Researchers have found a way to enhance radiation therapy using novel iodine nanoparticles. Cancer cell death is triggered within three days when X-rays are shone onto tumor tissue containing iodine-carrying nanoparticles. The iodine releases electrons that break the tumor’s DNA, leading to cell death. The findings, by scientists at Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) and colleagues in Japan and the US, were published in the journal Scientific Reports. “Exposing a metal to light leads to the release…
According to the World Health Organization, a third wave of COVID infections is now all but inevitable in Europe. A COVID tracker developed by IIASA researcher Asjad Naqvi, aims to identify, collect, and collate various official regional datasets for European countries, while also combining and homogenizing the data to help researchers and policymakers explore how the virus spreads. While many comparisons have been made between the COVID-19 pandemic and similar events in history, one thing sets this pandemic apart from…
The super-energetic jets that shoot out of black holes are in the focus of a new DFG research group. The researchers are being funded with 3.6 million euros. Black holes are found at the centre of almost all galaxies that have been studied so far. They have an unimaginably large mass and therefore attract matter, gas and even light. Only recently, astronomical images showing the accumulation of matter onto a supermassive black hole have caused public excitement. Such black holes…
Hollow nano-objects made of DNA could trap viruses and render them harmless. To date, there are no effective antidotes against most virus infections. An interdisciplinary research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now developed a new approach: they engulf and neutralize viruses with nano-capsules tailored from genetic material using the DNA origami method. The strategy has already been tested against hepatitis and adeno-associated viruses in cell cultures. It may also prove successful against corona viruses. There are…
The absorption of energy from laser light by free electrons in a liquid has been demonstrated for the first time. Until now, this process was observed only in the gas phase. The findings, led by Graz University of Technology, open new doors for ultra-fast electron microscopy. The investigation and development of materials crucially depends on the ability to observe smallest objects at fastest time scales. The necessary spatial resolution for investigations in the (sub-)atomic range can be achieved with electron…
A new study by a Swansea University academic has announced a new mathematical formula that will help engineers assess the point at which cellular materials, which are used a wide range of applications ranging from aerospace to the construction industry, will bend and buckle. Professor Sondipon Adhikari, of the College of Engineering has published his findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A. The study details a formula that can calculate the elastic instability of cellular material, in this…
Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a computational method based on large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to predict the cell-membrane permeability of cyclic peptides using a supercomputer. Their protocol has exhibited promising accuracy and may become a useful tool for the design and discovery of cyclic peptide drugs, which could help us reach new therapeutic targets inside cells beyond the capabilities of conventional small-molecule drugs or antibody-based drugs. Cyclic peptide drugs have attracted the attention of major pharmaceutical companies…
Leanne Gilbertson’s group studies the mechanisms behind bacterial resistance to silver nanoparticles to determine if their ubiquitous use is a solution to the antimicrobial resistance challenge or if it is perhaps fueling the fire. Antimicrobials are used to kill or slow the growth of bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms. They can be in the form of antibiotics, used to treat bodily infections, or as an additive or coating on commercial products used to keep germs at bay. These life-saving tools…
In particle physics, a Majorana Fermion is charge neutral and its antiparticle is just itself. In condensed matter physics, a Majorana zero mode (MZM) is a quasi-particle excitation, which appears in the surfaces or edges of topological superconductors. Unlike the ordinary particles or quasi-particles that obey boson or fermion statistics, MZM obeys non-abelian statistics, a key property that makes MZM the building block for realizing topological quantum computation. Currently major experimental efforts focus on heterostructures made of superconductors and spin-orbit…
As the Parker Solar Probe ventures closer to the sun, we are learning new things about our home star. In a new study, physicists led by the University of Iowa report the first definitive measurements of the sun’s electric field, and how the electric field interacts with the solar wind, the fast-flowing current of charged particles that can affect activities on Earth, from satellites to telecommunications. The physicists calculated the distribution of electrons within the sun’s electric field, a feat…
Members of the group around Sven Sturm in the division of Klaus Blaum at MPIK present a novel technique that allows to efficiently cool arbitrary ions by coupling them to a directly laser-cooled ion in a separate Penning trap. The results demonstrate how a common tank circuit can drastically enhance the coupling and holds promise to enable cooling of arbitrary ions in Penning traps to millikelvin temperatures. Inside Penning traps, ions can be stored by means of magnetic and electric…
Spectral-volumetric compressed ultrafast photography simultaneously captures 5D information in a single snapshot. Information-rich optical imaging can provide multidimensional information to enable observation and analysis of a detected target, contributing insights into mysterious and unknown worlds. With its ability to capture dynamic scenes on picosecond—and even femtosecond—timescales, ultrafast multidimensional optical imaging has important applications in the detection of the ultrafast phenomena in physics, chemistry, and biology. While pump-probe-based ultrafast imaging can acquire high-resolution multidimensional information, it cannot adequately capture unstable or…
USC Stem Cell scientists point to developmental and evolutionary similarities between sensory cells in the inner ear and the skin. The sensory cells in the inner ear and the touch receptors in the skin actually have a lot in common, according to a new study from the USC Stem Cell laboratory of Neil Segil published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences (PNAS). “There are striking similarities in the development of two types of specialized sensory cells:…
Boosting the body’s own disease-fighting immune pathway could provide answers in the desperate search for new treatments for tuberculosis. Tuberculosis still represents an enormous global disease burden and is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. Led by WEHI’s Dr Michael Stutz and Professor Marc Pellegrini and published in Immunity, the study uncovered how cells infected with tuberculosis bacteria can die, and that using new medicines to enhance particular forms of cell death decreased the severity of the…
This pandemic year has seen us confined to our homes and restricted from travelling the world. Not so for some microscopic bacteria in the ocean: Throughout the globe, they partner up with clams from the family Lucinidae, which live unseen in the sand beneath the shimmering blue waters of coastal habitats. This partnership is the clams’ passport to their extensive global reach. The bacteria can also travel a long way. According to research by scientists from the Max Planck Institute…
Max Planck scientists publish their latest findings in the journal Nature Materials. Hydrogen – the smallest of all atoms and yet becoming more and more important in terms of climate neutrality. While politics, industry and research are heading to use as much hydrogen as possible as a sustainable energy carrier, hydrogen embrittlement of high-strength alloys has become one of the major issues impeding the realization of the hydrogen economy. These materials are urgently needed for the automotive and aerospace industry…
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