Scientists create reliable and renewable biological photovoltaic cell. Researchers have used a widespread species of blue-green algae to power a microprocessor continuously for a year – and counting – using nothing but ambient light and water. Their system has potential as a reliable and renewable way to power small devices. The system, comparable in size to an AA battery, contains a type of non-toxic algae called Synechocystis that naturally harvests energy from the sun through photosynthesis. The tiny electrical current…
Researchers at Rochester and Erlangen have taken a decisive step toward creating ultrafast computers. A long-standing quest for science and technology has been to develop electronics and information processing that operate near the fastest timescales allowed by the laws of nature. A promising way to achieve this goal involves using laser light to guide the motion of electrons in matter, and then using this control to develop electronic circuit elements—a concept known as lightwave electronics. Remarkably, lasers currently allow us…
Let there be a light: Using fewer resources, avoiding electronic waste, and saving energy: This is possible if the entire production chain for more sustainable lamps is investigated and levelled up. For the SUMATRA project, researchers at Fraunhofer IZM and their industry partners are working together on exactly this mission. The precise eco lifecycle assessments and resulting design recommendations produced by Fraunhofer IZM and the environmental services provider Interseroh will assist lighting brands like TRILUX or OSRAM in making their…
Synapses are the contact points in the brain via which nerve cells ‘talk’ to each other. Disturbances in this communication lead to diseases of the nervous system, since altered synaptic proteins, for example, can impair this complex molecular mechanism. This can result in mild symptoms, but also very severe disabilities in those affected. The interest of the two neurobiologists Professor Tobias Langenhan and Professor Manfred Heckmann, from Leipzig and Würzburg respectively, was aroused when they read in a scientific publication…
A big success for Oldenburg’s environmental and marine research: the DFG approves funding for new research group on exchange processes in the microlayer between oceans and atmosphere. The uppermost layer of the oceans is a very special but as yet little explored part of the planet. Less than a millimetre thick, this surface layer functions like a skin, regulating the exchange of gases, energy and momentum between the ocean and the atmosphere. To study the complex biological, chemical and physical…
An extensive metagenomic study provides detailed insights into the composition and ecological functioning of the microbial communities of the Atlantic Ocean. At first glance, the open ocean seems to be a uniform habitat: Water as far as the eye can see. A research team from the universities of Oldenburg and Göttingen has now been able to show on the basis of extensive data that communities of microbes, so-called prokaryotes, nevertheless differ regionally in the Atlantic Ocean from the Southern Ocean…
Settling a key dispute in the wireless communications field, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that transmission performance is consistent across different bands of the millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum targeted for high-speed, data-rich 5G systems. Wireless systems are moving to the mmWave spectrum at 10-100 gigahertz (GHz), above crowded cellular frequencies as well as early 5G systems around 3 GHz. System operators tend to prefer lower bands of the new mmWave spectrum. One reason is that…
Tumors can force neighboring cells into supporting cancer growth by releasing lactate into their local environment, according to researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The findings pave the way for future drug treatments that thwart that defense mechanism to help cancer patients. In the study, published May 10 in Cell Reports, the researchers determined how tumors, as they develop, recruit nearby cells called fibroblasts to work as their enablers. Fibroblasts are part of the “stroma,” or connective tissue of organs, and normally…
… can be opened and locked with a key. Technique opens new possibilities for smart drug delivery and other applications. Just as countries import a vast array of consumer goods across national borders, so living cells are engaged in a lively import-export business. Their ports of entry are sophisticated transport channels embedded in a cell’s protective membrane. Regulating what kinds of cargo can pass through the borderlands formed by the cell’s two-layer membrane is essential for proper functioning and survival….
To move our bodies, the brain sends messages to muscles via motoneurons which can sometimes be over excitable and cause spasms – but researchers have found two ways to calm them down. Poor sleep, difficulty moving and injuries from hitting something accidentally are just some of the challenges faced by suffers of often-painful involuntary muscle spasms. However, an Edith Cowan University (ECU) study investigating motoneurons in the spine has revealed two methods can make our spinal cords less “excitable” and…
New technology identifies locations of previously unknown mosquito breeding habitats and treats them within the same day. Following his success eradicating a major source of malaria, technology created by a University of South Florida public health researcher is being implemented by insect control agencies throughout Africa and across the Tampa Bay region. Associate Professor Benjamin Jacob created a smartphone app that pairs his algorithm with a drone and satellite images to identify locations of previously unknown mosquito breeding habitats to treat…
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a heart disease that leads to a stressed, swollen heart muscle. Due to a poor understanding of underlying mechanisms, effective clinical treatments are not available. Patients receive generic heart medication and sometimes need open-heart surgery to remove excess tissue. Researchers at the Hubrecht Institute have now successfully applied a new revolutionary technology (scRNA-seq) to uncover underlying disease mechanisms, including specifically those causing the swelling. The extensive “big data” set is a treasure trove of novel observations that…
The emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens and the increasing difficulty in developing new drugs has contributed to global challenges in combating infectious diseases. An extensive bioinformatics survey of around 170,000 bacterial genomes indicates that only three percent of the genomic potential for microbial natural products—chemically diverse bacterial metabolites that form the basis of antibiotic drugs—have been discovered so far. Co-led by Prof Nadine Ziemert of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), the survey identified several bacterial genera as producers of…
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is aligned across all four of its science instruments, as seen in a previous engineering image showing the observatory’s full field of view. Now, we take a closer look at that same image, focusing on Webb’s coldest instrument: the Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI. The MIRI test image (at 7.7 microns) shows part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. This small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way provided a dense star field to test Webb’s performance. Here, a close-up of…
Study describes new mechanism for lowering thermal conductivity to aid search for materials that convert heat to electricity or electricity to heat. In a world of materials that normally expand upon heating, one that shrinks along one 3D axis while expanding along another stands out. That’s especially true when the unusual shrinkage is linked to a property important for thermoelectric devices, which convert heat to electricity or electricity to heat. In a paper just published in the journal Advanced Materials, a…
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) and Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM) in Erlangen present a large step forward in the characterization of nanoparticles. They used a special microscopy method based on interfereometry to outperform existing instruments. One possible application of this technique may be to identify illnesses. Nanoparticles are everywhere. They are in our body as protein aggregates, lipid vesicles, or viruses. They are in our drinking water in the form of…
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