Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), narrow strips of single-layer graphene, have interesting physical, electrical, thermal, and optical properties because of the interplay between their crystal and electronic structures. These novel characteristics have pushed them to the forefront in the search for ways to advance next-generation nanotechnologies. While bottom-up fabrication techniques now allow the synthesis of a broad range of graphene nanoribbons that feature well-defined edge geometries, widths, and heteroatom incorporations, the question of whether or not structural disorder is present in these…

 … is released by UK university spin-out company. A digital tool that will make it cheaper, safer and faster to develop new medicines is being rolled out by scientists from the University of Bath in the UK. A cutting-edge digital tool that will make it cheaper, safer and faster for pharmaceutical companies to predict protein stability – a vital step in the development of new medicines – is being rolled out by scientists from the UK’s University of Bath through…

Comprehensive electronic-structure methods review featured in Nature Materials. Over the past 20 years, first-principles simulations have become powerful, widely used tools in many, diverse fields of science and engineering. From nanotechnology to planetary science, from metallurgy to quantum materials, they have accelerated the identification, characterization, and optimization of materials enormously. They have led to astonishing predictions–from ultrafast thermal transport to electron-phonon mediated superconductivity in hydrides to the emergence of flat bands in twisted-bilayer graphene– that have gone on to inspire…

AMOLF scientists unravel noise-assisted signal amplification in systems with memory. Signals can be amplified by an optimum amount of noise, but this so-called stochastic resonance is a rather fragile phenomenon. Researchers at AMOLF were the first to investigate the role of memory for this phenomenon in an oil-filled optical microcavity. The effects of slow non-linearity (i.e. memory) on stochastic resonance were never considered before, but these experiments suggest that stochastic resonance becomes robust to variations in the signal frequency when…

Research team investigates molecular mechanisms of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disease. Motor nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain stem, which are connected to the muscles and control their movements, gradually die. The result is massive muscle atrophy, which in severe cases can lead to death in infancy if left untreated. Although the gene responsible for SMA is known, it is still unclear how exactly the loss of motor neurones occurs….

The “miracle of life” is most obvious at the very beginning: When the fertilized egg cell divides by means of furrows into blastomeres, envelops itself in an amniotic sac, and unfolds to form germ layers. When the blastomeres begin to differentiate into different cells – and when they eventually develop into a complete organism. “We wanted to find out whether the later differences between the various cells are already partly hard-wired into the fertilized egg cell,” says Dr. Jan Philipp…

Pheromones mediate asymmetric mating behavior in isogamous yeast. Researchers from the Max-Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology have discovered a surprising asymmetry in the mating behavior of unicellular yeast that emerges solely from molecular differences in pheromone signaling. Their results, published in the current issue of “Science Advances“, might shed new light on the evolutionary origins of sexual dimorphism in higher eukaryotes. Resemblant of higher organisms, yeast gametes communicate during the mating process by secreting and sensing sexual pheromones. However, in…

Complications can always occur during operations, sometimes resulting in death. A new project called KIPeriOP aims to minimize the risk of such complications. The project is based on digitized decision guidelines and self-learning algorithms intended to provide reliable risk assessment based on individual patient data. What is the probability that certain complications will occur, and how might they be avoided? The project is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Anja Hennemuth from the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS and Prof. Dr….

Experiments suggest evidence for novel patterns of electronic charge distribution in a kagome material whose handedness can be manipulated with a magnetic field. An international team led by researchers at Princeton University has uncovered a new pattern of ordering of electric charge in a novel superconducting material. The researchers discovered the new type of ordering in a material containing atoms arranged in a peculiar structure known as a kagome lattice. While researchers already understand how the electron’s spin can produce…

University of Colorado Boulder researchers have discovered that minuscule, self-propelled particles called “nanoswimmers” can escape from mazes as much as 20 times faster than other, passive particles, paving the way for their use in everything from industrial clean-ups to medication delivery. The findings, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describe how these tiny synthetic nanorobots are incredibly effective at escaping cavities within maze-like environments. These nanoswimmers could one day be used to remediate contaminated…

The mysterious ocean plastic sink. Plastics are a growing problem for natural ecosystems around the globe, and in particular for our marine and freshwater environments. Rivers are the leading source of plastic pollution, as it has been estimated that they deliver several million metric tons of plastic annually to our oceans from poor land-based waste management. The problem is that the estimates made for plastics flowing from the rivers are tens to hundreds of times higher than the quantity of…

Medical researchers at LMU have uncovered how signal proteins of the immune system regulate the development of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is one of the most common causes of death in Germany. The condition is characterized by the build-up of cholesterol and other fatty metabolites in the arterial wall directly below the endothelial cell layer, which is in direct contact with the bloodstream. This process results in constriction of the artery, which obstructs blood flow and can trigger heart attacks and strokes….

When gravitational waves were first detected in 2015 by the advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), they sent a ripple through the scientific community, as they confirmed another of Einstein’s theories and marked the birth of gravitational wave astronomy. Five years later, numerous gravitational wave sources have been detected, including the first observation of two colliding neutron stars in gravitational and electromagnetic waves. As LIGO and its international partners continue to upgrade their detectors’ sensitivity to gravitational waves, they will…

Scientists at the University of Groningen have trained an Artificial Intelligence system to recognize a specific pattern in skin biopsies of patients with the blistering disease epidermolysis bullosa acquisita. The pattern is characteristic of a specific variant of the disease which can cause scarring of the skin and mucous membranes and may lead to blindness. The new system is easy to use and is better than most doctors in making the diagnosis. A description of this AI system is published…

Imagine sitting out in the sun, reading a digital screen as thin as paper, but seeing the same image quality as if you were indoors. Thanks to research from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, it could soon be a reality. A new type of reflective screen – sometimes described as ‘electronic paper’ – offers optimal colour display, while using ambient light to keep energy consumption to a minimum. Traditional digital screens use a backlight to illuminate the text or images…

Boosting the body’s own disease-fighting immune pathway could provide answers in the desperate search for new treatments for tuberculosis. Tuberculosis still represents an enormous global disease burden and is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. Led by WEHI’s Dr Michael Stutz and Professor Marc Pellegrini and published in Immunity, the study uncovered how cells infected with tuberculosis bacteria can die, and that using new medicines to enhance particular forms of cell death decreased the severity of the…

A team of astronomers has released new observations of nearby galaxies that resemble colourful cosmic fireworks. The images, obtained with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), show different components of the galaxies in distinct colours, allowing astronomers to pinpoint the locations of young stars and the gas they warm up around them. By combining these new observations with data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, the team is helping shed…

The fully autonomous, mobile charging robot finds its way independently to the parked electric vehicle (EV) and supplies it with energy. The prototype developed by TU Graz and the Austrian companies ALVERI and ARTI Robots is intended to contribute to the widespread use of e-mobility. It sounds convenient. The EV reports the need for charging and a mobile robot sets out to supply the parked car with energy – completely independently and without human intervention. The search for a charging…

For the first time an autonomously flying quadrotor has outperformed two human pilots in a drone race. The success is based on a novel algorithm that was developed by researchers of the University of Zurich. It calculates time-optimal trajectories that fully consider the drones’ limitations. To be useful, drones need to be quick. Because of their limited battery life they must complete whatever task they have – searching for survivors on a disaster site, inspecting a building, delivering cargo –…

As the third-most lethal cancer in the United States, with only a 1% five-year survival rate for people with its most aggressive form, pancreatic cancer has long been a target of researchers who search for ways to slow or stop its growth and spread. Now, a team of Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have found that an anti-parasitic drug prevents pancreatic cancer’s initiation, progression and metastasis in genetically engineered mice. In a study published in the journal Oncotarget on July 6,…