Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen show that under certain circumstances magnetic field sensing microswimmers can self-organize into a new phase whose theoretical description shares formal similarities with that of ultra-cold quantum gases. Contrary to inanimate ‘passive’ matter, motile ‘active’ matter is not constrained by the conservation laws of usual thermodynamics. This means that active matter cannot reach the state of equilibrium, but constantly spends energy in order to e.g. achieve motion. For more…
– successful tests onboard the ISS – Thousands of tons of space debris are currently orbiting the Earth, and the number is growing. Most of it is the remnants of completed space missions or decommissioned satellites. The dangerous thing about it is that even centimeter-sized pieces can cause immense damage in a collision with active satellites, spacecraft, and space stations. Researchers at the Technical University of Braunschweig, in cooperation with the Leibniz Institute for New Materials (INM) in Saarbrücken, have…
During development, cells must specialize their function in a well defined timeline: formation of different tissues must be coordinated from a pile of cells. The research group led by Aneta Koseska (former Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology (MPI), CAESAR Bonn) has now developed a new theoretical concept that shows how cells specialize in right proportions in a coordinated manner through their communication with each other, and thus how new structures are formed and maintained. Stem cells are the all-rounders…
A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg has coherently controlled nuclear excitations using suitably shaped X-ray light for the first time. In the experiment performed at the European Synchrotron ESRF, they achieved a temporal control stability of a few zeptoseconds. This forms the basis for new experimental approaches exploiting the control of nuclear dynamics which could lead to more precise future time standards and open new possibilities on the way to nuclear batteries….
Rydberg atoms are among the most promising candidates in the race of realizing a working quantum computer. In the new collaborative project „QRydDemo“, researchers led by the University of Stuttgart aim to realize a Rydberg quantum computer demonstrator together with an industrial partner by 2025. In order to reach this goal, they group Rydberg atoms in a two-dimensional optical trap structure and perform quantum logical operations by controlled entanglement and shifting of the atom traps. The Federal Ministry of Education…
Scientists elucidate crystal structure for exotic ice XIX … Three years ago, chemists at the University of Innsbruck found evidence for the existence of a new variety of ice. Until then, 18 types of crystalline ice were known. The team led by Thomas Loerting now reports in Nature Communications on the elucidation of the crystal structure of ice XIX using neutron diffraction. Ice is a very versatile material. In snowflakes or ice cubes, the oxygen atoms are arranged hexagonally. This…
Researchers from Hanover, Mainz, Wuppertal and Witten develop high-resolution tomography – application conceivable for Covid-19, Alzheimer’s and cancer. Researchers from Hanover Medical School (MHH), Mainz University Hospital and HELIOS University Hospital Wuppertal at Witten/Herdecke University are leading an international, multidisciplinary consortium that makes high-resolution, three-dimensional X-ray images of the human body possible. With a maximum resolution of up to 300 nanometres, they are equivalent to one tenth of the diameter of a human hair. “The networking between radiology, pathology and…
Max Planck researchers and their collaborators reveal transformation of colon organoids in vitro. Escherichia coli bacteria are constitutive members of the human gut microbiota. However, some strains produce a genotoxin called colibactin, which is implicated in the development of colorectal cancer. While it has been shown that colibactin leaves very specific changes in the DNA of host cells that can be detected in colorectal cancer cells, such cancers take many years to develop, leaving the actual process by which a…
From March 22 to 28, 2021, the University of Bremen is hosting a virtual workshop on the interface between artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and neuroscience. The TransAIR project deals with cognitive architectures for robot agents. Registration is open now. Cognitive architectures are some of the most important fields of research for the development of day-to-day robots. How must an intelligent system be constructed and which components are required so that it can competently interact with its surroundings? The University of…
Working with colleagues from Germany and the US, researchers at Leipzig University have achieved a breakthrough in research into how cancer cells spread. In experiments, the team of biophysicists led by Professor Josef Alfons Käs, Steffen Grosser and Jürgen Lippoldt demonstrated for the first time how cells deform in order to move in dense tumour tissues and squeeze past neighbouring cells. The researchers found that motile cells work together to fluidise tumour tissue. Käs led the research project in cooperation…
‘Sloshing’ of a quantum fluid comprised of light and matter reveals superfluid properties. An Australian-led team of physicists have successfully created sloshing quantum liquids in a ‘bucket’ formed by containment lasers. “These quantum fluids are expected to be as wavy as the oceans, but catching clear pictures of the waves is an experimental challenge,” says lead author Dr Eliezer Estrecho. Led by the Australian National University (ANU), the team serendipitously observed the wavy motion of the quantum fluid in an…
Astronomers have tested a method for reconstructing the state of the early Universe by applying it to 4000 simulated universes using the ATERUI II supercomputer at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). They found that together with new observations the method can set better constraints on inflation, one of the most enigmatic events in the history of the Universe. The method can shorten the observation time required to distinguish between various inflation theories. Just after the Universe came into…
Predator-prey relationships between bacteria could provide ideas for new antibacterial strategies. These observations might be useful for the future development of new antibacterial strategies. The team reports in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology on 12 February 2021. Bacterial groups in search of food We commonly know predator-prey relationships from the animal kingdom, but they are also a survival strategy of certain bacteria: bacterial predators actively kill bacteria of other species in order to feed on them. The predatory species…
Researchers from the Oil and Gas Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and their Skoltech colleagues have surveyed the newest known 30-meter deep gas blowout crater on the Yamal Peninsula, which formed in the summer of 2020. The paper was published in the journal Geosciences. Giant craters in the Russian Arctic, thought to be the remnants of powerful gas blowouts, first attracted worldwide attention in 2014, when the 20 to 40-meter wide Yamal Crater was found quite close…
Anyone needing a tomography gets the clearest possible images of an organ or other body structure slice by slice. But the further inside the potential problem lies, the more difficult it is to obtain high-resolution images in magnetic resonance imaging. An international team of scientists led by the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) has developed a high-frequency coil that allows for much better range inside the body – among other advantages. The scientific journal “Nature Communications” covers the topic. Magnetic resonance…
European Laboratories aim to Create Common Standards Is the tissue healthy or pathologically altered? Is the antibiotic effective against a certain bacterium or is the bacterium resistant to it? Raman spectroscopy can help to answer such questions quickly and precisely. However, one challenge for the use of the light-based analysis method in everyday clinical practice is that the results can be highly sensitive to the measurement conditions. Approaches to solving this problem are now being provided by a large-scale European…
Feedback
