Load carriers such as pallets, crates or tanks are indispensable for transporting all kinds of products, but hardly ever get any of the limelight themselves. Fraunhofer researchers have devoted themselves to this topic and have now developed a software to track and make visible the paths of the load carriers. This gives the logistics sector enormous opportunities to improve efficiency. With Logistikbude, the Fraunhofer researchers have even founded their own spin-off. Pallets, crates, containers, racks and tanks play a vital…
After three years: ATLAS detector more powerful than ever – with major contributions from Mainz University. Tomorrow (on July 5th) protons are expected once again colliding with each other at speeds close to that of light in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, also giving physicists of the PRISMA⁺ Cluster of Excellence of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz something to celebrate. Over the last three years, they have made important contributions to the upgrade of the ATLAS detector, ensuring that…
First long-term record from deep water layers of the open ocean. Scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) for the first time analysed a long-term sample series on microplastic pollution in the Northeast Atlantic from 2000 m water depth with respect to number, size, mass, material and possible origin of the particles. Samples were collected between 2003 – 2015 in the Madeira Basin by a sediment trap. Plastic type and particle amount varied widely, but accounted…
Researchers improve widely used simulation method for high-performance computing clusters. Although most fundamental mathematical equations that describe electronic structures are long known, they are too complex to be solved in practice. This has hampered progress in physics, chemistry and the material sciences. Thanks to modern high-performance computing clusters and the establishment of the simulation method density functional theory (DFT), researchers were able to change this situation. However, even with these tools the modelled processes are in many cases still drastically…
Infections with the “old” omicron subvariants BA.1 and BA.2 provide little protection against the SARS-CoV-2 subvariant BA.5 causing a “summer wave” of cases in Germany. The Omicron subvariants BA.1 and BA.2 of SARS-CoV-2 have dominated the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2022. In many countries, these viruses are now outcompeted by emerging subvariants, with BA.5 being responsible for the current uptick of cases in Germany. However, it is at present largely unclear whether the “new” Omicron subvariants BA.2.12.1, BA.4, and BA.5…
Paving way for wider application of green energy. Researchers at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a new hydrogen fuel cell which is not only the world’s most durable1 to date, but is also more cost-effective, paving way for a wider application of green energy in the pursuit of a carbon neutral world. Hydrogen fuel cell is a promising clean energy option as it generates power by converting hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, with zero emission…
A concept developed by University of Arizona aerospace experts and a NASA planetary scientist takes inspiration from albatross flight to learn more about the Red Planet’s atmosphere and geology. Eight active spacecraft, including three operated by NASA, orbit Mars, gathering imagery of the planet’s surface at a resolution of about 1 foot per pixel. Three rovers traverse the ground, mapping small areas of the planet with greater precision. But what lies in the hundreds of kilometers between the rovers and…
Professor Ben Mazin talks superconductors, exoplanets and dance clubs as he explains advances in sensor technology. It may seem like technology advances year after year, as if by magic. But behind every incremental improvement and breakthrough revolution is a team of scientists and engineers hard at work. UC Santa Barbara Professor Ben Mazin is developing precision optical sensors for telescopes and observatories. In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, he and his team improved the spectra resolution of their…
Fraunhofer accelerates the energy transition. Until now, the most common way to dispose of green waste and sewage sludge has been to compost or incinerate it. However, using these materials to produce the valuable energy source hydrogen would make far more sense. A team of researchers at the Fraunhofer IPA is working towards this very goal. CO2 capture is key to this development: The CO2 that is generated during the production of hydrogen from waste is separated and then used…
More sustainable e-mobility. Magnets are valuable components. Although functional magnet recycling methods have been developed in recent years, they have not yet been applied in practice and magnets continue to be melted down into steel scrap. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Materials Recycling and Resource Strategies IWKS provide good arguments for why this should change in the future. Their “FUNMAG” project demonstrates that recycled magnets can be used to power engines in the e-mobility sector, without any loss…
German-Canadian research collaboration. On July 1st, 2022, Professor Peter H. Seeberger, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) will welcome his chemist colleague Professor Andrei K. Yudin. Within the next six months, they will conduct joint research on the automated synthesis of highly active substances. Yudin is to receive this year’s Konrad Adenauer Research Award. Seeberger and Yudin are united by one goal: they want to bring their results from fundamental research to application and in…
Basis for the development of a new class of antibiotics. Researchers from University Hospital Frankfurt and Goethe University Frankfurt have unravelled how bacteria adhere to host cells and thus taken the first step towards developing a new class of antibiotics. The adhesion of bacteria to host cells is always the first and one of the decisivesteps in the development of infectious diseases. The purpose of this adhesion by infectious pathogens is first to colonize the host organism (i.e., the human…
Scientists from McGill University have developed a gentler, more precise technique using low-power visible light. Laser cutting techniques are usually powered by high energy beams, so hot that they melt most materials. Now scientists from McGill University have developed a gentler, more precise technique using low-power visible light. The new process called ‘cold photo-carving’ uses a fraction of the energy required in traditional laser cutting techniques. “We engineered crystal building blocks that can be cut by low-power light with amazing…
On the 50th anniversary of the discovery of a close connection between star formation in galaxies and their infrared and radio radiation, researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) have now deciphered the underlying physics. To this end, they used novel computer simulations of galaxy formation with a complete modelling of cosmic rays. To understand the formation and evolution of galaxies like our Milky Way, it is of particular importance to know the amount of newly formed stars…
Fraunhofer project FibroPaths®: More than 100 million individuals worldwide suffer from organ fibrosis, a pathological proliferation of connective tissue in an organ, such as the lung, heart and liver. Hardly any causal treatments are available to date. The unmet medical need is partly due to the fact that the existing disease models for fibrosis research are insufficient and little predictive. Coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM, four Fraunhofer institutes have joined forces in the FibroPaths®…
New device has the potential to provide an alternative to opioids and other highly addictive drugs. A Northwestern University-led team of researchers has developed a small, soft, flexible implant that relieves pain on demand and without the use of drugs. The first-of-its-kind device could provide a much-needed alternative to opioids and other highly addictive medications. The biocompatible, water-soluble device works by softly wrapping around nerves to deliver precise, targeted cooling, which numbs nerves and blocks pain signals to the brain….
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