news 2022

Domingo Carlos Salazar, molecular archaeologist and researcher at the University of Valencia, has participated in the first analysis of zinc isotope ratios (atoms of different masses of the same chemical element) in the dental enamel of a Neanderthal to determine his position in the food chain. The study, published in the journal PNAS, and led by a researcher from the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France, has determined that the Neanderthal to which the tooth belonged probably had an almost carnivorous diet.

Mainz University succeeds in the first round of the new Carl Zeiss Foundation Wildcard program / Researchers present an innovative approach for enhancing electronic devices 26 October 2022 Researcher

Researchers have devised a cheaper, more efficient, and sustainable way to produce a breast cancer drug in South Africa. The method is designed to facilitate the development of local pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities in South Africa that could serve the country and its neighbours. We were able to find a more efficient way to manufacture lapatinib..

A new imaging technique using quantum science may lead to novel drug therapies and treatment options, a recent study has found. Researchers at the University of Waterloo and supported by Transformative Quantum Technologies have demonstrated the feasibility of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance diffraction (NMRd) to investigate the lattice structure of crystalline solids on an atomic scale, a feat that had only been possible for larger-scale imaging applications like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

Researchers at ETH Zurich and Eawag have developed an approach to accurately record and fully track the biodegradation of plastics in soils. Modern agriculture uses a lot of plastic, especially in the form of mulch film that farmers use to cover field soils. This keeps the soils moist for crops, suppresses weeds and promotes crop growth.

Perand polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are chemicals that are commonly found in drinking water despite being hazardous to human health A team of Johns Hopkins engineers has discovered a method to filter out a class of harmful industrial "forever chemicals" commonly found in the country's drinking water.

Sampling seawater just below the surface of a seagrass bed in Quatsino Sound, British Columbia. Credit: Mike McDermid What can a bottle of seawater tell you about the fish living below? Seawater holds -memories- in the form of DNA from fish and invertebrates that have recently passed by. This information, called environmental DNA or eDNA, can be used by scientists to track species across space.

Data can be encoded as DNA but are difficult to process thereafter. A new method enables operations to be performed on DNA-encoded data directly, without having to first translate them into their electronic equivalent. DNA can be used to reliably store a vast amount of digital data. However, retrieval or manipulation of specific data encoded in these molecules has hitherto been difficult.

Researchers show for the first time: a specific group of cells in the tip of the root reacts to a manganese deficiency Every living organism needs the element manganese as an essential nutrient. In plants, for example, it plays a major role in breaking down water into oxygen and hydrogen during photosynthesis.

Chemical engineers at EPFL have developed a machine-learning model that can accurately predict the heat capacity of the versatile metal-organic framework materials. The work shows that the overall energy costs of carbon-capture processes could be much lower than expected. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of materials that contain nano-sized pores.

German Research Foundation approves second funding period for the investigation of polymer gels with a controlled network structure / New focus on biomaterial applications 17 October 2022 The Research Unit on Adaptive Polymer Gels with Controlled Network Structure (FOR 2811) has started work in a second phase.

Researchers have found that the irregular movement of lithium ions in next-generation battery materials could be reducing their capacity and hindering their performance. The team, led by the University of Cambridge, tracked the movement of lithium ions inside a promising new battery material in real time.

Safe, long-cycle-life batteries with high energy density are greatly needed with the rapid growth of electric devices and vehicles and grid energy storage demands. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have devised a method for the fabrication of all-solid-state lithium metal batteries, which have been recognized as the future choice of safe and high-energy-density power sources.

Simple microparticles can beat rhythmically together, generating an oscillating electrical current that could be used to power microrobotic devices. Taking advantage of a phenomenon known as emergent behavior in the microscale, MIT engineers have designed simple microparticles that can collectively generate complex behavior, much the same way that a colony of ants can dig tunnels or collect food.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an approach to accurately record and fully track the biodegradation of plastics in soils. Modern agriculture uses a lot of plastic, especially in the form of mulch film that farmers use to cover field soils. This keeps the soils moist for crops, suppresses weeds and promotes crop growth.

Producing fragrances and flavorings and converting chemicals derived from biomass could get a boost from a new technique to break up hydrogen in nanoporous copper-titanium catalysts. The dissociation (breaking up) of hydrogen bonds is an essential elementary step in catalytic hydrogenation ( a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen [H2] and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst ), typically requiring the use of precious metals.

Marleen van Stevendaal has researched how communication between synthetic cells and living tissue can be controlled using chemokines. Many things are already possible when it comes to mimicking organic cells. For example, Jan van Hest's group has developed a synthetic cell platform in which all kinds of cell aspects can be mimicked in order to better understand them.

Researchers at a Scottish university have found a way to use tiny particles of gold to measure the maturity of whisky, which could help distillers with one of the key challenges in the production process. Chemists and bioscientists from the University of Glasgow developed the test, which harnesses a unique property of cask-aged whisky to measure its maturity.

An early step in metabolic evolution enabled the emergence of ATP as the universal energy carrier, setting the stage for the origin of life, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. According to the findings published in PLOS Biology , a simple two-carbon compound may have been a crucial player in the evolution of metabolism before the advent of cells.

Researchers from University of Manchester used graphene as an electrode to measure both the electrical force applied on water molecules and the rate at which these break in response to such force. The researchers found that water breaks exponentially faster in response to stronger electrical forces.