We remember things longer if we take breaks during learning, referred to as the spacing effect. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology gained deeper insight into the neuronal basis for this phenomenon in mice. With longer intervals between learning repetitions, mice reuse more of the same neurons as before – instead of activating different ones. Possibly, this allows the neuronal connections to strengthen with each learning event, such that knowledge is stored for a longer time. Many of…
The research team of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Landshut University of Applied Sciences and Spiess Motorenbau GmbH is developing a new method to measure heat flows in combustion engines more quickly than before; a technique which is also relevant to the research into alternative fuels and fuels that contain hydrogen When we start a car engine, combustion gases with very high temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius are produced. When these hit the cylinder and piston walls,…
Researchers at the ImmunoSensation2 Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn, the University Hospital and the research center caesar have develop a method that allows using multi-focal images to reconstruct the movement of fast biological processes in 3D. In the past, many discoveries have been made because better, more accurate measurement methods have become available, making it possible to obtain data from previously unexplored phenomena. For example, high-resolution microscopy has begun to dramatically change our perspectives of cell function…
Photons trapped in a cavity can cause a crystal known as strontium titanate (SrTiO₃) to become ferroelectric, according to a new study by the MPSD’s theory group. The photons that are randomly created and destructed in the vacuum of a cavity – as determined by the laws of quantum mechanics – can significantly change the way the material’s electrons and atoms behave, as in the case of SrTiO₃. These theoretical predictions, now published in PNAS, demonstrate the great potential of…
Surrounding land reacts to fluctuations in the water level. The Dead Sea is shrinking. There are many reasons for this: climate change is a contributing factor, as is human overuse of water as a resource. The sinking water level has a number of dangerous consequences. For example, fresh groundwater flowing downstream causes salts to dissolve in the soil, resulting in sinkholes. But it also leads to large-scale subsidence of the surrounding land surface. Researchers from an interdisciplinary team of several…
Benthic filamentous algae are an emerging threat to clear lakes worldwide. Many of the world’s clear lakes are affected by a new phenomenon: At the shore, where people play or swim, the lake bottom is covered with green carpets of algae. These are mass accumulations of filamentous algae that have recently appeared even in remote mountain lakes as well as in some large lakes such as Lake Tahoe (USA) and Lake Baikal (Russia). An international group of lake researchers from…
Based on the principle of interaction between matter and light, a new method has been developed to track and observe the Brownian motion of fast-moving nanometer-sized molecules, and measure the different fluorescence signals of each biological nanoparticle. The nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) system is the most commonly used nanoparticle quantification method in the world. It is a method that observes and tracks a group of nanoparticles in a captured image as a single particle unit. Recently, a POSTECH research team…
Researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have decoded the chromosomal-level genome of a deep-sea gutless tubeworm and the genome of its co-living “partner” – a kind of bacteria that provide nutrients they generate from inorganic compounds to the worm for the first time, explaining how the pair adapts to the extreme habitat. Their discovery lays foundation for potential applications such as nutrient generation, biomaterial production and microbial growth control. Living in deep-sea hydrothermal vents and…
Data science specialist CASUS and the research consortium PIONEER ally in the fight against prostate cancer. The Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has joined PIONEER, a 12.8m euro project funded by the public-private partnership Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI2). The HZDR is PIONEER’s 36th member. The European consortium aims to transform the field of prostate cancer care by unlocking the potential of big data and big data analytics. Spread all across Europe, databases from…
Magnetic fields around black holes decay quickly, report researchers from the Flatiron Institute, Columbia University and Princeton University. This finding backs up the so-called ‘no-hair conjecture’ predicted by Einstein’s general relativity. Black holes aren’t what they eat. Einstein’s general relativity predicts that no matter what a black hole consumes, its external properties depend only on its mass, rotation and electric charge. All other details about its diet disappear. Astrophysicists whimsically call this the no-hair conjecture. (Black holes, they say, “have…
Göttingen researchers have developed mini-antibodies that efficiently block the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and its dangerous new variants. These so-called nanobodies bind and neutralize the virus up to 1000 times better than previously developed mini-antibodies. In addition, the scientists optimized their mini-antibodies for stability and resistance to extreme heat. This unique combination makes them promising agents to treat COVID-19. Since nanobodies can be produced at low costs in large quantities, they could meet the global demand for COVID-19 therapeutics. The new nanobodies…
Heat stress procures the capacity for remembering in plant cells. How a plant grows depends on its genetic blueprint on the one hand, and on how the environment influences molecular and physiological processes on the other. Of particular importance are the so-called meristems, those divisible tissues that contain the plant stem cells. The shoot apical meristem is crucial for the growth of the organs above ground. Researchers led by Bernd Mueller-Roeber at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology…
For decades, a key brain area has been thought to merely regulate locomotion. Now, a research group at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, and the Friedrich Miescher Institut for Biomedical Research (FMI) has shown that the region is involved in much more than walking, as it contains distinct populations of neurons that control different body movements. The findings could help to improve certain therapies for Parkinson’s disease. Even the mundane act of walking requires complex movements such as postural changes…
From modern smartphones to televisions: organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are an emerging technology that promises, among other benefits, excellent image contrast and low power consumption. The complexity of an OLED pixel makes it difficult to design new molecular materials. Denis Andrienko, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, and his team have now compared a wide range of computer-simulated and experimentally measured properties of OLED thin films, trying to understand whether OLED design can be guided solely…
The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, supported by PSE Projects GmbH, has been publishing the PV Report on a regular basis for the past decade. The report contains a compilation of the most important facts on photovoltaics (PV) in Germany, the European Union and worldwide, documenting, in particular, the development of the photovoltaic market, solar cell and module efficiency as well as the prices over the last decades. The latest edition is freely available on the Fraunhofer ISE…
Results show how neurons may be damaged by mutations in tau protein, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Frontotemporal dementias are a group of fatal and debilitating brain disorders for which there are no cures. In an article published July 26 in Cell, Mount Sinai researchers describe how they were able to recreate much of the damage seen in a widely studied form of the disease by growing special types of cerebral organoids in petri dishes. This form of…
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