Skoltech researchers and their colleagues have synthesized a new conjugated polymer for organic electronics using two different chemical reactions and shown the impact of the two methods on its performance in organic and perovskite solar cells. The paper was published in the journal Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics. As the world tries to transition to clean and renewable energy, such as solar power, scientists are working on making solar cells more efficient at producing electricity. Among the promising approaches are two rapidly developing photovoltaic technologies…
A team co-led by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine has revealed in detail how the most common primary eye cancer in adults, uveal melanoma (UM), can progress from a slow-growing, “indolent” state to a lethal metastasizing state. The discovery is a significant advance in fundamental cancer research that also suggests new strategies for treatment. The scientists, whose study is published Sept. 13 in Nature Communications, examined thousands of individual UM cells from patients, using advanced methods to record and analyze gene activity…
Researchers from Osaka University report a laser-driven neutron source for acquiring non-destructive radiography images. Getting snapshots of systems and processes at precise time points is important to research and development in many fields, including biology, materials science, and engineering. Firing a neutron beam at a material is one way of gaining information; however, this often requires nuclear reactors and specialist facilities. Now, researchers from Osaka University have reported a laser-driven method of simultaneously generating neutrons and X-rays. Their findings are…
Crucial steps for adding chemical tag to transfer RNA revealed. The chemical steps in an important cellular modification process that adds a chemical tag to some RNAs have been revealed in a new study. Interfering with this process in humans can lead to neuronal diseases, diabetes, and cancers. A research team, led by chemists at Penn State, has imaged a protein that facilitates this RNA modification in bacteria, allowing the researchers to reconstruct the process. A paper describing the modification…
All cells need ribosomes to make the proteins necessary for life. These multi-component molecular machines build complex proteins by stitching building blocks together according to instructions encoded in the cell’s messenger RNAs. But ribosomes are themselves composed of small and large subunits, each of which is made up of ribosomal proteins and RNA. Before they can manufacture proteins, these subunits must be manufactured themselves. In a new study, scientists in the lab of Sebastian Klinge provide the most detailed view of how human small ribosomal subunits are put together by capturing their 3D portraits at three different stages…
Capturing the intricacies of the brain’s activity demands resolution, scale, and speed—the ability to visualize millions of neurons with crystal clear resolution as they actively call out from distant corners of the cortex, within a fraction of a second of one another. Now, researchers have developed a microscopy technique that will allow scientists to accomplish this feat, capturing detailed images of activity of a vast number of cells across different depths in the brain at high speed and with unprecedented…
Grant enables study of plants as mRNA factories. The future of vaccines may look more like eating a salad than getting a shot in the arm. UC Riverside scientists are studying whether they can turn edible plants like lettuce into mRNA vaccine factories. Messenger RNA or mRNA technology, used in COVID-19 vaccines, works by teaching our cells to recognize and protect us against infectious diseases. One of the challenges with this new technology is that it must be kept cold…
Large number of developmental genes occupy DNA loops only by themselves. DNA segments with joint functions often cluster in loops. However, many of these tightly separated genetic areas contain only one gene each – preferably one that plays a prominent role in the development of the embryo. Here, genes enjoy protection from external interference. Under the microscope, our genome looks like a wild tangle of string stuffed into the cell’s nucleus. But while it appears as a chaotic mess, almost…
Successful project completion demonstrates human-centered LED lighting for industry and office space: The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, in cooperation with the Chair of Microelectronics at the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) of the University of Freiburg and Hahn-Schickard, has developed reliable, demand-oriented and resource-saving LED lighting for workplace and office applications. The lighting concept includes an intelligent, energy-saving light and luminaire control system geared to the needs of working people. Light is much more than just…
Negative trend continues – Comparatively moderate shrinkage of ice extent in 2021. The sea ice extent in the Arctic Ocean reached its annual minimum of 4.81 million square kilometres on 12 September 2021. As such, the 2021 Arctic sea-ice minimum comes in at 12th place on the negative list for absolute values. Sea-ice extent in September is one of the strongest signs of climate change, experts pointed out in the recently published 6th Assessment Report of Working Group I of…
Researchers successfully reconstitute the ovarian follicle from mouse stem cells. Researchers led by Kyushu University have succeeded in using mouse stem cells to reconstruct structures in the ovarian environment critical for the generation of mature egg cells. Moreover, they were able to apply their findings to generate functional egg cells and even grow viable mice. The team hopes these findings can be used to treat infertility by understanding its underlying causes and to aid the conservation of critically endangered animals…
New research published in Stem Cell Reports found that organoid culture-based models for cochlear hair cell formation can be used to identify drugs that promote hair cell regeneration in a high throughput drug library screen. Hair cells in the ear mediate the perception of sound. Consequently, when hair cells are destroyed or lost through exposure to loud sounds, certain chemicals, disease, or aging, partial or complete hearing loss is the consequence. According to WHO estimates, one in every 10 people…
Scientists create synthetic exosomes with natural functionalities and present their therapeutic application. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg and colleagues at the DWI Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials in Aachen have engineered synthetic exosomes that regulate cellular signaling during wound closure. The synthetic structures are built to resemble naturally occurring extracellular vesicles (EV) that play a fundamental role in communication between cells during various processes in our body. The scientist uncovered key mechanisms to regulate…
Quarks and gluons are fundamental building blocks of all visible matter in the universe. They’re described by the theory of strong nuclear interactions: quantum chromodynamics, or QCD. But a complete grasp of how observed properties in the universe emerge from these interactions has remained elusive. Much as the understanding of atoms and their structure led to the development of very precise instruments such as atomic clocks, physicists think a better understanding of QCD will accelerate a host of breakthroughs in…
A new chemical process developed by Empa turns cotton into a fire-resistant fabric, that nevertheless retains the skin-friendly properties of cotton. State-of-the-art flame retardant cotton textiles suffer from release of formaldehyde and are uncomfortable to wear. Empa scientists managed to circumvent this problem by creating a physically and chemically independent network of flame retardants inside the fibers. This approach retains the inherently positive properties of cotton fibers, which account for three-quarters of the world’s demand for natural fibers in clothing…
Counterfeit-proof and unique identification shows authenticity of products. Counterfeit-proof product protection and resilient supply chains are the goals of the Fraunhofer SmartID project. The Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Polymer Research IAP, for Secure Information Technology SIT and for Open Communication Systems FOKUS are developing a novel marking system that can determine the authenticity of products via smart devices even while being offline, i.e. without access to a database. SmartID will be embedded in existing track & trace infrastructures and can…
Feedback
