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By Susanne Filzwieser Why do large gas bubbles in viscoelastic liquids (such as polymer and protein solutions) rise so much faster than expected? An open question with great relevance for industrial production processes. Researchers at TU Graz and TU Darmstadt have now found an explanation. Further at the end of the text It is a puzzle long known among experts and very relevant in many industrial production processes: a jump discontinuity in the rise velocity of gas bubbles in so-called viscoelastic fluids.

Flavio Portwich (left) and Jun. Robert Kretschmer with a flurosescent polymer fleece. Serendipitous scientific progress "This discovery was literally a case of serendipity," explains Robert Kretschmer, Junior Professor for Inorganic Chemistry of Catalysis at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. "We actually wanted to use the substance for catalysis.

Scientists at EPFL and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have studied the chemical composition and origin - whether natural or anthropogenic - of aerosols in a region spanning from Russia to Canada. Their findings provide unique insights for helping researchers better understand climate change in the Arctic and design effective pollution-mitigation measures.

Researchers have developed an efficient concept to turn carbon dioxide into clean, sustainable fuels, without any unwanted by-products or waste. Instead of capturing and storing CO2, which is incredibly energy-intensive, we have demonstrated a new concept to capture carbon and make something useful from it in an energy-efficient way Erwin Reisner The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, have previously shown that biological catalysts, or enzymes, can produce fuels cleanly using renewable energy sources, but at low efficiency.

The shape of galaxies and how they evolve depend on a web of cosmological filaments that run across the Universe. According to a recent study headed by EPFL's Laboratory of Astrophysics, this cosmic web plays a much bigger role than previously thought. Across the Universe, galaxies are distributed along what's called the cosmic web, a complex network of filaments made up of ordinary and dark matter.

Scientists from The University of Manchester have managed to successfully make a transuranium complex where the central metal, here neptunium, forms a multiple bond to just one other element. Enabling study of such a bonding interaction in isolation for the first time is a key breakthrough for nuclear waste clean-up.

Q&As Alex Walls What exactly causes that 'skunky' odour emitted by cannabis production facilities, and what do these emissions mean for air quality, workers, and the general public? We should address these and other knowledge gaps while the industry is still developing, according to a new study led by Davi de Ferreyro Monticelli, a doctoral candidate in UBC's department of earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences.

Bioengineers at EPFL have found a way to radically increase the efficiency of single-cell RNA-sequencing, a powerful tool that can -read- the genetic profile of an individual cell. Single-cell RNA sequencing, or -scRNA-seq- for short, is a technique that allows scientists to study the expression of genes in an individual cell within a mixed population - which is virtually how all cells exist in the body's tissues.

Researchers from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have discovered a new clue in the search for the origin of life by showing that peptides can form on dust under conditions such as those prevailing in outer space. These molecules, which are one of the basic building blocks of all life, may therefore not have originated on our planet at all, but possibly in cosmic molecular clouds.

Heidelberg plant researchers discover cellular mechanism that extends the life of proteins Plants are tied to one location and need to adjust to their environment, including adverse conditions. Adaptive responses include synthesising new proteins and breaking down those that are no longer needed. For this task, plants use a considerable amount of energy.

A team from the University of Geneva has developed a new material that improves the performance of solid-state sodium batteries, a less dangerous and more durable alternative to lithium. The future of battery technologies lies in sodium. More sustainable than lithium - which currently powers most of our devices and vehicles - sodium is also abundant on the earth's surface.

Scientists at The University of Manchester and The University of Glasgow have today provided more insight into the possibility of establishing a pathway to generate oxygen for humans to potentially call the Moon or Mars 'home' for extended periods of time. Creating a reliable source of oxygen could help humanity establish liveable habitats off-Earth in an era where space travel is more achievable than ever before.

New research on generating oxygen from water found on the surfaces of other planets could help support future long-term missions to the Moon and Mars. Researchers from the University of Glasgow and colleagues took a series of gruelling flights into microgravity to study how the different gravitational pull of other planets could affect the process of electrolysis.

The human body responds to stress, from the everyday to the extreme, by producing a hormone called cortisol. To date, it has been impractical to measure cortisol as a way to potentially identify conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress, in which levels of the hormone are elevated. Cortisol levels traditionally have been evaluated through blood samples by professional labs, and while those measurements can be useful for diagnosing certain diseases, they fail to capture changes in cortisol levels over time.

Several layers of nanographenes stacked on top of each other: such functional elements could one day be used in solar cells. Würzburg chemists have paved the way for this. Graphene is a carbon material that forms extremely thin layers. Because of its unusual properties, it is interesting for many technical applications.

Breakthrough could enable large-scale manufacturing of nanomaterials for industry A research team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ÜBerkeley Lab) has demonstrated tiny concentric nanocircles that self-assemble into an optical material with precision and efficiency. Their work overcomes a longstanding problem in nanoscience - molecular impurities.

A pair of papers coauthored by Anima Anandkumar, Caltech's Bren Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, were selected as finalists for the 2021 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Gordon Bell Special Prize for High Performance Computing-Based COVID-19 Research. The annual award provides $10,000 from Gordon Bell, a pioneer in high-performance and parallel computing.

Researchers from Chemistry working with Integrated Graphene have developed a new glucose sensor that is cheaper and more robust than current systems. Researchers at the University of Bath working in collaboration with industrial partner, Integrated Graphene, have developed a new sensing technique based on graphene foam for the detection of glucose levels in the blood.

A Freiburg research team has developed the first material made of natural proteins that contracts autonomously Dr. Stefan Schiller and Dr. Matthias Huber from the University of Freiburg's liv MatS Cluster of Excellence have succeeded in developing a muscle solely on the basis of natural proteins.

Scientists at EPFL have developed a way to maximize hydrogen yields from biowaste, within few milliseconds. The method uses rapid photo-pyrolysis to produce hydrogen gas and solid conductive carbon from banana peels. As the world's energy demands increase, so does our consumption of fossil fuels. The result is a massive rise in greenhouse gases emissions with severely adverse environmental effects.