Researchers from TU Graz and acib succeed in the first enzyme-driven biocatalytic synthesis of nucleic acid building blocks. This facilitates the development of antiviral agents and RNA-based therapeutics. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the associated intensive search for therapeutics and vaccines, the chemical substance class of nucleosides is experiencing an enormous increase in interest. Natural and synthetic nucleosides have an antiviral effect and can act as building blocks of ribonucleic acids (RNA). When incorporated into RNA, novel interactions…
IOW develops new method and successfully applies it to Baltic Sea samples. Glyphosate is one of the world’s most widely used weed killers. The disputed herbicide, which is suspected to be carcinogenic among other things, gets transported from the on-land application areas into rivers, which wash it into the sea. So far it was unclear, however, how much can be found in marine environments, because glyphosate and its metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid could not be measured in saltwater due to methodological…
Physicists have resolved a long-lasting discrepancy between the measured velocities of interstellar oxygen atoms and other elements in our galaxy: a difference of 380 km/s, which astrophysical measurements of X-ray absorption by oxygen atoms gave, had given astrophysicists a headache. At such speeds, a substantial fraction of this important element could in principle move away from the galactic disk, since the escape speed from the Milky Way at the solar system is 580 km/s. There was suspicion of a problem…
Advance could pave the way for early warning system on COVID-19 and flu using wearables. Temperature data collected by wearable devices worn on the finger can be reliably used to detect the onset of fevers, a leading symptom of both COVID-19 and the flu, according to a team of researchers from the University of California San Diego, UC San Francisco and MIT Lincoln Lab. Researchers published their results in a paper titled “Feasibility of continuous fever monitoring using wearable devices”…
Study: Nanotube films come in 466 colours, could be used in electronics, solar panels. Nanomaterials researchers in Finland, the United States and China have created a colour atlas for 466 unique varieties of single-walled carbon nanotubes. The nanotube colour atlas is detailed in a study in Advanced Materials about a new method to predict the specific colors of thin films made by combining any of the 466 varieties. The research was conducted by researchers from Aalto University in Finland, Rice…
Researchers from Osaka University accurately and arbitrarily control flying velocities of light bullets, offering new opportunities for optical and physical applications. Though it sounds like something straight out of science fiction, controlling the speed of light has in fact been a long-standing challenge for physicists. In a study recently published in Communications Physics, researchers from Osaka University generated light bullets with highly controllable velocities. According to Albert Einstein’s principle of relativity, the speed of light is constant and cannot be…
Overwintering team sails with Polarstern to the Antarctic Neumayer Station III This year, the Alfred Wegener Institute’s Neumayer Station III has been exclusively supplied by sea. The research vessel Polarstern has transported – as usual – materials and fuel to the Antarctic. However, due to the coronavirus, this season all the staff who will work at the station will also travel to the Southern Continent by ship. Instead of flying from South Africa, this year’s Antarctic expedition participants will set…
Researchers significantly increase fuel efficiency in the real world of road transport. Four research institutes have investigated on behalf of the Research Association for Internal Combustion Engines (FVV) how close we can come to the ultimate system efficiency of combustion engines in hybrid powertrains. Their conclusion: if available prime mover SI engine technologies are optimally matched to each other, more than 40 percent of the energy bound in the fuel can be used in real road transport. Synthetic fuels (e-fuels)…
IHP receives Best Technology Pioneer Award for TARANTO project On November 25-26, 2020, the TARANTO project, financed by the EU Commission and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, was awarded the Best Technology Pioneer as part of the European Forum for Electronic Components and Systems (EFECS) for the extraordinary technological progress of its 32 project partners Award awarded. The project consortium includes leading industrial companies, universities and research centers such as the Leibniz-Institute for High Performance Microelectronics (IHP), whose…
Hawk Supercomputer at the University of Stuttgart Gets Upgrade. The High-Performance Computing Center of the University of Stuttgart (HLRS) will add NVIDIA graphic processing units (GPUs) to its world-class supercomputer, Hawk. The change in architecture from a purely central processing unit (CPU)-based architecture to a hybrid system will enhance HLRS’s capacity for deep learning applications and enable new kinds of workflows that combine simulation using high-performance computing and Big Data methods. “At HLRS our mission has always been to provide…
European fusion device once again will work with deuterium-tritium plasmas in 2021 Plasma experiments that generate fusion energy are planned for next year at the Joint European Torus JET, the world’s largest fusion device at Culham/UK. Scientists of Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) at Garching have contributed intensively to the preparations. Today, JET is the only device that can experiment with the fuel of a future fusion power plant. In the European fusion research programme, the JET tokamak…
Automation solutions from the joint project “Impulse“ funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) – sub-project “Tempo“ Automation is one of the most important strategies for increasing efficiency in production. The positioning and drilling end effector newly developed for a portal system to automate the pre-assembly of stiffening elements (cleats) on CFRP integral frames for the manufacture of aircraft fuselages – made available by project partner Airbus Hamburg – enables production rate increases both with…
A team of researchers from Delft University of Technology, Leiden University (both in the Netherlands), Tohoku University in Japan and the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg has developed a new type of MRI scanner that can image waves in ultrathin magnets. Unlike electrical currents, these so-called ‘spin waves’ produce little heat, making them promising signal carriers for future green ICT applications. Their work has been published in Science Advances. MRI scanners can…
Combining neuroscience and robotic research has gained impressive results in the rehabilitation of paraplegic patients. A research team led by Prof. Gordon Cheng from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) was able to show that exoskeleton training not only helped patients to walk, but also stimulated their healing process. With these findings in mind, Prof. Cheng wants to take the fusion of robotics and neuroscience to the next level. Prof. Cheng, by training a paraplegic patient with the exoskeleton within…
The display of a smartphone reacts to finger pressure. The carnivorous Venus flytrap, on the other hand, even notices when a lightweight like a fly lands on it. Special genes make this possible. All plant cells can be made to react by touch or injury. The carnivorous Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) has highly sensitive organs for this purpose: sensory hairs that register even the weakest mechanical stimuli, amplify them and convert them into electrical signals that then spread quickly through…
In many species all over the animal kingdom, males have eye-catching characteristics. Although often impractical, they are beneficial in finding a mate. Scientists have now mapped the genetic bases of such a male ornament in a fish. The tail feathers of the peacock, the enormous horn of male rhinoceros beetles, the protruding antlers of some deer: In nature, there are countless examples of features which at first sight may only have disadvantages for their owners. After all, it is more…
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