Human eggs often contain the wrong number of chromosomes, leading to miscarriages and infertility. A research team led by Melina Schuh at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences has discovered that human eggs are missing an important protein, which acts as a molecular motor. This motor helps to stabilize the machinery that separates the chromosomes during cell division. The researchers’ findings open up new avenues for therapeutic approaches that could reduce chromosome segregation errors in human eggs. A…
A multidisciplinary team at the UNIGE has succeeded in explaining the complex distribution of scales in the ocellated lizard by means of a simple equation. The shape-shifting clouds of starling birds, the organization of neural networks or the structure of an anthill: nature is full of complex systems whose behaviors can be modeled using mathematical tools. The same is true for the labyrinthine patterns formed by the green or black scales of the ocellated lizard. A multidisciplinary team from the…
An international research team of biomechanics optimizes robotic movements inspired by insects. A whole generation of gripping robots has been developed using a design concept originally known from fish fins. An international research team from Biomechanics, with participation from Kiel University (CAU), led by the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), has now optimized this gripping function inspired by insects and challenged this standard in robotics. They also transferred it from hand to foot elements for the first time. This would…
Microplastic researchers compare health risks of microparticles. Researchers at the University of Bayreuth want to find out the consequences of inhaled microplastics. In order to better understand them, they have conducted an interdisciplinary study to find out how the health risks of particles such as soot, grinding dust or asbestos are related to their physical properties. By comparing them with the properties of microplastic particles, more precise statements can be made about their potentially hazardous effects on health. Microplastics are…
Researchers make new discoveries about “megaripple” grain composition. An interdisciplinary team including researchers from Leipzig University has analysed an extensive collection of sand samples from so-called megaripple fields around the world and gained new insights into the composition of these sand waves. These could help settle debates about the mechanistic origin of some recently discovered enigmatic extraterrestrial sand structures and improve our ability to infer information about past weather and climate events from sediment records. The results of their investigations…
Mathematical simulations show the new approach may offer faster, cheaper, and more accurate detection, including identifying new variants. A novel approach to testing for the presence of the virus that causes Covid-19 may lead to tests that are faster, less expensive, and potentially less prone to erroneous results than existing detection methods. Though the work, based on quantum effects, is still theoretical, these detectors could potentially be adapted to detect virtually any virus, the researchers say. The new approach is…
Across a vast array of robotic hands and clamps, there is a common foe: the heirloom tomato. You may have seen a robotic gripper deftly pluck an egg or smoothly palm a basketball – but, unlike human hands, one gripper is unlikely to be able to do both and a key challenge remains hidden in the middle ground. “You’ll see robotic hands do a power grasp and a precision grasp and then kind of imply that they can do everything…
Flue gas level low-concentration carbon dioxide high-efficiency conversion made possible. Economically feasible electrochemical carbon dioxide conversion achieved. A Korean research team has developed a technology that can produce carbon monoxide (CO), which has various applications in industry, by direct conversion of flue gas level low-concentration carbon dioxide (CO2). The Korean Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Seok-jin Yoon) announced that the research team of Dr. Da Hye Won and Dr. Ung Lee at Clean Energy Research Center and Professor…
Until now, observing subatomic structures was beyond the resolution capabilities of direct imaging methods, and this seemed unlikely to change. Czech scientists, however, have presented a method with which they became the first in the world to observe an inhomogeneous electron charge distribution around a halogen atom, thus confirming the existence of a phenomenon that had been theoretically predicted but never directly observed. Comparable to the first observation of a black hole, the breakthrough will facilitate understanding of interactions between…
Researchers develop electrically switchable nanoantennas as basis for holographic video technology. Video conferencing played a key role during the Covid-19 pandemic and is set to dominate many meetings in the future. To realize the true feeling of a face-to-face dialog, three dimensional video is required and yet the holographic technology is still missing. Researchers at the University of Stuttgart in Germany have now introduced a completely new approach to realize such dynamic holographic displays, based on electrically switchable plasmonic nanoantennas…
A multi-disciplinary project driven by EMBL Australia researchers at Monash University and Harvard University has found a way to make antibiotics more effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria – also known as ‘superbugs. Antimicrobial resistance to superbugs has been evolving and is one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity, according to the World Health Organization. This new research will provide a pathway to increasing the effectiveness of antibiotics, without clinicians having to resort to risky strategies of giving…
Easy and fast detection of viruses are crucial in a pandemic. Based on single-nanopore membranes of GSI, an international interdisciplinary team of researchers developed a test method that detects SARS-CoV-2 in saliva, without sample pretreatment, with the same sensitivity as a qPCR test, and in only 2 hours. On top, the sensor can distinguish infectious from non-infectious corona viruses — a crucial innovation. By linking different technologies, an interdisciplinary team of scientist of the Materials Research Department of GSI Helmholtzzentrum…
Fraunhofer IZM and the weißensee academy of art in Berlin have opened a unique open innovation lab for prototyping textile electronics. Fitted with the latest in high-tech equipment and machines, the Textile Prototyping Lab (TPL) can turn e-textile visions into real fabrics and garments with its interdisciplinary team of scientists and artists. Let’s make it official: 29 September 2021 will be a red letter day for all lovers of innovative textiles, with the Textile Prototyping Lab formally opened at Fraunhofer…
– new and early detection method for side effects on the heart muscle. Novel immunotherapies with “checkpoint inhibitors” (immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI)) have revolutionized the treatment of cancer in recent years and led to improved therapy results. The therapy is designed to “unleash” the patient’s own immune system so that cancer cells can be better recognized and attacked. A study by an interdisciplinary group of researchers at Bonn University Hospital (UKB) has shown that the novel cancer therapy can subclinically…
Transistors with a fibrous architecture similar to those of neurons are capable of forming artificial neural networks. Fibrous networks can be used in smart wearable devices and robots. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI)-based technologies have led to an astronomical increase in the amounts of data available for processing by computers. Existing computing methods often process data sequentially and therefore have large time and power requirements for processing massive quantities of information. Hence, a transition to a new computing paradigm is…
Inspired by a kind of tree leaf, scientists at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) discovered that the spreading direction of different liquids deposited on the same surface can be steered, solving a challenge that has remained for over two centuries. This breakthrough could ignite a new wave of using 3D surface structures for intelligent liquid manipulation with profound implications for various scientific and industrial applications, such as fluidics design and heat transfer enhancement. Led by Professor Wang Zuankai, Chair…
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