Professor Andreas Reiner and Stefan Pollok from the junior research group Cellular Neurobiology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) report on this unexpected finding and the underlying mechanisms in the journal PNAS from 30 September 2020. Wanted: more precise drugs Glutamate is the messenger substance, which the brain uses to pass on excitatory signals. Receptors for this neurotransmitter are a promising target for drug development, as they are involved in many pathological processes. For example, they play a role in epilepsy, mental…
The NASA/ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope has tracked the fading light of a supernova in the spiral galaxy NGC 2525, located 70 million light years away. Supernovae like this one can be used as cosmic tape measures, allowing astronomers to calculate the distance to their galaxies. Hubble captured these images as part of one of its major investigations, measuring the expansion rate of the Universe, which can help answer fundamental questions about our Universe’s very nature. The supernova, formally known as…
One feature of the COVID-19 virus that makes it so difficult to contain is that it can be easily spread to others by a person who has yet to show any signs of infection. The carrier of the virus might feel perfectly well and go about their daily business–taking the virus with them to work, to the home of a family member, or to public gatherings. A crucial part of the global effort to stem the spread of the pandemic,…
DFKI technologies provide important insights for the fight against waste in South East Asia. Millions of tons of plastic are floating in the oceans, threatening the ecosystem and mankind on an increasing scale. Especially countries in South East Asia are battling with the vast amounts of waste making their journey from the land into rivers and the sea. To support national governments in their fight against plastic, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) is participating in several projects…
Industrial Relevance Proven In catalysts, more surface area usually equals more activity. And hardly anything offers more surface than structures made of nanoparticles. Scientists from the Center for Nanointegration (CENIDE) at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) have shown that it makes sense in economic terms to produce catalytically highly active particles by laser. Not only are they extremely pure, but even at low temperatures they are more efficient than their conventionally produced counterparts. This has been demonstrated in tests conducted…
How nature is inspiring completely new material concepts for the technology of tomorrow. Smartphones, laptops, smart watches: The chemical element silicon is found in every electronic component and computer chip, no matter how small. Silicon also gives its name to Silicon Valley, the home of many technology companies. Scientists from Hamburg have now succeeded in giving silicon muscle power. This new property enables the material to convert electrical signals into mechanical movements for the first time. As the team writes…
In unraveling how a single cell develops into a complex organism, one vexing question has remained for developmental biology: How do robust patterns form in the body? An answer has now been found for the zebrafish neural tube. In this paradigm of patterned tissues, the varying stickiness of cells combined with gradients of signaling molecules is responsible for generating a robust pattern. This is the result of a study published in Science, carried out jointly by the lab of Carl-Philipp…
Broadband light emission in the infrared has proven to be of paramount importance for a large range of applications that include food quality and product/process monitoring, recycling, environmental sensing and monitoring, multispectral imaging in automotive as well as safety and security. With the advent of IoT and the increasing demand in adding more functionalities to portable devices (such as smart watches, mobile phones etc.) the introduction of on-chip spectrometers for health monitoring, allergen detection food quality inspection, to name a…
Limited access to iron at high temperatures impairs growth and function of microalgae that live within coral cells. How well corals respond to climate change could depend in part on the already scarce amount of iron available in their environment, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers. The study reveals that the combination of hot water temperatures and low iron levels compromises the algae that live within coral cells, suggesting that limited iron levels–which could decline with…
Bolometers are devices that measure the power of incident electromagnetic radiation thru the heating of materials, which exhibit a temperature-electric resistance dependence. These instruments are among the most sensitive detectors so far used for infrared radiation detection and are key tools for applications that range from advanced thermal imaging, night vision, infrared spectroscopy to observational astronomy, to name a few. Even though they have proven to be excellent sensors for this specific range of radiation, the challenge lies in attaining…
A joint international research team from POSTECH of South Korea, Raytheon BBN Technologies, Harvard University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S., Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology in Spain, and the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan have together developed ultrasensitive sensors that can detect microwaves with the highest theoretically possible sensitivity. The research findings, published in the prominent international academic journal Nature on October 1, are drawing attention as an enabling technology for commercializing the next-generation…
Lower-cost production thanks to optimized distribution of atoms – publication in Nature Catalysis. Billions of noble metal catalysts are used worldwide for the production of chemicals, energy generation, or cleaning the air. However, the resources required for this purpose are expensive and their availability is limited. To optimize the use of resources, catalysts based on single metal atoms have been developed. A research team of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) demonstrated that noble metal atoms may assemble to form clusters…
Freiberg researchers use bioleaching to recycle electronic waste Biohydrometallurgists at TU Bergakademie Freiberg have demonstrated for the first time that leaching with the help of bacteria can also be used to separate components when recycling electronic waste. The team around Professor Michael Schlömann has now published their research results in the current issue of the journal MDPI / Recycling. An old electronic board was placed in a flask filled with a bacterial solution. In the beginning, not much happens in…
The number of alien (non-native) species, particularly insects, arthropods and birds, is expected to increase globally by 36% by the middle of this century, compared to 2005, finds new research by an international team involving UCL. Published in Global Change Biology, the study also predicts the arrival of around 2,500 new alien species in Europe, which translates to an increase of 64% for the continent over the 45-year period. The research team led by the German Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate…
To tap into geothermal reservoirs, boreholes must be drilled deeply into the earth’s crust. Due to the extreme pressures and temperatures involved, this is expensive and time consuming. A research team from Fraunhofer IEG has now developed a test rig that simulates downhole conditions at several thousands of meters below the earth’s surface. Analyzing these experiments enables operators to optimize drilling during the planning and the operating stage and helps them develop and test new drilling tools, thus minimizing costs…
Specialized immune cells settle permanently in tissues of the body and build “local task forces”. Wuerzburger scientists have recently discovered, how these cells can regenerate themselves and can adapt to the new environment. When a pathogen invades the human body there has to be a rapid reaction in order to keep the damage to a minimum. Special immune cells act as a first line of defence. So-called innate lymphoid cells – in short ILCs- are located in mucosal tissue sites…
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