg chemist Prof. Dr. Michael Gottfried has been awarded an ERC Synergy Grant by the European Research Council (ERC), together with Prof. Dr. Michael Mastalerz from the University of Heidelberg and Prof. Dr. Holger Bettinger from the University of Tübingen. With their project “Tackling the Cyclacene Challenge” (TACY), the three researchers are pursuing the goal of generating a special class of ring-shaped carbon…
Integration on a chip. Extreme miniaturization of infrared (IR) detectors is critical for their integration into next-generation consumer electronics, wearables and ultra-small satellites. Thus far, however, IR detectors have relied on bulky (and expensive) materials and technologies. A team of scientists lead by Empa researcher Ivan Shorubalko now succeeded in developing a cost-effective miniaturization process for IR spectrometers based on a quantum dot photodetector, which can be integrated on a single chip, as they report in Nature Photonics. Miniaturization of…
New study finds the chances of uncovering life on Mars are better than previously expected. Researchers simulated Mars’ harsh ionizing radiation conditions to see how long dried, frozen bacteria and fungi could survive Previous studies found ‘Conan the Bacterium’ (Deinococcus radiodurans) could survive over a million years in Mars’ harsh ionizing radiation New study shatters that record, finding the hearty bacterium could survive 280 million years if buried This means evidence of life could still be dormant and buried below Mars’…
European Research Council supports “n-AQUA” collaboration. If water is spatially confined to nanometer dimensions, the so-called “continuum description” breaks down, and molecular details matter. There are indications that new and previously unknown phenomena appear. An understanding is quintessential for technological applications, such as water purification. A project (ERC Synergy Grant) by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz (MPI-P), the CNRS and École normale supérieure – PSL in Paris (ENS-PSL), and the University of Cambridge now…
Insecticides containing flupyradifurone and sulfoxaflor can have devastating effects on honey bee health. The substances damage the insects’ intestinal flora, especially when used in conjunction with a common fungicide, making them more susceptible to disease and shortening their life span. This was recently proven in a study conducted at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), as published in “Science of the Total Environment”. The two insecticides were considered harmless to bees and…
Studying the interplay between massive star formation and the interstellar medium is important to understand the evolution of galaxies. An international research team led by Fatemeh Tabatabaei including several scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, performed high-resolution radio observations of the local group galaxy Messier 33 with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). Their results show a direct connection between molecular gas and star formation exists in M33. Massive star formation amplifies…
Compact and flexible fiber design ensures efficient focusing and razor-sharp images thanks to 3D printing. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Korea, Australia, Great Britain, and Germany – with participation of Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) – were able for the first time to optimize an optical glass fiber in such a way that light of different wavelengths can be focused extremely precisely. The level of accuracy is achieved by 3D nanoprinting of an optical lens applied to…
The new tool allows us to know when neuronal differentiation takes place in their definitive form and, in addition, the researchers have shown that their final position in the tissue depends on their birth time and place. The tissues of every living organism, for example the brain, are always born from a few cells that divide and move until they reach their final destination and position. The process of how a certain tissue or organ is formed is called morphogenesis,…
New findings suggest an explanation for how chromosome recombination is regulated during sexual reproduction. In most higher organisms, including humans, every cell carries two versions of each gene, which are referred to as alleles. Each parent passes on one allele to each offspring. As they are linked together on chromosomes, adjacent genes are usually inherited together. However, this is not always the case. Why? The answer is recombination, a process that shuffles the allele content between homologous chromosomes during cell…
Scientists have developed a theory that can explain how flying insects determine the gravity direction without using accelerometers. It also forms a substantial step in the creation of tiny, autonomous drones. Scientists have discovered a novel manner for flying drones and insects to estimate the gravity direction. Whereas drones typically use accelerometers to this end, the way in which flying insects do this has until now been shrouded in mystery, since they lack a specific sense for acceleration. In an…
Climate models without the lightness of water vapor risk uncertainty in cloud simulations. Clouds are notoriously hard to pin down, especially in climate science. A study from the University of California, Davis, and published in the journal Nature Geoscience shows that air temperature and cloud cover are strongly influenced by the buoyancy effect of water vapor, an effect currently neglected in some leading global climate models. Global climate models are the primary tools used to study Earth’s climate, predict its…
Major depressive disorder affects women twice as often as men, but researchers are still trying to identify the reasons why. Researchers at Michigan State University have recently received a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue their investigation of how male and female brains respond to stress differently and how testosterone could be the key to increasing resilience. The National Institute of Mental Health has begun to look at biological sex as a variable that could…
Carnegie Mellon University researchers develop new approach for conducting automated science in space. NASA’s Mars rovers strive for groundbreaking scientific discoveries as they traverse the Martian landscape. At the same time, the crews operating the rovers do all they can to protect them and the billions of dollars behind the mission. This balance between risk and reward drives the decisions surrounding where the rovers go, the paths they take to get there and the science they uncover. Researchers in the…
Part distortion is a major cost factor in the production of metallic parts, especially in the case of large and thin-walled workpieces that play an important role in lightweight design or in aerospace. The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen, together with partners, has now successfully developed a system for reducing part distortion caused by residual stresses: With model-based process design and a new type of clamping system, companies will be able to significantly reduce part distortion during…
… enables early detection of hereditary cancer risk. The NCT is a cross-site cooperation between the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) in Heidelberg, as well as the DKFZ, the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, the Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine at TU Dresden and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) in Dresden. Hereditary genetic mutations play an important role in oncogenesis, but they usually remain undetected. An international team of researchers in the German…
ISC3 Investor Forum 2022: The International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ISC3) is hosting its 4th virtual Investor Forum on November 9th and November 10th, 2022. This year’s ISC3 Investor Forum will feature two panel discussions: 1) on the challenges in ESG evaluation, when it comes to sustainable investing and investing in start-ups, and 2) on regulatory aspects and the financial framework for Sustainable Chemistry innovations in West Africa. The panel discussions with international experts will be followed by ten innovator…
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