A team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena has investigated how the parasitic dodder Cuscuta australis controls flower formation. They showed that the rootless and leafless parasite eavesdrops on the flowering signals of its host plants in order to activate its own flowering machinery. By synchronizing flowering with the respective host plant, the parasite makes sure that it can grow on its host long enough to produce the…
Fraunhofer develops with partners new therapeutic approach in battle against infectious diseases Infections pose an increasing risk to hospitalized patients. In collaboration with a number of partners, the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB has developed a new therapeutic approach as part of the InnateFun project. Their strategy is to improve cells’ ability to defend themselves against harmful microorganisms by acting on their immune receptors. The researchers’ work on this therapeutic approach has reached the animal model stage….
Analyzing documents faster using artificial intelligence from Fraunhofer The flood of documents created every day in business and in society as a whole poses an enormous challenge. Information from countless different sources must be sorted, processed and evaluated. And this issue isn’t limited to companies: public authorities, research institutions and hospitals are affected, too. The Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS has developed solutions that classify all kinds of documents and analyze their text content. The key…
Protection against cyberattacks Ports are critical infrastructures since disruptions and stoppages can have immense not only economic impacts. The potential security risks are multifarious, especially in digitalized container terminal operations, which are steadily gaining importance through Industrie 4.0. A new method and tool set developed by research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF and its industry partners enables preventive defense against attacks on automated cyber-physical systems and helps increase security along the entire supply chain,…
Additive manufacturing is currently one of the most significant trends in industry. Now a team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS has developed a Multi Material Jetting system that allows different materials to be combined into a single additively manufactured part. This makes it possible to create products with combined properties or functions. The new system can be used with particularly high-performance materials such as ceramics and metal. Additive manufacturing technologies such as 3D printing involve…
New toolbox for the nanooptics allows the theoretical description to the highest accurate level possiple With the highest possible spatial resolution of less than a millionth of a millimetre, electron microscopes make it possible to study the properties of materials at the atomic level and thus demonstrate the realm of quantum mechanics. Quantum-physical fundamentals can be studied particularly well by the interactions between electrons and photons. Excited with laser light, for example, the energy, mass or velocity of the electrons…
Radio astronomers have detected jets of hot gas blasted out by a black hole in the galaxy at the heart of the Phoenix Galaxy Cluster, located 5.9 billion light-years away in the constellation Phoenix. This is an important result for understanding the coevolution of galaxies, gas, and black holes in galaxy clusters. Galaxies are not distributed randomly in space. Through mutual gravitational attraction, galaxies gather together to form collections known as clusters. The space between galaxies is not entirely empty….
Novel devices can be folded, cut, attached to surfaces University of Texas at Dallas researchers and their international colleagues have developed a method to create micro LEDs that can be folded, twisted, cut and stuck to different surfaces. The research, published online in June in the journal Science Advances, helps pave the way for the next generation of flexible, wearable technology. Used in products ranging from brake lights to billboards, LEDs are ideal components for backlighting and displays in electronic…
When predator and non-predator cues are similar in the same habitat Ecosystems can be incredibly complex, with many interacting species. In many habitats, predators shape they behavior of prey and prey shape the behavior of predators. This paper provides a detailed look at the predator-prey relationship between bats and katydids, a group of insects related to crickets and grasshoppers. Some species of bats hunt katydids by eavesdropping on their mating calls. However, katydids aren’t defenseless. Many species of katydids have…
Preventing infection, facilitating healing New biomaterials developed at the University of Bayreuth prevent colonization by bacteria and fungi, but at the same time proactively assist in the regeneration of human tissue. These nanostructured materials are based on spider silk proteins. New biomaterials developed at the University of Bayreuth eliminate risk of infection and facilitate healing processes. A research team led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheibel has succeeded in combining these material properties which are highly relevant to biomedicine. These nanostructured…
The inside of future nuclear fusion energy reactors will be among the harshest environments ever produced on Earth. What’s strong enough to protect the inside of a fusion reactor from plasma-produced heat fluxes akin to space shuttles reentering Earth’s atmosphere? Zeke Unterberg and his team at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are currently working with the leading candidate: tungsten, which has the highest melting point and lowest vapor pressure of all metals on the periodic table, as…
Imagine working on a jigsaw puzzle with so many pieces that even the edges seem indistinguishable from others at the puzzle’s centre. The solution seems nearly impossible. And, to make matters worse, this puzzle is in a futuristic setting where the pieces are not only numerous, but ever-changing. In fact, you not only must solve the puzzle, but “un-solve” it to parse out how each piece brings the picture wholly into focus. That’s the challenge molecular and cellular biologists face…
Nerve cells are particularly dependent on mitochondria for their activity and decreased mitochondrial function is seen in both inherited and more common age-associated forms of degenerative diseases. A long-standing view has been that neurons, in contrast to other cell types, cannot adjust their metabolism to compensate for mitochondrial dysfunction, and therefore irreversibly degenerate. In a new study, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Aging in Cologne, Germany, and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, challenge this dogma…
Patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AF) benefit from early rhythm control therapy, according to results of EAST – AFNET 4, an AFNET/EHRA trial presented in a Hot Line session today at ESC Congress 2020. [1,2] Early rhythm control therapy with antiarrhythmic drugs and/or AF ablation reduced a composite of cardiovascular death, stroke, and hospitalization for worsening heart failure or acute coronary syndrome in 2789 patients with early AF and cardiovascular risk factors compared to usual care over a 5-year…
New EU-funded Research Project “HCA|Organoid” The HCA|Organoid project is one of six pilot actions funded by the European Commission to contribute to the worldwide Human Cell Atlas initiative An “Organoid Cell Atlas” will combine single-cell profiling and organoid technology HCA|Organoid is a new EU research project that combines single-cell profiling and organoid technology to validate organoids as faithful models of human biology. The project seeks to kickstart the development of an open access “Organoid Cell Atlas”. By creating well-characterized in…
German polar research aircraft launch from Svalbard to conduct aerial surveys of the sea ice and atmosphere over the Arctic Ocean Following a five-month mandatory delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, on August 30th the two German polar research aircraft Polar 5 and Polar 6 will launch from Svalbard to conduct their first aerial survey flights over the Arctic this year. The flights, which will extend far into the Central Arctic, will support the investigation of the atmosphere and sea…
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