Laser as an Alternative to Mechanical Polishing. Technical details on laser-based polishing and deburring attracted more than 70 participants from all over the world to a virtual trip to Aachen in 2020. Due to the uncertain travel situation of participants from abroad, the “5th Conference on Laser Polishing” will again take place virtually for participants. 10 speakers from Germany and abroad will give an overview of the worldwide state of knowledge in the field of laser polishing on the afternoon…
Astronomers frequently observe carbon monoxide in planetary nurseries. The compound is ultra-bright and extremely common in protoplanetary disks — regions of dust and gas where planets form around young stars — making it a prime target for scientists. But for the last decade or so, something hasn’t been adding up when it comes to carbon monoxide observations, says Diana Powell, a NASA Hubble Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. A huge chunk of carbon monoxide is missing in all observations…
EPFL researchers have discovered that Vanadium Dioxide (VO2), a compound used in electronics, is capable of “remembering” the entire history of previous external stimuli. This is the first material to be identified as possessing this property, although there could be others. Mohammad Samizadeh Nikoo, a PhD student at EPFL’s Power and Wide-band-gap Electronics Research Laboratory (POWERlab), made a chance discovery during his research on phase transitions in Vanadium Dioxide (VO2). VO2 has an insulating phase when relaxed at room temperature,…
Atlas of pancreas tumors reveals important new findings in treatment resistance, possible new therapies. Pancreatic cancer has few treatment options and limited survival, with only 9% of patients still living five years after diagnosis. But a detailed analysis of pancreatic cancer by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has revealed details of two key transition points in the development of these tumors — the shift from normal cells to precancerous cells, and the change from precancerous…
Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute have identified a group of latent stem cells that respond to injury in the central nervous system of mice. If a similar type of cell exists in humans, they could offer a new therapeutic approach to treat brain and spinal cord injuries. After disease or injury, stem cells help repair the damage by replacing cells that have died. In some organs, like the skin and intestine, these stem cells are constantly active, while in…
The new public dataset captures billions of electrical spikes from brains of mice trained to identify “oddball” photos. From 300,000 mouse neurons, scientists hope to glean how the brain drives behavior. A newly released publicly available dataset is the largest of its kind and represents billions of split-second electrical pulses that comprise the brain’s language of information. From this massive collection of cellular activity, scientists hope to decode the neural computations that underlie behavior. The dataset was collected using Neuropixels,…
Large pieces of plastic can break down into nanosized particles that often find their way into the soil and water. Perhaps less well known is that they can also float in the air. It’s unclear how nanoplastics impact human health, but animal studies suggest they’re potentially harmful. As a step toward better understanding the prevalence of airborne nanoplastics, researchers have developed a sensor that detects these particles and determines the types, amounts and sizes of the plastics using colorful carbon…
Wooden objects are usually made by sawing, carving, bending or pressing. That’s so old school! Today, scientists will describe how flat wooden shapes extruded by a 3D printer can be programmed to self-morph into complex 3D shapes. In the future, this technique could be used to make furniture or other wooden products that could be shipped flat to a destination and then dried to form the desired final shape. The researchers will present their results at the fall meeting of…
Lasers are everywhere. Devices that use them transmit information and enable the existence of long-distance communications and the internet; they aid doctors performing surgeries and engineers manufacturing advanced tools and technologies; and day-to-day, we encounter lasers as we scan our groceries and watch DVDs. “In the 60-some years since they were invented, lasers have absolutely transformed our lives,” said Giulio Cerullo, a nonlinear optics researcher at Politecnico di Milano in Italy. Today, with the help of new research from Cerullo…
X-ray screening identifies compounds blocking a major corona enzyme. Three natural compounds present in foods like green tea, olive oil and red wine are promising candidates for the development of drugs against the coronavirus. In a comprehensive screening of a large library of natural substances at DESY’s X-ray source PETRA III the compounds bound to a central enzyme vital for the replication of the coronavirus. All three compounds are already used as active substances in existing drugs, as the team…
First-ever measurements of total mercury levels in the polar night uncovered a 33 per cent drop compared to summer levels. Over the last decade, researchers have learned a lot about the polar night — discovering everything from how tiny marine critters migrate up and down in the sea in response to the weak light of the moon, to seabirds that dive into the pitch-black ocean to feast on bioluminescent plankton and krill. But what is less well known is how…
Insects are known to rely on microbial protection during immobile developmental stages, such as eggs. But despite the susceptibility of pupae to antagonistic challenges, the role of microbes in ensuring defense during an insect’s metamorphosis remained an open question. Scientists from Germany and Panama have now discovered a novel defensive partnership between a fungus and a leaf beetle. The microbe provides a protective layer around the beetle´s pupae and thus prevents predation. In exchange, the beetle disperses the fungus to…
Hot springs occur worldwide at spreading ridges of the Earth’s plates. On the 500 kilometer long Knipovich Ridge, located between Greenland and Spitsbergen, hydrothermal vents were previously unknown. During the 109th expedition with the research vessel MARIA S. MERIAN, researchers from Bremen and Norway have now discovered for the first time a field with numerous hydrothermal vents on the Knipovich Ridge. “Following indications in the water column of hydrothermal activity, we searched the ocean floor with the remotely operated vehicle…
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have discovered that increasing the production of new neurons in mice with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) rescues the animals’ memory defects. The study, to be published August 19 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), shows that new neurons can incorporate into the neural circuits that store memories and restore their normal function, suggesting that boosting neuron production could be a viable strategy to treat AD patients. New neurons are produced from neural stem…
Biologically inspired camera achieves diverse functional dental imaging with high dynamic range, 3D depth, and autofluorescence. Conventional dental photography technology has had a limitation in using inconvenient tools such as mirrors and cheek retractors. Dentists require basic teeth images from various angles, such as right/left buccal and maxillary/mandibular occlusal, for dental health inspection. To acquire these images, patients feel discomfort because dentists must put a mirror into the mouth to capture the reflected teeth image through a handheld camera. Information…
Using sophisticated electronic tags, scientists have assembled a large biologging dataset to garner comparative insights on how sharks, rays, and skates – also known as “elasmobranchs” – use the ocean depths. While some species spend their entire lives in shallow waters close to our shores on the continental shelf, others plunge hundreds of meters or more off the slope waters into the twilight zone, beyond where sunlight penetrates. This new understanding of how elasmobranchs use the ocean will enable policymakers…
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