Chinese researchers recently discovered a new effect that can generate spin-polarization in fluid. The new effect, which is called “shear-induced polarization (SIP),” predicts that shear flow can induce polarization in the momentum space. This research was conducted by scientists from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), together with their collaborators at Peking University and Central China Normal University, who studied polarization induced by shear flow for the first time. Their discoveries were published…
Fraunhofer IZM and the weißensee academy of art in Berlin have opened a unique open innovation lab for prototyping textile electronics. Fitted with the latest in high-tech equipment and machines, the Textile Prototyping Lab (TPL) can turn e-textile visions into real fabrics and garments with its interdisciplinary team of scientists and artists. Let’s make it official: 29 September 2021 will be a red letter day for all lovers of innovative textiles, with the Textile Prototyping Lab formally opened at Fraunhofer…
Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) and Leipzig University are currently using a tethered balloon to study the air layers near the ground in the Arctic, which play a major role in climate change in this region. The measurements should help to better understand the particularly strong warming of the Arctic and to map it more precisely in climate models. After the balloon system already proved itself in the summer on the international MOSAiC expedition, it is…
X-rays reveal compositional changes on active surface under reaction conditions. A DESY-led research team has been using high-intensity X-rays to observe a single catalyst nanoparticle at work. The experiment has revealed for the first time how the chemical composition of the surface of an individual nanoparticle changes under reaction conditions, making it more active. The team led by DESY’s Andreas Stierle is presenting its findings in the journal Science Advances. This study marks an important step towards a better understanding…
Zoologists at Kiel University study special characteristics of insect joints. Knee or wrist joints of vertebrates including humans are surrounded by a protective capsule. It contains a fluid that minimizes friction between the cartilages and thus enables bending and stretching of arms and legs. Insect joints are designed completely different: Instead of cartilage they consist of a supportive exoskeleton and without any encapsulation their joints are exposed to numerous environmental challenges. A research team from the Institute of Zoology at…
Unusual material could improve the reliability of electronics and other devices. Moving heat around where you want it to go—adding it to houses and hairdryers, removing it from car engines and refrigerators—is one of the great challenges of engineering. All activity generates heat, because energy escapes from everything we do. But too much can wear out batteries and electronic components—like parts in an aging laptop that runs too hot to actually sit on your lap. If you can’t get rid…
Groundbreaking research success: Computer scientists from the Cognitive Systems Lab at the University of Bremen have now succeeded in an international project to realize a so-called speech neuroprosthetic. With it, imagined speech can be made acoustically audible – without latency in real time. The advancement can help people who have fallen silent due to neurological diseases and cannot communicate with the outside world without external help. Great research successes require international collaboration: For several years, the Cognitive Systems Lab (CSL)…
MHH junior scientist receives 60.000 euro prize for research on haemophilia A therapy. Haemophilia A is a hereditary blood clotting disorder. About 4.000 people in Germany are affected. The so-called clotting factor VIII (FVIII) is disturbed or missing completely. When injured, the blood then clots more slowly, which can lead to chronic joint damage or acutely life-threatening situations. An already available gene therapy only helps certain patients who do not form antibodies against the viral vector, which acts as a…
Manufacture, wear, wash, incinerate: This typical life cycle of garments, which pollutes the environment, is to be changed in the future – towards principles of circular economy with recycling at its core. Using an outdoor jacket made from PET bottles and recycled materials, Empa researchers have investigated whether the product actually delivers what the idea promises. At first glance, it’s a normal rain jacket: three layers of polyester, a lining on the inside, a water vapor-permeable membrane on top and…
Studies of the asteroid Vesta provide new findings on the formation of Earth-like planets The largest asteroid in our Solar System – Vesta – was exposed to an extensive series of impacts by large rocky bodies much earlier than previously assumed. Researchers of an international collaboration, including earth scientists of Heidelberg University and Freie Universität Berlin, reached this conclusion based on analyses of Vesta meteorites, numerical simulations, and observations carried out with the space probe Dawn in 2011 and 2012….
… efficient and with consistently high quality. Fuel cells are typically applied to generate electrical energy from hydrogen or methanol. Nanoscale catalysts get the process going – but until now, the quality of these materials has varied significantly. The CAN research division of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP eliminated these problems: With an optimized catalyst and continuous, reproducible production process with very good control over the material properties. Hydrogen is a future issue – H2 drives, for…
Filter solutions for high technology processes. Metal processing with lasers and plasma releases many different pollutants into the ambient air. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, together with partners, has developed a filter system that efficiently removes these substances from the air. The filter can be adapted to the various materials and substances released in each case. In the future, the technology will be used in other applications, such as additive manufacturing. Microparticles and harmful gases as…
New work from the Kiel Evolution Center suggests that somatic gene variations play a larger role in evolutionary adaptation mechanisms than previously thought. The variability of genetic information within a species is a central basis for the expression of different individual characteristics of its individual organisms. It determines the phenotype, for example, how the external shape or resistance to disease develops individually. At the same time, the genetic variability within a population allows evolutionary adaptation of a species, for example…
When it comes to directly imaging Earth-like exoplanets orbiting faraway stars, seeing isn’t always believing. A new Cornell University study finds that next-generation telescopes used to see exoplanets could confuse Earth-like planets with other types of planets in the same solar system. With today’s telescopes, dim distant planets are hard to see against the glare of their host stars, but next-generation tools such as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, currently under development by NASA, will be better at imaging Earth-like…
Brookhaven Lab and Princeton scientists team up to identify sources of loss of quantum information at the atomic scale. Engineers and materials scientists studying superconducting quantum information bits (qubits)—a leading quantum computing material platform based on the frictionless flow of paired electrons—have collected clues hinting at the microscopic sources of qubit information loss. This loss is one of the major obstacles in realizing quantum computers capable of stringing together millions of qubits to run demanding computations. Such large-scale, fault-tolerant systems could simulate complicated molecules…
The last few decades have seen impressive progress in laser-based technologies, which have led to significant advancements in atomic and molecular physics. The development of ultrashort laser pulses now allows scientists to study extremely fast phenomena, like charge transport in molecules and elementary steps of chemical reactions. But beyond that, our ability to observe such processes on the attosecond scale (one quintillionth of a second) means that it is also possible to steer and probe the dynamics of individual electrons…
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