Dresden researchers demonstrate that the length of the neurogenic period is a key determinant for brain size The neocortex, the largest part of our brain, enables us to speak, dream and think. During human evolution, the size of the neocortex has increased dramatically. To understand what caused this expansion, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden have focused in previous studies on a gene called ARHGAP11B that is only found in humans…
Tobacco hawkmoths are not attracted to flower odors when ozone levels are high; however, the moths are able to learn that odors modified by ozone may offer a reward, that is, nectar. A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, and the University of Virginia, USA, has studied the impact of high ozone air pollution on the chemical communication between flowers and pollinators. They showed that tobacco hawkmoths lost attraction to the scent…
The Focus of Fraunhofer ISE at the EU PVSEC Conference Higher efficiencies for solar cells and thus a faster expansion of photovoltaics and an acceleration of the energy transition – This is the objective of the researchers at Fraunhofer ISE when working on tandem photovoltaics. They will present the latest results of their work on tandem solar cells of different material classes at the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition EU PVSEC, which will be held online from September…
A team of researchers, spearheaded by the Gerlich lab at IMBA, has uncovered how cells remove unwanted components from the nucleus following mitosis. The results, published in the journal Nature, stem from a fruitful collaboration between the Gerlich lab and former IMBA Postdoc Sara Cuylen-Häring, who recently established her own group at EMBL. Organization of cells into specific compartments is critical for their function. For instance, by separating the nucleus from the cytoplasm, the nuclear envelope prevents premature translation of…
When it comes to assembly tasks, especially regarding small and medium lot sizes, up till now flexible robot programming has been a time-consuming and costly job. The “Rob-aKademI” research project, which was launched on July 1, 2020, aims to change this. The technologies used in the project, above all advanced simulation and machine learning, are intended to make programming easier and more autonomous. The partners in the “Rob-aKademI” research project, including Fraunhofer IPA and the Institute for Industrial Manufacturing and…
Novel technology for the selection of single photosynthetic cells for industry and ecosystem understanding. You might need a microscope to witness the next agricultural revolution. New research, published in the journal Science Advances, demonstrates how microfluidic technologies can be used to identify, isolate and propagate specific single photosynthetically active cells for fundamental industry applications and improved ecosystem understanding. Natural environments are inherently dynamic and require photosynthetic organisms to adapt their physiology to make optimal use of available resources and grow…
New research demonstrates how the use of molecules in quantum computing leads to fewer errors. The technology behind the quantum computers of the future is fast developing, with several different approaches in progress. Many of the strategies, or “blueprints,” for quantum computers rely on atoms or artificial atom-like electrical circuits. In a new theoretical study in the journal Physical Review X, a group of physicists at Caltech demonstrates the benefits of a lesser-studied approach that relies not on atoms but…
A joint paper by Kazan Federal University, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, and Russian Oil and Gas University was published in Chemistry – A European Journal. The team produced and studied new active photocatalysts based on natural aluminosilicate nanotubes with cadmium sulfide quantum dots stabilized on their surface synthesized by self-assembly. Co-author, Chief Research Associate of the Bionanotechnology Lab (Kazan Federal University) Rawil Fakhrullin explains, “Quantum dots are semiconductor nanoparticles up to 10 nanometers in size with unique optical properties. They…
The process occurs in active-core nuclei. A molecular gas cloud that accumulates in the central region is blown away by radiation from the black hole’s accretion disk, forming a huge expanding hot bubble, whose radius can reach 300 light years. Black holes can expel a thousand times more matter than they capture. The mechanism that governs both ejection and capture is the accretion disk, a vast mass of gas and dust spiraling around the black hole at extremely high speeds….
A unified classification of diverse cell types proposed by a Columbia-led team could shed light on how our brains are wired. The human brain has about 100 billion neurons, linked in intricate ways, that the Spanish neuroanatomist Ramón y Cajal compared to “the impenetrable jungles where many investigators have lost themselves.” But to decipher how the brain works and understand how it can go awry in many diseases, it is essential to figure out how many classes of neurons it…
Rice researchers find effect that could aid 3D displays, virtual reality, self-driving vehicles Microscopic crystals in tantalum disulfide have a starring role in what could become a hit for 3D displays, virtual reality and even self-driving vehicles. A two-dimensional array of the material has unique optical characteristics that can be controlled in ambient conditions and under general illumination, according to engineer Gururaj Naik and graduate student Weijian Li of Rice’s Brown School of Engineering. When they pull a two-dimensional sliver…
All cancers are the result of cells that have gone haywire, multiplying out of control and expanding beyond their normal constraints. But not all tumors are the same: for reasons that remain poorly understood, some are more likely to become aggressive and metastasize to other parts of the body. New research highlights a long-overlooked aspect of how and why some tumors become more dangerous than others. A team led by Rockefeller’s Elaine Fuchs found that mechanical properties of the tissue…
Scientists from Regensburg and Zurich have found a fascinating way to push an atom with controlled forces so quickly that they can choreograph the motion of a single molecule within less than a trillionth of a second. The extremely sharp needle of their unique ultrafast microscope serves as the technical basis: It carefully scans molecules, similar to a record player. Physicists at the University of Regensburg now showed that shining light pulses onto this needle can transform it into an…
High-precision measurements of the mass of the deuteron, the nucleus of heavy hydrogen, provide new insights into the reliability of fundamental quantities in atomic and nuclear physics. This is reported in the journal “Nature” by a collaboration led by the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics Heidelberg, Germany, and partners from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research Darmstadt and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz, Germany. Thus, data directly related to the atomic mass standard,…
Olfactory neurons can fight and clear influenza B without being killed. Influenza researchers have long focused most of their efforts on the epithelial cells lining the lungs because these are the cells that become infected and killed while producing new copies of the virus. But other cells lining the upper airways are exposed to viruses in the same amounts and somehow aren’t as likely to be killed by infection. Is it because of something the virus does, or something those…
Device could preconcentrate samples from COVID-19 patients in asymptomatic stages of the disease, providing early detection capability. Diagnostic devices that are used at home or in doctors’ offices are often not sensitive enough to detect small amounts of a virus that might be present in samples from asymptomatic patients, which can occur in early stage COVID-19. In Biomicrofluidics, by AIP Publishing, scientists report a membrane-based invention that can concentrate the virus content of a sample of urine or saliva, allowing…
Feedback
