… could cause large tsunamis. Due to a lack of data, the studies available so far underestimated the seismic and tsunami risk of these large faults. A new study led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) in Barcelona and the Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA) has revealed the exact location of the boundary between the European and African tectonic plates, located in the Alboran Sea region. The work also evaluates its potential capacity to produce…
… causes changes in both fast and slow cloud responses. Extreme climate warming has shown to change how cloud cover behaves throughout East Asia (EA). Recent research suggests that in a warmer climate with greater amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, slow cloud responses to meteorological mechanisms can cause a cooling effect over certain regions of EA. However, in some areas within Asia, fast cloud responses may have the opposite effect. This new dynamic is concerning to climatologists who are…
Model animals, such as mice and fruit flies, have provided scientists with powerful insights into how cellular biology works. However, model animals are really just a guide, and it can be risky to generalize findings across animals from studying a selection of model organisms. Cysteine is an important amino acid used in multiple biological processes, including metabolism and protein synthesis. In animals, cysteine biosynthesis was thought to be created exclusively via the transsulfuration pathway, with the cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) enzyme…
Tiny nets woven from DNA strands can ensnare the spike protein of the virus that causes COVID-19, lighting up the virus for a fast-yet-sensitive diagnostic test – and also impeding the virus from infecting cells, opening a new possible route to antiviral treatment, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborators demonstrated the DNA nets’ ability to detect and impede COVID-19 in human cell cultures in a paper published in the Journal of the…
Neutrophils, the most abundant type of white blood cell, are the body’s first line of defense against infection. Foreign pathogens can stress the body and activate neutrophils. When activated, neutrophils employ various weapons to protect the body. But if overactivated, these weapons can damage the body’s own tissues. Lung tissue is saturated with blood vessels, making them very susceptible to neutrophil attacks. If severe enough, acute lung injuries can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the leading cause of…
The device could help scientists explore unknown regions of the ocean, track pollution, or monitor the effects of climate change. Scientists estimate that more than 95 percent of Earth’s oceans have never been observed, which means we have seen less of our planet’s ocean than we have the far side of the moon or the surface of Mars. The high cost of powering an underwater camera for a long time, by tethering it to a research vessel or sending a…
The high-performing fibers could speed-up broadband delivery, improve medical imaging and even make solar powered clothing. Due to their very high efficiency in transporting electric charges from light, perovskites are known as the next generation material for solar panels and LED displays. A team led by Dr Lei Su at Queen Mary University of London now have invented a brand-new application of perovskites as optical fibres. Optical fibres are tiny wires as thin as a human hair, in which light travels…
NASA’s DART space probe, launched last year, will test whether the course of an asteroid can be changed at a distance of eleven million kilometres from Earth on 27 September 2022 at 1.14 a.m. CEST. DART will make a targeted impact on the 170-metre asteroid Dimorphos. It is the first time in the history of spaceflight that an attempt will be made to influence the orbit of a celestial body by a man-made body. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) and…
In December 2020, a small landing capsule brought rock particles from the asteroid Ryugu to Earth – material from the beginnings of our solar system. The Japanese space probe Hayabusa 2 had collected the samples. Geoscientist Professor Frank Brenker and his team from Goethe University Frankfurt were among the first researchers wordwide allowed literally to “shed light” on these scientifically precious samples. In the process, they discovered areas with a massive accumulation of rare earths and unexpected structures. As part…
Computers that can make use of the “spooky” properties of quantum mechanics to solve problems faster than current technology may sound alluring, but first they must overcome a massive disadvantage. Scientists from Japan may have found the answer through their demonstration of how a superconducting material, niobium nitride, can be added to a nitride-semiconductor substrate as a flat, crystalline layer. This process may lead to the easy manufacturing of quantum qubits connected with conventional computer devices. The processes used to…
Scientists who drilled deeper into an undersea earthquake fault than ever before have found that the tectonic stress in Japan’s Nankai subduction zone is less than expected, according to a study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and University of Washington. The findings, published in the journal Geology, are a puzzle because the fault produces a great earthquake almost every century and was thought to be building for another big one. “This is the heart of the…
Physicists from Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University demonstrate electron transport on a quantum chip. Millions of quantum bits are required for quantum computers to prove useful in practical applications. The scalability is one of the greatest challenges in the development of future devices. One problem is that the qubits have to be very close to each other on the chip in order to couple them together. Researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University have now come a significant…
Rice-led project could make perovskite cells ready for prime time. Rice University engineers say they’ve solved a long-standing conundrum in making stable, efficient solar panels out of halide perovskites. It took finding the right solvent design to apply a 2D top layer of desired composition and thickness without destroying the 3D bottom one (or vice versa). Such a cell would turn more sunlight into electricity than either layer on its own, with better stability. Chemical and biomolecular engineer Aditya Mohite and his lab…
Fiber link over 75 kilometers enables new QKD experiments. The Thuringian Ministry of Science has provided eleven million euros in funding for developing an infrastructure for quantum communication networks in the Free State Thuringia, Germany. This includes a fiber-based test route between Jena and Erfurt. Partners of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF have now successfully exchanged quantum keys on the 75 km route for the first time. It is a milestone for the research of…
… to prevent future zoonotic diseases. The current global outbreak of monkeypox is yet another warning for the adoption of a preventative, One Health, approach to minimise the risk of future emergence of known and unknown zoonotic pathogens, argue Professors Diana Bell and Andrew Cunningham. The scientists, writing a commentary published in the CABI One Health journal, say the world “cannot afford to ignore yet another warning” such as that presented by monkeypox which has so far seen 62,406 cases…
A research team from Münster and Pittsburgh first examined chiral oxide catalysts. The results are to help in the future production of spin-selective catalytic oxide materials, thus improving the efficiency of chemical reactions. Controlling the spin of electrons opens up future scenarios for applications in spin-based electronics (spintronics), for example in data processing. It also presents new opportunities for controlling the selectivity and efficiency of chemical reactions. Researchers recently presented first successes with the example of water splitting for producing…
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