Scientists discover a neuropeptide that reflects the current state of a fish’s social environment. Have you recently wondered how social-distancing and self-isolation may be affecting your brain? An international research team led by Erin Schuman from the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research discovered a brain molecule that functions as a “thermometer” for the presence of others in an animal’s environment. Zebrafish “feel” the presence of others via mechanosensation and water movements – which turns the brain hormone on. Varying…
How do you cool a large telescope to absolute zero while flying it from a huge balloon at 130,000 feet? Nearly all photons emitted after the Big Bang are now visible only at far-infrared wavelengths. This includes light from the cold universe of gas and dust from which stars and planets form, as well as faint signals from distant galaxies tracing the universe’s evolution to today. Earth’s atmosphere blocks most of this light, and space missions are an ideal but…
A single nanoparticle can act like a laser at low power but still emit a sharp signal. Lasers are used in a range of everyday devices, harnessing the power of light molecules, photons, – lined up to form highly concentrated beams of light – to perform now common tasks such as scanning barcodes and removing tattoos. As biosensing and bio-imaging research seeks to look deep inside tissue to the intracellular level miniaturising laser devices poses significant challenges for these nanoscale…
A new polymer-based, solid-state transistor can more sensitively detect a weed killer in drinking water than existing hydrogel-based fluorescence sensor chips. The details were published in Chemistry-A European Journal. The sensor is a specially designed organic thin-film transistor based on semiconducting molecules of carboxylate-functionalized polythiophene (P3CPT). What’s special about this particular device is that, unlike other conjugated polymer-based sensors, this one is a solid-state device that can conduct an electric current when placed inside a fluid. The device, designed by…
For use as an at-home IoT biosensor. Associate Professor Kazuhiro Takahashi and Assistant Professor Yong-Joon Choi of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering at Toyohashi University of Technology have developed a chip that can sense antigens at one part per quadrillion molar mass. The chip was created using semiconductor micromachining technology. Antigens derived from diseases and present in blood and saliva were adhered onto the surface of a flexibly deformable nanosheet. The amount of force generated during the…
Neurological diseases of the brain such as dementia, autism and schizophrenia are now a growing social problem. Nevertheless, studies on their definitive cause are still insufficient. Recently, a POSTECH research team has identified the mechanism in which such neurological diseases occur, thus solving the enigma to treating them. In the case of neurological diseases of the brain, problems arise when certain effects modify the synaptic plasticity and signal transmissions of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which has a profound effect…
Skoltech researchers have investigated the procedure for catalyst delivery used in the most common method of carbon nanotube production, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), offering what they call a “simple and elegant” way to boost productivity and pave the way for cheaper and more accessible nanotube-based technology. The paper was published in the Chemical Engineering Journal. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), tiny rolled sheets of graphene with a thickness of just one atom, hold huge promise when it comes to applications in…
New AI-based algorithm processes tissue oxygenation data faster and more accurately than conventional techniques. Tissue oxygenation is a measure of the oxygen level in biological tissue and is a useful clinical biomarker for tissue viability. Abnormal levels may indicate the presence of conditions such as sepsis, diabetes, viral infection, or pulmonary disease, and effective monitoring is important for surgical guidance as well as medical care. Several techniques exist for the measurement of tissue oxygenation, but they all have some limitations….
As a vehicle travels through space at hypersonic speeds, the gases surrounding it generate heat at dangerous temperatures for the pilot and instrumentation inside. Designing a vehicle that can drive the heat away requires an understanding of the thermal properties of the materials used to construct it. A recent two-part study at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a method to create 3D models of the fibers within composite materials then used that information to predict the thermal conductivity of…
A small-molecule degrades a cancer-promoting protein by gluing it into filaments. “Molecular glue degraders” are a new class of cancer drugs, which “glue” cancer growth-promoting proteins directly to the molecular machinery of a cell’s disposal system, leading to the subsequent degradation of the cancer-driving proteins and anti-tumor activity. Scientists from Heidelberg and USA have now deciphered another mechanism whereby a small molecule can degrade a cancer protein. This drug binds to the lymphoma-driving protein BCL6, and induces BCL6 self-polymerization, which…
For the first time ever, expansion microscopy allows the imaging of even the finest details of cell membranes. This offers new insights into bacterial and viral infection processes. Expansion microscopy (ExM) enables the imaging of cells and their components with a spatial resolution far below 200 nanometres. For this purpose, the proteins of the sample under investigation are cross-linked into a swellable polymer. Once the interactions between the molecules have been destroyed, the samples can be expanded many times over…
Sustainable processes could replace valuable metals in silicone crosslinking. Silicones are tried and tested in the private and professional domains. In many applications, however, expensive precious metals are required as catalysts to transform the liquid intermediate products to durable elastic polymers. A research team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Munich-based WACKER Group has now developed a curing process that works without precious metals. Silicones are synthetic polymers consisting of an inorganic silicon-oxygen backbone modified with organic…
Fraunhofer IPK and Charité CFM Facility Management GmbH are developing an AI-based system to automatically check trays of surgical instruments for completeness. Everyday life in university hospitals: Surgical instruments are cleaned, disinfected, packed and sterilized in processing units for medical products. Around 3,500 instruments per day are prepared for surgical procedures under the strictest hygiene and quality standards and delivered to the operating rooms. A packing tray with the surface area of an A3 sheet can contain up to 160…
Researchers at IST Austria gain deeper knowledge of plant growth by treating seedlings with painkillers like Aspirin and the like. New study published in Cell Reports. For centuries humans were using willow barks to treat a headache or an inflamed tooth. Later, the active ingredient, the plant hormone salicylic acid, was used to develop painkillers like Aspirin. But what happens, if plants are treated with these painkillers? By doing so, Scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria…
As part of the research activities within the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), scientists of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut studied specific vaccine candidates against COVID-19. They are based on an attenuated and very well tolerable measles vaccine strain (vaccine vector). One variant showed good stability and triggered high antibody titers and good cellular T-cell immune response in mice and hamsters, accompanied by good efficacy against infection after prime-boost vaccination. This supports the further development of COVID-19 vaccines on the basis of…
The frozen permafrost in the Arctic is thawing on an alarming scale. The frozen permafrost in the Arctic is thawing on an alarming scale. By analysing an annual record of satellite images, researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute have now confirmed these findings: thermokarst lakes in Alaska are draining one by one because warmer and wetter conditions cause deeper thaw, effectively weakening frozen ground as a barrier around lakes. In the season 2017/2018, lake drainage was observed on a scale…
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