Optics, the study of light, is one of the oldest fields in physics and has never ceased to surprise researchers. Although the classical description of light as a wave phenomenon is rarely questioned, the physical origins of some optical effects are. A team of researchers at Tampere University have brought the discussion on one fundamental wave effect, i.e., the debate around the anomalous behaviour of focused light waves, to the quantum domain. The researchers have been able to show that…
Discarded electronic devices, such as cell phones, are a fast-growing source of waste. One way to mitigate the problem could be to use components that are made with renewable resources and that are easy to dispose of responsibly. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have created a prototype circuit board that is made of a sheet paper with fully integrated electrical components, and that can be burned or left to degrade. Most small electronic devices contain circuit…
Scientists have long looked to the brain as an inspiration for designing computing systems. Some researchers have recently gone even further by making computer hardware with a brainlike structure. These “neuromorphic chips” have already shown great promise, but they have used conventional digital electronics, limiting their complexity and speed. As the chips become larger and more complex, the signals between their individual components become backed up like cars on a gridlocked highway and reduce computation to a crawl. Now, a…
This year, about 240,000 people in the U.S. will discover they have lung cancer. Some 200,000 of them will be diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer, which is the second leading cause of death after cardiovascular disease. Georgia Tech researcher Ahmet Coskun is working to improve the odds for these patients in two recently published studies that are essentially focused on understanding why and how patients respond differently to disease and treatments. “What we have learned is connectivity and communication between molecules and…
Cosmic rays used to track and visualize tropical cyclones offer new perspectives. For the first time, high-energy muon particles created in the atmosphere have allowed researchers to explore the structures of storms in a way that traditional visualization techniques, such as satellite imaging, cannot. The detail offered by this new technique could aid researchers modeling storms and related weather effects. This could also lead to more accurate early warning systems. It’s hard not to notice the number of stories in…
Layers of gene control allow DNA to flexibly add new information. Genes and their genetic switches are organized into functional units to turn genes on or off just as needed. Disrupting these units can lead to disease, but a new study makes clear that they are more robust and flexible than previously thought. An international team of researchers found that a gene may still function even when new DNA segments get inserted in the same genomic organizational unit. Two meters…
Heidelberg neurobiologists gain new insights into formation of nerve cells. In the brain of adult mammals neural stem cells ensure that new nerve cells, i.e. neurons, are constantly formed. This process, known as adult neurogenesis, helps mice maintain their sense of smell. A research team led by Dr Francesca Ciccolini at the Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences (IZN) of Heidelberg University recently discovered a second stem cell population in the mouse brain. This new type of stem cell, and not the…
The scientific expedition to the Nord Stream leak from the University of Gothenburg has arrived back home. The researchers discovered that the methane levels near the leak were about 1,000 times higher than normal, but it’s too early to draw any conclusions from that discovery. The researchers have brought back heaps of samples to analyse. After five days at sea, the research vessel Skagerak is back home in Gothenburg. The hastily organised expedition to the Nord Stream leaks in the…
Ultrathin polymer-based ordered membranes that effectively remove salt from seawater and brine could provide a promising alternative to existing water desalination systems, a KAUST-led team demonstrates. “Water desalination membranes should simultaneously exhibit high water flux and high salt rejection,” says Yu Han, who led the study. Carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene, are expected to meet these requirements because of their unique surface chemistry and propensity to stack into channels with diameters smaller than one nanometer. Yet, channel alignment…
The structures are reminiscent of one wrinkle of a human brain at 15 to 19 weeks post-conception. Whatever you do, don’t call them “mini-brains,” say University of Utah Health scientists. Regardless, the seed-sized organoids—which are grown in the lab from human cells—provide insights into the brain and uncover differences that may contribute to autism in some people. “We used to think it would be too difficult to model the organization of cells in the brain,” says Alex Shcheglovitov, PhD, assistant…
The cerebellum is known primarily for regulation of movement. Researchers at the University of Basel have now discovered that the cerebellum also plays an important role in remembering emotional experiences. The study appears in the journal PNAS. Both positive and negative emotional experiences are stored particularly well in memory. This phenomenon is important to our survival, since we need to remember dangerous situations in order to avoid them in the future. Previous studies have shown that a brain structure called…
Kick-off meeting for DFG Priority Programme “Tropical Climate Variability & Coral Reefs”. Corals and coral reefs store information about how the ocean-atmosphere system functioned in the past, but also about what environmental stresses they were exposed to. For example, instrumental records of sea surface observations and reef monitoring can be extended to provide a near-monthly record of past conditions. The Priority Programme is coordinated by Dr. Thomas Felis (University of Bremen, MARUM). More than 40 scientists from ten universities, three…
… will silicon nitride and common chemistry help? A research group led by Osaka University found a simple way to facilitate detections of single DNA molecules in silicon nitride nanopores, integration of which with compact electronics will be straightforward and could revolutionize genomic sequencing. Genomic sequencing has revolutionized our understanding of medicine and evolution, such as identifying hereditary anomalies. Arrays of nanometer-sized holes—nanopores—in silicon nitride can in principle dramatically speed up and lower the cost of such analyses. However, DNA…
Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are a class of materials with physical properties that make them ideally suited for use in flexible optoelectronic applications, such as light detectors, light-emitting diodes and solar cells. For such applications to perform well, the crystalline quality of the TMDCs needs to be extremely high, however; defects in the crystal structure worsen device performance. The crystalline quality of a sample is related to the number of grain boundaries — interfaces between different grains, or domains, within…
Collaborators have pioneered the CMU Array, a new type of microelectrode array for brain computer interface platforms. Carnegie Mellon University researchers have pioneered the CMU Array—a new type of microelectrode array for brain computer interface platforms. It holds the potential to transform how doctors are able to treat neurological disorders. 3D printed at the nanoscale, the ultra-high-density microelectrode array (MEA) is fully customizable. This means that one day, patients suffering from epilepsy or limb function loss due to stroke could…
– Low-energy electron beam. Electron beam technology can be used to reliably treat and functionalize surfaces. Now the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP has succeeded in producing anti-adhesive coatings on plastic film by applying low-energy-accelerated electrons without the use of additional chemical crosslinkers. The institute will present this topic at BIOEurope 2022, from 24 to 26 October 2022, in Leipzig, at Bio-Saxony booth No. 100, among others. Antifouling coatings prevent the growth of undesirable…
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