By 2045, all electricity in Germany should come from renewable sources. The problem is that wind and solar power do not provide a regular electricity supply, but rather fluctuate. As part of the Kopernikus project SynErgie, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA is working with partners to develop an energy synchronization platform which will allow industry to offset these fluctuations and synchronize production with power generation. The Fraunhofer IPA researchers are also currently developing the first electricity-saving…
Scientists at Jacobs University Bremen led by Ulrich Kortz, Professor of Chemistry, have achieved a breakthrough in the field of precious metal-oxo chemistry. For the first time, researchers have synthesized cationic, meaning positively charged, metal-oxo clusters based on palladium. They report on the synthesis and properties of these compounds in the renowned journal Angewandte Chemie, which classifies the article as a Hot Paper and thus as a particularly important contribution. The research project involved the working groups of four professors…
University of Tübingen research team discovers mechanism bacteria use to overcome plant cells’ immune response. Many disease-causing bacteria are able to inhibit the defense mechanisms in plants and thus escape dissolution by the plant cell, a process known as xenophagy. Animal and human cells have a similar mechanism whereby the cell’s defenses ‘eat’ invading bacteria – yet some bacteria can inhibit the process. An international research team has now described the inhibition of xenophagy in plants for the first time….
Programmed cell death is an important tool that an organism uses to keep itself healthy. When a cell does not function as it should, various stress reactions are activated. The goal of these reactions is to restore the original cell function. One example is autophagy, a process in which the cell partially digests itself to gain energy, which it can then use for its own repair. If these attempts should fail, the cell dies. This allows the body to fight…
Cancer patients are at a greater risk for developing diabetes, according to a new study. The study also concludes that cancer patients who develop diabetes die sooner than survivors without diabetes. Cancer patients are at a greater risk for developing diabetes, according to a new study by the Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, and the University of Copenhagen. The study also concludes that cancer patients who develop diabetes die sooner than survivors without diabetes. Cancer is the leading cause of…
The decline of insects, and in particular pollinating insects, threatens ecosystems and economies around the world. The dimensions are staggering: Between 1989 and 2016, the biomass of all flying insects in Germany decreased by 76 per cent, according to the Krefeld study (2017). The ever-increasing use of pesticides in agriculture is considered a driver of this phenomenon. The world’s most widely used herbicide glyphosate may contribute more to this development than was previously known, according to a new study by…
Artificial muscles deliver sustainable cooling. A new type of energy efficient, ecologically sustainable cooling technology that does not require the use of climate-damaging refrigerants is currently being developed by Professor Stefan Seelecke and his team at Saarland University. The new technology makes use of shape-memory materials that are also known as ‘artificial muscles’. These materials are able to transport heat by loading and unloading nickel-titanium wires. Seelecke’s team is currently developing the technology for use in cooling systems for electric…
Europe imports most of its raw materials used in renewable energy and digital technologies. But Europe has its own deposits of key raw materials and boosting domestic production would help to secure strategic and industrial value chains. A new Horizon Europe project, VECTOR is coordinated by the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) with 18 partners from seven countries. VECTOR partners aim to understand the acceptance and improve the efficiency of exploration in Europe by…
In the research project “Power density hydrogen release from LOHC systems on mobile platforms”, the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) and the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nuremberg (HI ERN) have developed an efficient and stable surface catalyst for the release of hydrogen from liquid storage materials. With this catalyst, the researchers pave the way for the mobile application of Liquid-Organic-Hydrogen-Carrier (LOHC) technology using rail transport as an applied case. In correspondance, current diesel trains are replaceable by modern alternatives using low-emission hydrogen…
At ILA in Berlin, the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut will showcase space-qualified diode laser modules with narrow linewidths, optical frequency references and further III-V components for satellite and quantum technology applications. From June 22 to 24, 2022, the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik (FBH) will present reliable semiconductors for applications in the fields of space, satellites and quantum technology at the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) in Berlin. The institute covers the entire value chain – from chip design and processing to modules and systems….
Even though consumers won’t see it for years, researchers around the world are already laying the foundation for the next generation of wireless communications, 6G. An international team led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin has developed components that will allow future devices to achieve increased speeds necessary for such a technological jump. In a new paper published in Nature Electronics, the researchers demonstrated new radio frequency switches that are responsible for keeping devices connected by jumping between…
Researchers have developed 3D printed artificial heart valves designed to allow a patient’s own cells to form new tissue. To form these scaffolds using melt electrowriting – an advanced additive manufacturing technique – the team has created a new fabrication platform that enables them to combine different precise, customized patterns and hence to fine-tune the scaffold’s mechanical properties. Their long-term goal is to create implants for children that develop into new tissue and therefore last a lifetime. In the human…
The Daya Bay Neutrino Experiment has produced the most precise measurement yet of theta13, a key parameter for understanding how neutrinos change their “flavor”. Over nearly nine years, the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment captured an unprecedented five and a half million interactions from subatomic particles called neutrinos. Now, the international team of physicists of the Daya Bay collaboration has reported the first result from the experiment’s full dataset—the most precise measurement yet of theta13, a key parameter for understanding…
In conventional wisdom, producing a curved space requires distortions, such as bending or stretching a flat space. A team of researchers at Purdue University have discovered a new method to create curved spaces that also solves a mystery in physics. Without any physical distortions of physical systems, the team has designed a scheme using non-Hermiticity, which exists in any systems coupled to environments, to create a hyperbolic surface and a variety of other prototypical curved spaces. “Our work may revolutionize…
Visible light triggers Rice’s molecular machines to treat infections. Molecular machines that kill infectious bacteria have been taught to see their mission in a new light. The latest iteration of nanoscale drills developed at Rice University are activated by visible light rather than ultraviolet (UV), as in earlier versions. These have also proven effective at killing bacteria through tests on real infections. Six variants of molecular machines were successfully tested by Rice chemist James Tour and his team. All of…
Usually, increasing agricultural productivity depends on adding something, such as fertilizer or water. A new Stanford University-led study reveals that removing one thing in particular – a common air pollutant – could lead to dramatic gains in crop yields. The analysis, published June 1 in Science Advances, uses satellite images to reveal for the first time how nitrogen oxides – gases found in car exhaust and industrial emissions – affect crop productivity. Its findings have important implications for increasing agricultural output…
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