New Neuropixels technology provides evidence of mosaic-like neural connections. For the first time, neuroscientists from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence (currently in the process of being established) have revealed the precise connections between sensory neurons inside the retina and the superior colliculus, a structure in the midbrain. Neuropixels probes are a relatively recent development, representing the next generation of electrodes. Densely packed with recording points, Neuropixels probes are used to record the activity…
Researchers discover cellular protection against epigenetic changes. The liver can regenerate even in old age and remains surprisingly fit, even though the chromatin in its cells undergoes major remodeling due to epigenetic changes, as researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne have now discovered. One possible reason why the transformation has minor consequences could be a mechanism that the researchers now describe in the journal Molecular Systems Biology. Changes in epigenetics are considered to be…
A thin device triggers one of quantum mechanics’ strangest and most useful phenomena. An ultrathin invention could make future computing, sensing and encryption technologies remarkably smaller and more powerful by helping scientists control a strange but useful phenomenon of quantum mechanics, according to new research recently published in the journal Science. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light have reported on a device that could replace a roomful of equipment to link…
Self-assembling molecules could help in cancer therapy. Treatment of cancer is a long-term process because remnants of living cancer cells often evolve into aggressive forms and become untreatable. Hence, treatment plans often involve multiple drug combinations and/or radiation therapy in order to prevent cancer relapse. To combat the variety of cancer cell types, modern drugs have been developed to target specific biochemical processes that are unique within each cell type. However, cancer cells are highly adaptive and able to develop…
Solid-aqueous interfaces are ubiquitous and essential in a diverse range of natural and man-made systems and processes, from mineral formation, rock weathering, metal corrosion, to the intricate functioning of biological membranes and ion channels. In all these systems and processes, water and water-borne ions play decisive roles and underpin the interfacial chemical reactivities, but oftentimes, a fundamental understanding of such roles and effects is lacking. Water is regarded a ‘green’ medium that is abundantly available, environmentally benign and inexpensive, so…
A machine learning model can evaluate the effectiveness of different management strategies. Wildfires are a growing threat in a world shaped by climate change. Now, researchers at Aalto University have developed a neural network model that can accurately predict the occurrence of fires in peatlands. They used the new model to assess the effect of different strategies for managing fire risk and identified a suite of interventions that would reduce fire incidence by 50-76%. The study focused on the Central…
The disappearance of forests will have consequences for water quality in reservoirs. Heat waves, drought, floods, forest fires – the consequences of climate change are increasing and are changing our environment. A prime example is the countryside in the catchment area for the Rappbode reservoir in the eastern Harz region. This is the largest drinking water reservoir in Germany and provides drinking water for roughly one million people. Long periods of drought over the years from 2015 to 2020 have…
The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams has demonstrated an innovative liquid-lithium charge stripper to accelerate unprecedentedly high-power heavy-ion beams. The Science The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) accelerates heavy-ion beams at beam power up to 400 kilowatts into a target to create rare isotopes for scientific research. A charge stripper plays an essential role in this process. It strips additional electrons from the charged-particle beam to accelerate it more efficiently. FRIB’s beam is too powerful for a conventional charge stripper made…
A team of researchers have observed and reported for the first time the unique microstructure of a novel ferroelectric material, enabling the development of lead-free piezoelectric materials for electronics, sensors, and energy storage that are safer for human use. This work was led by the Alem Group at Penn State and in collaboration with research teams at Rutgers University and the University of California, Merced. Ferroelectrics are a class of materials that demonstrate a spontaneous electric polarization when an external…
Researchers suggest ocean cooling is an effectively impossible solution to mitigate disasters. A new study found that even if we did have the infinite power to artificially cool enough of the oceans to weaken a hurricane, the benefits would be minimal. The study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science showed that the energy alone that is needed to use intervention technology to weaken a hurricane before landfall makes it…
Research team succeeds in creating novel metal-organic frameworks. Discovered 25 years ago, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) quickly gained the aura of a “miracle material” due to their particular properties: their large inner surfaces and tuneable pore sizes facilitate improved applications, for example in materials separation and gas storage. While previous representatives were mainly based on transition metals like copper and zinc, a team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has explored more exotic parts of the periodic table: they investigated analogous compounds…
Professor Sabrina Jabs from the Cluster of Excellence “Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation” (PMI) investigated the function of a new disease gene with international cooperation. The starting point of the research was the search for host factors, that are necessary for RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 to replicate. For this purpose, genome-wide CRISPR/Cas knock-out screens in human cell cultures were used to investigate which cells survive after infection with certain viruses. “In other words, in the cell culture, we switched…
New method converts carbon dioxide into chemical. A team of researchers led by Meenesh Singh at University of Illinois Chicago has discovered a way to convert 100% of carbon dioxide captured from industrial exhaust into ethylene, a key building block for plastic products. Their findings are published in Cell Reports Physical Science. While researchers have been exploring the possibility of converting carbon dioxide to ethylene for more than a decade, the UIC team’s approach is the first to achieve nearly 100% utilization of carbon dioxide…
COVID-19 has been mutating and spreading ever since the pandemic plagued the world. Contrary to what people believe, this disease is far from resolved. SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, which causes a respiratory disease, was identified first in 2019. It spreads through droplets when people speak, sneeze, or cough. Recently, a surge in COVID-19 cases has been reported across Asian countries. Considering its fatal effects on humans, primarily death makes it a deadly disease requiring a permanent and potent…
Just two weeks after announcing the development of a mouse embryo model, complete with beating hearts and the foundations for a brain and other organs, from mouse stem cells, researchers in the laboratory of Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, Bren Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering, have published new findings about another mouse embryo model reaching similar developmental stages, but created out of only mouse embryonic stem cells. This modification has simplified the protocol and makes the embryo model easier to be adopted in other laboratories….
Jupiter’s orbit shape plays key, overlooked role on Earth. Of all known planets, Earth is as friendly to life as any planet could possibly be — or is it? If Jupiter’s orbit changes, a new study shows Earth could be more hospitable than it is today. When a planet has a perfectly circular orbit around its star, the distance between the star and the planet never changes. Most planets, however, have “eccentric” orbits around their stars, meaning the orbit is…
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