Biomaterials from Potsdam for Charité dentists Two fundamental researchers from the Department of Biomaterials are involved in the interdisciplinary research project ‘InterDent’. It aims at making dental fillings and tooth restorations more durable in the future. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding this project with 2.1 million euros, initially for three years. ‘Together with dental colleagues from Charité, we will study how mineralized biofilms interact with artificial filling materials. Ultimately, this fundamental knowledge will help designing such materials…
An undesirable effect can occur in super-resolution fluorescence microscopy: photoblueing. A new publication in „Nature Methods“ shows how it can be prevented or made useful for research. The latest developments in fluorescence microscopy make it possible to image individual molecules in cells or molecular complexes with a spatial resolution of up to 20 nanometres. However, under certain circumstances, an effect occurs that falsifies the results: the laser light used can cause very reactive oxygen molecules to form in the sample….
Physicists from the University of Regensburg develop a new method for counting molecules. Who hasn’t looked at the sky on a mild summer night and thought about the vastness of the universe? The trained eye can see the Andromeda galaxy as a distant spot. Thanks to the latest telescopes, we know that it consists of over a trillion stars. In the “nanocosm”, clusters of individual light sources, such as molecules, also appear as points. Resolving these light sources spatially is…
Quantum experiments that could previously only be performed with photons are now also possible with atoms: Beams of entangled atoms have been produced at TU Wien (Vienna). Heads or tails? If we toss two coins into the air, the result of one coin toss has nothing to do with the result of the other. Coins are independent objects. In the world of quantum physics, things are different: quantum particles can be entangled, in which case they can no longer be…
MPQ researchers realize the first quantum-logic computer operation between two separate quantum modules in different laboratories. Today’s quantum computers contain up to several dozen memory and processing units, the so-called qubits. Severin Daiss, Stefan Langenfeld, and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching have successfully interconnected two such qubits located in different labs to a distributed quantum computer by linking the qubits with a 60-meter-long optical fiber. Over such a distance they realized a quantum-logic gate…
New flexible X-ray sensor suitable for next-generation medical and industrial applications. X-ray imaging is widely used in areas such as healthcare and forensic science, but existing X-ray machines are unable to capture curved three-dimensional (3D) objects at high resolution, and they are also relatively expensive. Now, an international team of researchers led by chemists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has demonstrated a potential solution to overcome these limitations by using nanocrystals that can trap X-rays. The research, which…
In order to infect cells, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, needs to insert itself into the membrane of human cells; new molecular models show what parts of SARS-CoV-2 are critical for that interaction, revealing new potential drug targets. If the coronavirus were a cargo ship, it would need to deliver its contents to a dock in order to infect the host island. The first step of infection would be anchoring by the dock, and step two would be tethering…
Nuclear physicists at the University of Cologne have contributed to an international research collaboration to show the way the spin of the two fragments, resulting from the splitting of an atomic nucleus, is generated / publication in Nature. A series of experiments at the ALTO particle accelerator facility in Orsay, France, has revealed that the fragments resulting from nuclear fission obtain their intrinsic angular momentum (or spin) after fission, not before, as is widely assumed. This result was made possible…
New insights into behaviour, sinks and reduction measures. In order to assess the impact of microplastics on the oceans, it is necessary to know their quantity and their behaviour in the sea. So far, this knowledge is still incomplete because of a high analytical effort and high costs. For the Baltic Sea, comprehensive calculations of microplastics emissions are now available for urban pathways. Together with 3D-model simulations they provide new insights into transport, behaviour and deposition of microplastics in the…
Innovative method provides new insight into molecular processes involving RNA. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is key to various fundamental biological processes. It transfers genetic information, translates it into proteins or supports gene regulation. To achieve a more detailed understanding of the precise functions it performs, researchers based at Heidelberg University and at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have devised a new fluorescence imaging method which enables live-cell RNA imaging with unprecedented resolution. The method is based on a novel molecular…
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and the partner institute Empa have started a joint initiative called SynFuels. The goal is to develop a process for producing kerosene from renewable resources. In this way liquid fuel mixtures of the highest quality, which would allow the most residue-free combustion possible and thus be suitable for aircraft propulsion, should be obtainable using carbon dioxide and hydrogen from renewable resources. Mobility without fossil fuels – in aviation too: SynFuels, the new joint…
Helicopters are to become faster, greener and quieter. An international team led by Airbus Helicopters (AH) is working on the technology to achieve these goals with the RACER demonstrator. Scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have designed an aerodynamically shape-optimized rotor head full fairing for the innovative RACER rotorcraft. The fairing will reduce energy consumption and make higher speeds possible. Vertical take-off and landing aircraft are essential whenever there’s not enough room for runways, for example in mountain…
Automated approach transformative for computational materials science. A revolutionary machine-learning (ML) approach to simulate the motions of atoms in materials such as aluminum is described in this week’s Nature Communications journal. This automated approach to “interatomic potential development” could transform the field of computational materials discovery. “This approach promises to be an important building block for the study of materials damage and aging from first principles,” said project lead Justin Smith of Los Alamos National Laboratory. “Simulating the dynamics of…
Fluid flow engineers and electrical engineers are jointly developing turbine blades with special integrated drives Tidal hydroelectric power plants of the future will be able to generate “green” electricity significantly more efficient by using optimized turbines. Engineers from the University Otto von Guericke of Magdeburg are developing turbine blades with built-in motors. These integrated drives ensure that during each revolution, the turbine blades adjust optimally to the water flow, and thus avoid the dangerous stall condition. This term describes the…
During glacial periods, the sea level falls, because vast quantities of water are stored in the massive inland glaciers. To date, however, computer models have been unable to reconcile sea-level height with the thickness of the glaciers. Using innovative new calculations, a team of climate researchers led by the Alfred Wegener Institute has now managed to explain this discrepancy. The study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Communications, could significantly advance research into our planet’s climate history. During…
How a single cell slime mold makes smart decisions without a central nervous system. Having a memory of past events enables us to take smarter decisions about the future. Researchers at the Max-Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now identified how the slime mold Physarum polycephalum saves memories – although it has no nervous system. The ability to store and recover information gives an organism a clear advantage when searching for…
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