As missions like NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, TESS and Kepler continue to provide insights into the properties of exoplanets (planets around other stars), scientists are increasingly able to piece together what these planets look like, what they are made of, and if they could be habitable or even inhabited. In a new study published recently in The Planetary Science Journal, a team of researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) and the University of Chicago have determined that some carbon-rich exoplanets,…

In a very unusual way, the electrical and magnetic properties of a particular crystal are linked together – the phenomenon was discovered and explained at TU Wien (Vienna). Electricity and magnetism are closely related: Power lines generate a magnetic field, rotating magnets in a generator produce electricity. However, the phenomenon is much more complicated: electrical and magnetic properties of certain materials are also coupled with each other. Electrical properties of some crystals can be influenced by magnetic fields – and…

The search for new, more efficient materials to harvest solar energy is a major research focus around the world. Until now, silicon has been the material of choice for solar cells – but scientists are trying to develop far more efficient and cost-effective alternatives. One promising material is pentacene, an organic molecule which converts solar energy extremely well when combined with certain other molecules. Pentacene stands out because of its ultrafast ‘singlet fission’ – a process which scientists hope to…

One of the holy-grail questions in condensed matter physics is how superconductivity — the property of many electrons to go into a quantum soup state that can carry electricity without losses — emerges at relatively high temperatures in certain materials, and how these temperatures could be boosted even further. Now a research team at the University of Oxford and the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Hamburg is reporting in Physical Review Letters that a…

For over 15 years, ETH Professor Andreas Hierlemann and his group have been developing microelectrode-array chips that can be used to precisely excite nerve cells in cell cultures and to measure electrical cell activity. These developments make it possible to grow nerve cells in cell-culture dishes and use chips located at the bottom of the dish to examine each individual cell in a connected nerve tissue in detail. Alternative methods for conducting such measurements have some clear limitations. They are…

Specialized immune cells settle permanently in tissues of the body and build “local task forces”. Wuerzburger scientists have recently discovered, how these cells can regenerate themselves and can adapt to the new environment. When a pathogen invades the human body there has to be a rapid reaction in order to keep the damage to a minimum. Special immune cells act as a first line of defence. So-called innate lymphoid cells – in short ILCs- are located in mucosal tissue sites…

Similar to batteries, supercapacitors are suitable for the repeated storage of electrical energy. TU Graz researchers have presented a particularly safe and sustainable variant of such a supercapacitor in Nature Communications. Limited safety, sustainability and recyclability are key drawbacks of today’s lithium-ion battery technology, along with restricted availability of starting materials (e.g. cobalt). In the search for alternative electrochemical energy storage systems for use in e-mobility and for storing energy from renewable sources, a combination of battery and capacitor is…

Heidelberg University neurobiologists have uncovered how a special receptor can lead to cell death. Their fundamental findings on neurodegenerative processes simultaneously led the researchers to a completely new principle for therapeutic agents. In their experiments on mouse models, they discovered a new class of highly effective inhibitors for protecting nerve cells. This novel class of drugs opens up perspectives to combat currently untreatable diseases of the nervous system. New Class of Highly Effective Inhibitors Protects against Neurodegeneration Heidelberg neurobiologists decode…

An international research team from TU Wien (Vienna), IST Austria and MIT (USA) has developed a new artificial intelligence system based on the brains of tiny animals, such as threadworms. This novel AI-system can control a vehicle with just a few artificial neurons. The team says that system has decisive advantages over previous deep learning models: It copes much better with noisy input, and, because of its simplicity, its mode of operation can be explained in detail. It does not…

Scientists at Oregon State University have shown that viral infection is involved in coral bleaching – the breakdown of the symbiotic relationship between corals and the algae they rely on for energy. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the research is important because understanding the factors behind coral health is crucial to efforts to save the Earth’s embattled reefs – between 2014 and 2017 alone, more than 75% experienced bleaching-level heat stress, and 30% suffered mortality-level stress. The planet’s largest…

A team of astronomers from the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA-TIFR) in Pune, and the Raman Research Institute (RRI), in Bengaluru, has used the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to measure the atomic hydrogen content of galaxies seen as they were 8 billion years ago, when the universe was young. This is the earliest epoch in the universe for which there is a measurement of the atomic gas content of galaxies. This research has been published in the…

The happiness neurotransmitter serotonin can act as a growth factor for the stem cells in the fetal human brain that determine brain size. During human evolution, the size of the brain increased, especially in a particular part called the neocortex. The neocortex enables us to speak, dream and think. In search of the causes underlying neocortex expansion, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden, together with colleagues at the University Hospital Carl…

In situ sequencing enables gene activity inside body tissues to be depicted in microscope images. To facilitate interpretation of the vast quantities of information generated, Uppsala University researchers have now developed an entirely new method of image analysis. Based on algorithms used in artificial intelligence, the method was originally devised to enhance understanding of social networks. The researchers’ study is published in The FEBS Journal. The tissue composing our organs consists of trillions of cells with various functions. All the…

UD research team looking at ways to destabilize virus, knock it out with antivirals. As the world grapples with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, another virus has been raging again in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in recent months: Ebola. Since the first terrifying outbreak in 2013, the Ebola virus has periodically emerged in Africa, causing horrific bleeding in its victims and, in many cases, death. How can we battle these infectious agents that reproduce by hijacking cells and reprogramming…

It has recently been described that infection by some enteroviruses – a genus of viruses that commonly cause diseases of varying severity – could potentially trigger diabetes, although its direct effect ‘in vivo’ as well as its mechanism of action at the molecular level were unknown. Now, a team of researchers from the Growth Factors, Nutrients and Cancer Group, led by Nabil Djouder at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), demonstrates for the first time in Cell Reports Medicine…

In a new review article in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, researchers from the University of Regensburg and the National University of Singapore recommend a more cautious assessment of the so-called Janzen-Connell hypothesis. A summary of the current state of knowledge reveals two important unresolved questions. First, it is not clear whether the interactions between neighbouring trees are strong enough to have a significant impact on tree diversity. Second, it cannot yet be said whether the regulatory effect…

‘Multi-ferroic’ materials in low-energy data storage. A new UNSW study comprehensively reviews the magnetic structure of the multiferroic material bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3 – BFO). The review advances FLEET’s search for low-energy electronics, bringing together current knowledge on the magnetic order in BFO films, and giving researchers a solid platform to further develop this material in low-energy magnetoelectric memories. BFO is unique in that it displays both magnetic and electronic ordering (ie, is ‘multiferroic’) at room temperature, allowing for low-energy switching…

Seaweed as a Sustainable Source of Raw Materials EU research project with the participation of the University of Hohenheim searches for new, sustainable food additives and packaging materials from seaweeds and seagrasses. Algae (or seaweeds) already serve as a source of raw materials for stabilizers or thickening and gelling agents, such as agar, alginate, and carrageenan. However, research is also increasingly interested in their potential as a carbohydrate source for bioplastic development. These are not only biodegradable, but their properties…

Max Planck Innovation licenses process for the generation of organ-like tissue aggregates to biotech company StemoniX ***Sometimes hundreds of thousands of potential therapeutics need to be tested in large-scale, fully automated experiments to identify a single effective drug. Most compounds do not work as desired, and some are even toxic. Since the development of the induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cell technology in 2006, researchers have been able to produce stem cells from skin biopsies and blood samples. To approach physiological…

Demand for mycorrhizal fungi in gardening and landscaping tasks is steadily climbing, given its ability to boost growth and yield as a natural fertilizer. In a successful first, scientists from the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB), partnered the INOQ GmbH and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) to develop a mycorrhiza substrate for commercial tomato production. Large-scale trials revealed that the fruit crop of mycorrhizal plants outperformed non-mycorrhizal control plants in terms of quality…