The same phenomenon that causes aurorae — the magical curtains of green light often visible from the polar regions of the Earth — causes mesospheric ozone layer depletion. This depletion could have significance for global climate change and therefore, understanding this phenomenon is important. Now, a group of scientists led by Prof. Yoshizumi Miyoshi from Nagoya University, Japan, has observed, analyzed, and provided greater insight into this phenomenon. The findings are published in Nature’s Scientific Reports. In the Earth’s magnetosphere…
The sale of electric vehicles (EV’s) has grown exponentially in the past few years as is the need for renewable energy sources to power them, such as solar and wind. There were nearly 1.8 million registered electric vehicles in the U.S. as of 2020, which is more than three times as many in 2016, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Electric vehicles require power to be available anywhere and anytime without delay to recharge, but solar and wind are intermittent energy…
Researchers at the University of Bristol have shown how laboratory evolution can give rise to highly efficient enzymes for new-to-nature reactions, opening the door for novel and more environmentally friendly ways to make drugs and other chemicals. Scientists have previously designed protein catalysts from scratch using computers, but these are much less capable than natural enzymes. To improve their performance, a technique called laboratory evolution can be used, which American chemical engineer Frances Arnold pioneered and for which she received…
New research from Florida State University and Rice University is providing a better estimate of the amount of carbon in the Earth’s outer core, and the work suggests the core could be the planet’s largest reservoir of that element. The research, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, estimates that 0.3 to 2.0 percent of the Earth’s outer core is carbon. Though the percentage of carbon there is low, it’s still an enormous amount because the outer core is…
Proteins are only able to perform their essential tasks in the body if they fold correctly into their respective, very specific 3D structure. To ensure that nothing goes wrong with the folding process, it is strictly monitored in the cell. A flawed quality control can lead, for example, to the deposition of misfolded proteins in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Researchers at the Max Planck Institutes of Neurobiology and of Biochemistry have now developed a mouse line that makes the…
A team of engineers and physicians has developed a steerable catheter that for the first time will give neurosurgeons the ability to steer the device in any direction they want while navigating the brain’s arteries and blood vessels. The device was inspired by nature, specifically insect legs and flagella–tail-like structures that allow microscopic organisms such as bacteria to swim. The team from the University of California San Diego describes the breakthrough in the Aug. 18 issue of Science Robotics. The…
Scientific breakthrough in the battle against cancer. A scientific achievement for researchers at Tel Aviv University: printing an entire active and viable glioblastoma tumor using a 3D printer. The 3D-bioprinted tumor includes a complex system of blood vessel-like tubes through which blood cells and drugs can flow, simulating a real tumor. Link to the research video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUjuFyLF5nM The study was led by Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro, Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Sagol School of Neuroscience, Director of the Cancer Biology Research…
System uses tiny magnetic beads to rapidly measure the position of muscles and relay that information to a bionic prosthesis. For people with amputation who have prosthetic limbs, one of the greatest challenges is controlling the prosthesis so that it moves the same way a natural limb would. Most prosthetic limbs are controlled using electromyography, a way of recording electrical activity from the muscles, but this approach provides only limited control of the prosthesis. Researchers at MIT’s Media Lab have…
Researchers from the University of Tsukuba successfully grow a Li@C60 film on a copper surface to study the molecular orbitals. As well as making it one of the most widely recognized molecules, the distinctive soccer ball shape of C60 gives it some useful properties. One of which is thought to be electrical conductivity when multiple molecules are close together. Efforts have therefore been made to optimize C60 so that it can be applied to electronic devices. Now, researchers at the…
New study finds they’re a tad rubbery, paving the way for better products. A breakthrough by researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) and collaborating institutions around the world could pave the way for better products, such as improved batteries, automobile paint and cellphone screens. When you zoom in on many modern materials, such as those in some of the newest batteries that are made with glassy polymers – which include many plastics – they don’t appear uniform. Instead,…
Despite the COVID-19 crisis, Fraunhofer IZM and its 17 partners on the PLC 2.0 consortium have achieved excellent results within the first year. All partners met in a virtual meeting for two days. The time difference for such world-wide meetings is a challenge, therefore several sessions have taken place over the whole day to have easy access form Asia, Europe and the US. In 2016, Fraunhofer IZM teamed up with a group of industry leaders from Europe, the US, and…
Sea cucumbers have a bumpy and oblong shape. They are soft but stiffen up quickly when touched. They can shrink or stretch to several meters, and their original shape can be recovered even after they die and shrivel up with the regulation of water uptake. Recently, a POSTECH research team has developed a soft actuator inspired by this unique behavior of sea cucumbers. A research team led by Professor Dong Sung Kim, Dr. Andrew Choi (currently the director of R&D…
Quantum matter can be solid and fluid at the same time – a situation known as supersolidity. Researchers led by Francesca Ferlaino have now created for the first time this fascinating property along two dimensions. They now report in the journal Nature on the realization of supersolidity along two axes of an ultracold quantum gas. The experiment offers many possibilities for further investigation of this exotic state of matter. Quantum gases are very well suited for investigating the microscopic consequences…
Study led by the University of Bonn finds evidence of a long-sought effect in CERN data. An international study led by the University of Bonn has found evidence of a long-sought effect in accelerator data. The so-called “triangle singularity” describes how particles can change their identities by exchanging quarks, thereby mimicking a new particle. The mechanism also provides new insights into a mystery that has long puzzled particle physicists: Protons, neutrons and many other particles are much heavier than one…
“It is a big step forward in the search for therapies for this type of cancer with poor prognosis” says Massimo Squatrito, main co-author of the study. Researchers at the CNIO and scientists from the School of Medicine of the University of Fribourg, Germany, lead the team that found the master regulator gene – a sort of general genetic switch – for the mesenchymal subtype of glioblastoma, considered to be the brain cancer with the poorest prognosis. The master regulator…
First model to show how gas flows across universe into a supermassive black hole’s center. Galaxies’ spiral arms are responsible for scooping up gas to feed to their central supermassive black holes, according to a new high-powered simulation. Started at Northwestern University, the simulation is the first to show, in great detail, how gas flows across the universe all the way down to the center of a supermassive black hole. While other simulations have modeled black hole growth, this is…
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