The sample was first obtained by quenching Cathode materials based on sodium and d-metals fluorophosphates are in great demand in the production of metal-ion batteries, because they have a rich chemical composition that allows to regulate their electrochemical properties. The research team of the scientists of Samara Center for Theoretical Materials Science of Samara Polytech, Institute of Solid State Chemistry and Mechanochemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Federal Research Center Boreskov Institute of Catalysis and…
Study shows the need to shield qubits from natural radiation, like cosmic rays from outer space A multidisciplinary research team has shown that radiation from natural sources in the environment can limit the performance of superconducting quantum bits, known as qubits. The discovery, reported today in the journal Nature, has implications for the construction and operation of quantum computers, an advanced form of computing that has attracted billions of dollars in public and private investment globally. The collaboration between teams…
Possible link to the Pleistocene epoch, the period of the Ice Ages? When the brightness of the star Betelgeuse dropped dramatically a few months ago, some observers suspected an impending supernova – a stellar explosion that could also cause damage on Earth. While Betelgeuse has returned to normal, physicists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have found evidence of a supernova that exploded near the Earth around 2.5 million years ago. The life of stars with a mass more…
Whether axions exist is still up for debate. If they do exist, two open questions in particle physics could be resolved: The puzzle of what dark matter is made of – and the question of why the strong interaction, one of the four known forces in the universe, has a particular characteristic. The international MADMAX collaboration, is developing a search engine for these previously purely hypothetical particles under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Physics. The collaboration has…
The XENON collaboration recently announced an unexpected signal. The collaboration emphasizes that some new, hitherto unrecognized background might be the cause. The signal could, however, equally well be the first indication of some “new physics” beyond the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. This prospect attracted theorists world-wide to suggest and analyze potential explanations in terms of some new physics. Theorists at MPIK who are close to the experiment also study extensions of the Standard Model with suitable parameters that…
Bioinformaticians at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany together with colleagues from Finland and the USA, have now developed a unique method with which all metabolites in a sample can be taken into account, thus considerably increasing the knowledge gained from examining such molecules. The team reports on its successful research in the renowned scientific journal “Nature Biotechnology”. Everything that lives has metabolites, produces metabolites and consumes metabolites. These molecules arise as intermediate and end products from chemical processes in an…
The greatest potential of digitalization in companies in which materials play a prominent role lies in the cross-process linking of materials data. This promises to shorten component development times, faster optimization of complex manufacturing processes and more reliable plant operation. The problem is the very heterogeneous nature of materials data, which makes linking within this data extremely complex. The research project MaterialDigital of the state of Baden-Württemberg under the leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in…
Transmitting sensory signals from prostheses to the nervous system helps leg amputees to perceive prosthesis as part of their body. While amputees generally perceive their prostheses as heavy, this feedback helps them to perceive the prostheses as significantly lighter, ETH researchers have shown. Leg amputees are often not satisfied with their prosthesis, even though the sophisticated prostheses are becoming available. One important reason for this is that they perceive the weight of the prosthesis as too high, despite the fact…
An international research team succeeded in gaining new insights into the artificially produced superheavy element flerovium, element 114, at the accelerator facilities of the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany. Under the leadership of Lund University in Sweden and with significant participation of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) as well as the Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM) in Germany and other partners, flerovium was produced and investigated to determine whether it has a closed proton shell. The results suggest that,…
mRNA molecules from retrogenes are reverse transcribed to DNA and incorporated into the genome. A new study from scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, Germany, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing shows that the potential genetic burden of mutations arising from retrogenes is significantly greater than originally thought. Genetic information is stored in DNA and transcribed as mRNA. The mRNA is usually translated into proteins. However, it has long been known that mRNA…
Predator-prey relationships between bacteria could provide ideas for new antibacterial strategies. These observations might be useful for the future development of new antibacterial strategies. The team reports in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology on 12 February 2021. Bacterial groups in search of food We commonly know predator-prey relationships from the animal kingdom, but they are also a survival strategy of certain bacteria: bacterial predators actively kill bacteria of other species in order to feed on them. The predatory species…
Looking at the night sky, one’s thoughts might be drawn to astrochemistry. What molecules inhabit the vast spaces between the stars? Would we see the same molecules that surround us here on Earth? Or would some of them be more exotic–something rarely observed or even unknown? Recent research by a multinational team led by Prof. Robert Kołos from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences has revealed an unusual molecule obtained and detected for the first…
Cancer cells have evolved mechanisms to escape the body’s immune defense. Agents that prevent immune escape are attractive targets for the development of new cancer therapies. A group of scientists led by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Herbert Waldmann and Dr. Slava Ziegler at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology (MPI) in Dortmund has now developed a new cell-based test system to identify immunoregulatory modulators. Screening a library of over 150,000 substances revealed several potent substances with unprecedented structure. Our…
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, have developed a novel type of thermometer that can simply and quickly measure temperatures during quantum calculations with extremely high accuracy. The breakthrough provides a benchmarking tool for quantum computing of great value – and opens up for experiments in the exciting field of quantum thermodynamics. A key component in quantum computers are coaxial cables and waveguides – structures which guide waveforms, and act as the vital connection between the quantum processor,…
A German-American research team has succeeded in converting flat nitrogen-containing molecules into three-dimensional structures. These now significantly expand the range of molecules that chemists can draw on in their search for new active ingredients. A major goal of organic and medicinal chemistry in recent decades has been the rapid synthesis of three-dimensional molecules for the development of new drugs. These drug candidates exhibit a variety of improved properties compared to predominantly flat molecular structures, which are reflected in clinical trials…
When it comes to powering mobile robots, batteries present a problematic paradox: the more energy they contain, the more they weigh, and thus the more energy the robot needs to move. Energy harvesters, like solar panels, might work for some applications, but they don’t deliver power quickly or consistently enough for sustained travel. James Pikul, assistant professor in Penn Engineering’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, is developing robot-powering technology that has the best of both worlds. His environmentally…
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is “seeing double.” Peering back 10 billion years into the universe’s past, Hubble astronomers found a pair of quasars that are so close to each other they look like a single object in ground-based telescopic photos, but not in Hubble’s crisp view. The researchers believe the quasars are very close to each other because they reside in the cores of two merging galaxies. The team went on to win the “daily double” by finding yet another…
Antibodies are not only produced by our immune cells to fight viruses and other pathogens in the body. For a few decades now, medicine has also been using antibodies produced by biotechnology as drugs. This is because antibodies are extremely good at binding specifically to molecular structures according to the lock-and-key principle. Their use ranges from oncology to the treatment of autoimmune diseases and neurodegenerative conditions. However, developing such antibody drugs is anything but simple. The basic requirement is for…
This flexible, durable robot can traverse complex terrain and quickly swerve to avoid obstacles, qualities that could one make it an asset for search and rescue operations. Many insects and spiders get their uncanny ability to scurry up walls and walk upside down on ceilings with the help of specialized sticky footpads that allow them to adhere to surfaces in places where no human would dare to go. Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have used the principle behind…
Additional NIH studies underway will build on encouraging early results. One dose of a new monoclonal antibody discovered and developed at the National Institutes of Health safely prevented malaria for up to nine months in people who were exposed to the malaria parasite. The small, carefully monitored clinical trial is the first to demonstrate that a monoclonal antibody can prevent malaria in people. The trial was sponsored and conducted by scientists from the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National…
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