Open-source program IDs synthetic, naturally occurring gene sequences. It’s a given that certain bacteria and viruses can cause illness and disease, but the real culprits are the sequences of concern that lie within the genomes of these microbes. Calling them out is about to get easier. Years of work by Rice University computer scientists and their colleagues have led to an improved platform for DNA screening and pathogenic sequence characterization, whether naturally occurring or synthetic, before they have the chance…
New microelectronics device can program and reprogram computer hardware on demand through electrical pulses. What if computers could learn to reconfigure their circuits when presented with new information? A multi-institutional team, including the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, has developed a material with which computer chips can be designed to do just that. It does so by mimicking functions in the human brain with so-called “neuromorphic” circuits and computer architecture. The team was led by Shriram Ramanathan, a…
A synthetic stub lattice in ring resonators represents a significant step toward construction of more complicated lattices in multiple rings associated with synthetic frequency dimensions. Synthetic dimensions in photonics offer exciting new ways to manipulate light, to study physical phenomena with exotic connectivities, and explore higher-dimensional physics. Dynamically modulated ring resonator systems, where resonant modes are coupled to construct a synthetic frequency dimension, can provide great experimental flexibility and reconfigurability. Construction of complex synthetic lattices, such as Lieb lattices and…
– with and without water. Studies of a common catalyst suggest strategies for improving the conversion of a natural gas component to useful chemicals. The Science Chemists have been searching for efficient catalysts—substances that speed up chemical reactions—to convert methane into methanol. Methane, a major component of abundant natural gas, is sometimes flared off as waste at wells. Methanol is an easily transported liquid fuel and a building block for making other valuable chemicals. Adding water to the methane conversion reaction…
Genomic analyses of microbes from Canada’s Arctic gives insight into life forms that could survive on Mars. The extremely salty, very cold, and almost oxygen-free environment under the permafrost of Lost Hammer Spring in Canada’s High Arctic is the one that most closely resembles certain areas on Mars. So, if you want to learn more about the kinds of life forms that could once have existed – or may still exist – on Mars, this is a good place to…
Inspired by fireflies, researchers create insect-scale robots that can emit light when they fly, which enables motion tracking and communication. Fireflies that light up dusky backyards on warm summer evenings use their luminescence for communication — to attract a mate, ward off predators, or lure prey. These glimmering bugs also sparked the inspiration of scientists at MIT. Taking a cue from nature, they built electroluminescent soft artificial muscles for flying, insect-scale robots. The tiny artificial muscles that control the robots’…
Down-regulating TAO2 prevents influenza from replicating in cells and could provide new target for antiviral therapies. A collaborative study from UT Southwestern scientists has identified a new function for a protein called TAO2 that appears to be key to inhibiting replication of the influenza virus, which sickens millions of individuals worldwide each year and kills hundreds of thousands. The findings were published in PNAS. “These results uncover new strategies for interfering with influenza virus replication, providing a potential avenue for the development…
MIT engineers expand the capabilities of these ultrasensitive nanoscale detectors, with potential uses for quantum computing and biological sensing. Quantum sensors, which detect the most minute variations in magnetic or electrical fields, have enabled precision measurements in materials science and fundamental physics. But these sensors have only been capable of detecting a few specific frequencies of these fields, limiting their usefulness. Now, researchers at MIT have developed a method to enable such sensors to detect any arbitrary frequency, with no…
A team of researchers at the Institute of Biochemistry at Münster University discovered that by using so-called FlashCaps they were able to control the translation of mRNA by means of light. The results have been published in the journal “Nature Chemistry”. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a long chain of molecules composed of many individual components, and it forms the basis of life on Earth. The function of DNA is to store all genetic information. The translation of this genetic information…
Efficiency-enhancing flow-line production of large CFRP components. Automation solutions for aircraft construction: Pioneering mobile holding fixture for flexible clamping, alignment, and transport of components reduces the workload of production processes considerably. As part of the “UniFix” joint project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), experts in Automation and Production Technology at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Stade, together with cooperation partners and Airbus Operations GmbH (Stade) as…
Modern vehicles have a large number of electronic systems that are networked with each other. Since these systems are at risk from cyber attacks, Fraunhofer IPMS developed a CANsec IP core that makes vehicle systems more secure. The IP core is already being evaluated in a demonstration by partner Renesas Electronics Corporation, a leading semiconductor company that delivers embedded processors together with analog and power products. At the Embedded World trade show from June 21-23, both Fraunhofer IPMS and Renesas…
Scientists from the 2. Physics Institute at the University of Stuttgart and the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research were now able to take the next step towards synthetic cells: They introduced functional DNA-based cytoskeletons into cell-sized compartments and showed functionality. The results were recently published in Nature Chemistry. Building functional synthetic cells from the bottom-up is an ongoing effort of scientists around the globe. Their use in studying cellular mechanisms in a highly controlled and pre-defined setting creates great…
Intestinal cells and lactic acid bacteria work together against Candida infection. The presence of probiotics such as lactic acid bacteria changes the environment in the intestine and forces the yeast fungus Candida albicans to change its metabolism, making it less infectious. This way, probiotics can contain or prevent the spread of fungal infections in the gut. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) have also found that intestinal cells actively…
A long-term, increasingly warming pool of water in the northeast Pacific was recently discovered by a team of researchers from Universität Hamburg’s Cluster of Excellence CLICCS. It measures three million square kilometers, resulted from increased anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions, and is conducive to extreme heatwaves in the northeast Pacific. In a study just released in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment, Dr. Armineh Barkhordarian confirms that this systematic warming pool is not the result of natural climatic variations – but…
The long-standing challenges to the practical implementation of rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs) are the electrochemical irreversibility of the Zn anode and degradation of the air cathodes in alkaline electrolyte, which eventually results in poor cycle life and low cell voltage. To improve the reversibility of ZABs, exhaustive efforts have been made to exploit highly survivable catalysts for the air cathode while weakening the corrosion of the Zn anode through electrode design or electrolyte additives. These strategies can alleviate but not…
Joint press release by the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité. Blood vessels run throughout the human body and ensure that our organs get all the nutrients and oxygen they need. If these finely woven networks stop working as they should, we risk developing diseases. While age-related cardiovascular conditions frequently cause vessels to atrophy, malignant tumors are characterized by excessive growth of misrouted vessels. Wet macular degeneration is also associated with the…
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