Rice study uncovers new ways to make ordered wafer-scale chiral carbon nanotube architectures. Chiral materials interact with light in very precise ways that are useful for building better displays, sensors and more powerful devices. However, engineering properties such as chirality reliably at scale is still a significant challenge in nanotechnology. Rice University scientists in the lab of Junichiro Kono have developed two ways of making wafer-scale synthetic chiral carbon nanotube (CNT) assemblies starting from achiral mixtures. According to a study in Nature Communications,…

A combination of two new substances effectively kills methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. “Antimicrobial resistance is a major problem, and being able to help solve it is really great,” says Amanda Holstad Singleton, a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Singleton is the lead author of a study that shows how a combination of two new substances effectively kills methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). These substances have been developed at NTNU and may become a completely new antibiotic that is…

Materials with enhanced thermal conductivity are critical for the development of advanced devices to support applications in communications, clean energy and aerospace. But in order to engineer materials with this property, scientists need to understand how phonons, or quantum units of the vibration of atoms, behave in a particular substance. “Phonons are quite important for studying new materials because they govern several material properties such as thermal conductivity and carrier properties,” said Fuyang Tay, a graduate student in applied physics working…

How up-to-date are such permanently connected IoT devices? By 2023, billions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices found their way into almost every area of life, industry and critical infrastructures. As these permanently connected smart devices process very sensitive data, their up-to-dateness is essential – especially in times of hacker attacks, data misuse or industrial espionage. In this context, a new Fraunhofer ISI study analysed data of 52 billion devices, their geographical location – and whether their installed firmware is…

Whether spider silk is stronger and tougher depends on the environmental influences to which it is exposed. Prof Dr Thomas Scheibel, Chair of Biomaterials at the University of Bayreuth, and his team have now published a study in which they show that spider webs are particularly robust in areas of heavy rainfall. They are now presenting the results of the study with 50 spider species in the journal Current Biology. In the course of evolution, spiders have developed “orb webs”…

Berlin based Start-up aims to bring down high levels of Serotonin. Serotonin makes you feel good. This neurotransmitter known as the “happiness hormone” regulates mood, sleep, and appetite. It also plays a key role in the gastrointestinal tract, where it is involved in regulating intestinal movement and the release of fluids that are important for the digestion and absorption of nutrients. But too much serotonin causes health problems. An oversupply of the hormone can disrupt normal bodily functions and trigger…

Coal is an abundant resource in the United States that has, unfortunately, contributed to climate change through its use as a fossil fuel. As the country transitions to other means of energy production, it will be important to consider and reevaluate coal’s economic role. A joint research effort from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has shown how coal can play a vital role in next-generation…

Professor Gernot Friedrichs from Kiel University has developed a new approach for making interfering signals in laser absorption spectroscopy invisible. Laser-based absorption spectroscopy is an important method for determining the concentration of gas components in a sample. Modern devices are highly specialised for detecting very specific gases, such as trace gases in the atmosphere, in combustion exhaust fumes and in technical applications of plasmas. In order to do so, they measure the proportion of light of a specific wavelength that…

Once upon a cosmic time, scientists assumed that stars apply an eternal magnetic brake, causing an endless slowdown of their rotation. With new observations and sophisticated methods, they now peeked into a star’s magnetic secrets and found it isn’t what they expected. The cosmic hotspots for finding alien neighbors might be around stars hitting their midlife crisis and beyond. This groundbreaking study, shedding light on magnetic phenomena and habitable environments, has been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. In 1995,…

‘It’s a useful planet because it may be like an early Earth’ A team of astronomers have discovered a planet closer and younger than any other Earth-sized world yet identified. It’s a remarkably hot world whose proximity to our own planet and to a star like our sun mark it as a unique opportunity to study how planets evolve. Young, hot, Earth-sized planet HD 63433d sits close to its star in the constellation Ursa Major, while two neighboring, mini-Neptune-sized planets…

By capturing more detailed thermal information, new approach could be useful for autonomous navigation, material identification, security and more. Researchers have developed a new technology that uses meta-optical devices to perform thermal imaging. The approach provides richer information about imaged objects, which could broaden the use of thermal imaging in fields such as autonomous navigation, security, thermography, medical imaging and remote sensing. “Our method overcomes the challenges of traditional spectral thermal imagers, which are often bulky and delicate due to…

Pitt Engineer receives $557K NIH funding for world’s first in vivo trials of metamaterial orthopedic implants. A civil engineer at the University of Pittsburgh is applying his expertise in bridges and infrastructure to develop new materials that better treat spinal injury, repair, and recovery. Amir Alavi’s proposal received a $557,000 boost from the National Institutes of Health to test the first “metamaterial” orthopedic implants. With an estimated 342,000 procedures per year in the U.S.1, interbody spinal fusion is a popular procedure to treat…

The layered crystal, CeSiI, with heavier-than-normal electrons is a new platform to explore quantum phenomena. Researchers at Columbia University have successfully synthesized the first 2D heavy fermion material. They introduce the new material, a layered intermetallic crystal composed of cerium, silicon, and iodine (CeSiI), in a research article published today in Nature. Heavy fermion compounds are a class of materials with electrons that are up to 1000x heavier than usual. In these materials, electrons get tangled up with magnetic spins…

Astrophysicists at the University of Jena are analysing the latest observational data from the Gaia space telescope and not only finding hundreds of new companion stars of exoplanet host stars, but also showing how these influence planetary properties. People in ancient times knew five planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, which they considered to be “wandering stars”. It was only with the Copernican revolution in the 16th century, the Earth itself also became a planet, orbiting our planet host…

Researchers at the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) have discovered a new quality control mechanism that regulates the energy production in human cells. This process takes place in mitochondria, the power plants of the cell. Malfunctions of mitochondria lead to serious diseases of the nerves, the muscles and the heart. The findings could contribute to the development of new therapies for affected patients. The results have been published in the renowned Molecular Cell journal. (umg) Mitochondria are the power plants…

In nature, most bacteria live on the bare minimum. If they experience nutrient deficiency or stress, they shut down their metabolism in a controlled manner and go into a resting state. In this stand-​by mode, certain metabolic processes still take place that enable the microbes to perceive their environment and react to stimuli, but growth and division are suspended. This also protects bacteria from, say, antibiotics or from viruses that prey exclusively on bacteria. Such bacteria-​infecting viruses, known as phages,…

Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Early Career Award 2024 goes to Johannes Karges. Dr. Johannes Karges (31), a chemist from Ruhr University Bochum, will be awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Early Career Award 2024, the Scientific Council of the Paul Ehrlich Foundation announced today. The prizewinner discovered how platinum-containing chemotherapeutics accumulate in tumor tissue, and how, from here, they can be activated using either light or ultrasound as triggers. Karges already provided preclinical proof of these methods, whose…

Help from artificial intelligence (AI) in observing marine mammals is crucial. Computers can count seals from aerial photographs with lightning speed and reliability. Based on their spatial patterns, the tiny dots on the aerial images can even be assigned to one of the two major species of seals in the Wadden Sea. That is shown in the thesis that marine biologist Jeroen Hoekendijk will defend on January 26 in Wageningen. “To better understand if and how marine mammals like seals…

RNAi therapy for viral respiratory diseases. A research team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM and the Hannover Medical School (MHH) have made significant progress in developing a new antiviral therapy. The drug, which is inhaled, uses RNAi to target and deactivate parainfluenza viruses before they multiply. Parainfluenza viruses can trigger serious respiratory illnesses, especially in people with weakened immune systems and in children. There are currently few effective treatment options for patients except for bed…

Researchers from Bonn and Munich also find “thermostat” in the animals’ brains. Zebrafish are smaller than your little finger, with a brain no more than half the size of a pinhead. Yet these animals possess an efficient navigation system that enables them to find their way back to spots in the water where the temperature suits them. This has been revealed in a recent study by the University of Bonn and University Hospital Bonn together with the Technical University of…