A special type of aurora, draped east-west across the night sky like a glowing pearl necklace, is helping scientists better understand the science of auroras and their powerful drivers out in space. Known as auroral beads, these lights often show up just before large auroral displays, which are caused by electrical storms in space called substorms. Previously, scientists weren’t sure if auroral beads are somehow connected to other auroral displays as a phenomenon in space that precedes substorms, or if…
Supercomputers around the world work around the clock on research problems. In principle, even novel materials can be simulated in computers in order to calculate their magnetic and thermal properties as well as their phase transitions. The gold standard for this kind of modelling is known as the quantum Monte Carlo method. Wave-Particle Dualism However, this method has an intrinsic problem: due to the physical wave-particle dualism of quantum systems, each particle in a solid-state compound not only possesses particle-like…
Fraunhofer IWS applies innovative laser melting system for complex copper components for the first time Creating sophisticatedly shaped plastic parts with the 3D printer is no longer an art process, but an everyday technology. This is quite different with pure copper: Until now, it has not been possible to completely melt the metal to create complex components layer by layer using infrared lasers. As a result, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden is now using…
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed artificial intelligence software for powder bed 3D printers that assesses the quality of parts in real time, without the need for expensive characterization equipment. The software, named Peregrine, supports the advanced manufacturing “digital thread” being developed at ORNL that collects and analyzes data through every step of the manufacturing process, from design to feedstock selection to the print build to material testing. “Capturing that information creates a digital ‘clone’ for each part, providing…
Research team from Kiel University investigates how the application of antibiotics affects the mechanisms of plasmid-mediated inheritance of resistance genes The genetic information of many microorganisms, especially bacteria, is partly available in so-called plasmids. These are genetic elements that consist of only a single DNA ring, are not present on the chromosomes and can multiply independently. Thanks to such plasmids, bacteria are able to transfer genetic information very quickly among themselves and also across the borders of different bacterial species….
Almost all life on Earth, in particular our food and our health, depend on metabolism in plants. In order to understand how these metabolic processes function, researchers at the Institute of the Biology and Biotechnology of Plants at the University of Münster with the participation of the University of Bonn are studying key mechanisms in the regulation of energy metabolism. Now, for the first time, a new method of in vivo biosensor technology has enabled them to monitor in real…
Almost all satellites are powered by solar cells – but solar cells are heavy. While conventional high-performance cells reach up to three watts of electricity per gram, perovskite and organic hybrid cells could provide up to ten times that amount. A research team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has now tested this type of cell in space for the first time. Perovskite and organic solar cells are promising options for future generations…
The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF has partnered up with the start-up “Twenty-One Semiconductors” (21s) from Stuttgart to bring their unique laser concept from lab to practice. Having become a member of the high-tech incubator “FMD-Space” – initiated by the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD) – 21s has gained access to Europe’s largest machine park in the field of micro- and nanoelectronics. As a part of the FMD, Fraunhofer IAF is supporting the young company with its…
Super-resolution MINFLUX nanoscopy, developed by Nobel laureate Stefan Hell and his team, is able to discern fluorescent molecules that are only a few nanometers apart. In an initial application of this technique to cell biology, researchers led by Stefan Hell and Stefan Jakobs have now optically dissected the distribution of individual proteins in an about 20-nanometer-sized protein cluster within a cellular organelle in 3D using multiple colors. MINFLUX nanoscopy thus proves to be an extremely powerful tool to find out…
A research team, led by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory in collaboration with Northern Illinois University, has discovered a…
Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Jilin University in Changchun/China investigated a highly promising anode material for future…
The periodic system contains 118 chemical elements. However, only a few of them, such as hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and silicon, are of major…
Plug connectors are tiny and, at first glance, unremarkable – yet modern vehicles would be unable to function without them. Several thousand plug connectors…
Rare earth elements are the black gold of the 21st century. Without them, modern high-technologies such as wind turbines, electromobility and medical…
What started off as basic research 25 years ago has now lead to a successfully approved drug: The entry blocker bulevirtide (brand name Hepcludex, formerly…
Bacteria are always with us: These tiny organisms are found within and on our body as is the case with all animals and plants. As part of a healthy microbiome…
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