Flour, coffee or spices: Many people know the principle of a mill from the kitchen. But special mills are also used for research purposes in the laboratories of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung. The scientists are convinced that mechanochemistry can make the chemical industry more sustainable. How is it possible to make the production of chemicals less expensive and, above all, more sustainable? This question is playing an important role in the chemical industry and in pharmaceutical companies. Scientists at the…
The transition zone between the Earth’s upper and lower mantle contains considerable quantities of water, according to an international study involving the Institute for Geosciences at Goethe University in Frankfurt. The German-Italian-American research team analysed a rare diamond formed 660 metres below the Earth’s surface using techniques including Raman spectroscopy and FTIR spectrometry. The study confirmed something that for a long time was only a theory, namely that ocean water accompanies subducting slabs and thus enters the transition zone. This…
International Lancet commission with MHH pneumologist Professor Dr Tobias Welte makes recommendations on prophylaxis, diagnosis and therapy. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the most common chronic respiratory disease worldwide and the third leading cause of death. In Germany, about ten percent of the population is affected. Fatigue, coughing and persistent massive shortness of breath are among the predominant symptoms. When these occur, COPD is usually already clearly progressed. There is no cure. However, the disease is preventable. The main…
Tool supports the development of recyclable components. Components in automobiles must no longer only meet the highest technological standards, but must also be sustainable and recyclable. In the future, engineers will not only have to keep an eye on the finished product during development, but also on the end of its life cycle. Since humans prefer to think in linear terms rather than in cycles, artificial intelligence will help them to do this. In the CYCLOMETRIC project, a tool is…
Promoting the Expansion of Photovoltaics. When producing silicon solar cells, it is important to have a high throughput. This reduces production costs and alleviates supply bottlenecks as more photovoltaics installations are being deployed in Germany and worldwide. Headed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, a consortium of plant manufacturers, metrology companies and research institutions have come up with a proof of concept for an innovative production line with a throughput of 15,000 to 20,000 wafers per hour…
New powerful technology reveals lost seabed structures. The ship which sent an iceberg warning to the RMS Titanic, before the ocean-liner sank, has been identified lying in the Irish Sea. In 1912 the merchant steamship SS Mesaba was crossing the Atlantic and sent a warning radio message to the RMS Titanic. The message was received, but never reached the bridge. Later that night, the supposedly unsinkable Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage, taking 1,500 lives and…
Researchers in quantum technology at Chalmers University of Technology have succeeded in developing a technique to control quantum states of light in a three-dimensional cavity. In addition to creating previously known states, the researchers are the first ever to demonstrate the long-sought cubic phase state. The breakthrough is an important step towards efficient error correction in quantum computers. “We have shown that our technology is on par with the best in the world,” says Simone Gasparinetti, who is head of…
Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed microscopic robots, called microrobots, that can swim around in the lungs, deliver medication and be used to clear up life-threatening cases of bacterial pneumonia. In mice, the microrobots safely eliminated pneumonia-causing bacteria in the lungs and resulted in 100% survival. By contrast, untreated mice all died within three days after infection. The results are published Sept. 22 in Nature Materials. The microrobots are made of algae cells whose surfaces are…
The fungus Zymoseptoria tritici causes Septoria tritici blotch, the most destructive fungal disease of wheat grown in temperate climates worldwide. This disease reduces wheat yields by 5-10% per year, causing harvest losses worth between three quarters and one and a half billion Euros in France, Germany and the UK alone, and with another billion euros being spent on chemical control of the fungus. Researchers from the University of Exeter achieved a major breakthrough in the understanding of molecular mechanisms underpinning…
Using commonly available materials and a simple mixing and heating process, polyesters can be transformed into highly recyclable, high-value materials. While plastics or synthetic polymers have many useful properties, their mismanagement has resulted in widespread pollution that chokes up our ecosystems. As a solution to this, many synthetic polymers are sent for reprocessing and recycling; polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most common products frequently seen in the recycling loop in many countries. However, recycling has its own set…
Insights revealed by a large particle accelerator lit a path forward. For airliners, cargo ships, nuclear power plants and other critical technologies, strength and durability are essential. This is why many contain a remarkably strong and corrosion-resistant alloy called 17-4 precipitation hardening (PH) stainless steel. Now, for the first time ever, 17-4 PH steel can be consistently 3D-printed while retaining its favorable characteristics. A team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the University of Wisconsin-Madison…
An international team involving chemists, physicists and materials scientists implements protection/deprotection strategies for the on-surface synthesis of technologically prominent graphene nanostructures. In the last decades, a new synthetic approach has been developed, generally termed as “on-surface synthesis” that substantially departs from standard wet-chemistry. Instead of the three-dimensional space of solvents in the latter, the environment of the reactants in this new approach are well-defined two-dimensional solid surfaces that are typically held under vacuum conditions. These differences have allowed the successful…
… largest-ever catalog. How old is our universe, and what is its size? A team of researchers led by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa astronomers Brent Tully and Ehsan Kourkchi from the Institute for Astronomy have assembled the largest-ever compilation of high-precision galaxy distances, called Cosmicflows-4. Using eight different methods, they measured the distances to a whopping 56,000 galaxies. The study has been published in the Astrophysical Journal. Galaxies, such as the Milky Way, are the building blocks of the…
Researchers at the Flatiron Institute and their colleagues trained a machine learning tool to capture the physics of electrons moving on a lattice using far fewer equations than would typically be required, all without sacrificing accuracy. Using artificial intelligence, physicists have compressed a daunting quantum problem that until now required 100,000 equations into a bite-size task of as few as four equations — all without sacrificing accuracy. The work, published in the September 23 issue of Physical Review Letters, could…
As electric vehicles grow in popularity, the spotlight shines more brightly on some of their remaining major issues. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin are tackling two of the bigger challenges facing electric vehicles: limited range and slow recharging. The researchers fabricated a new type of electrode for lithium-ion batteries that could unleash greater power and faster charging. They did this by creating thicker electrodes – the positively and negatively charged parts of the battery that deliver power…
A new flow-based method harvests a magnesium salt from Sequim seawater. By Beth Mundy Since ancient times, humans have extracted salts, like table salt, from the ocean. While table salt is the easiest to obtain, seawater is a rich source of different minerals, and researchers are exploring which ones they can pull from the ocean. One such mineral, magnesium, is abundant in the sea and increasingly useful on the land. Magnesium has emerging sustainability-related applications, including in carbon capture, low-carbon…
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