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Here's a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial. From rowing the Atlantic, to uncovering how parasites move, here is some quick-read news from across the College. Endurance rowing In December 2022, a team including a PhD candidate in the Department of Bioengineering tested their endurance by rowing unsupported across the Atlantic.

Researchers have built a pilot-scale solar reactor that produces usable heat and oxygen, in addition to generating hydrogen with unprecedented efficiency for its size. A parabolic dish on the EPFL campus is easily overlooked, resembling a satellite dish or other telecommunications infrastructure. But this dish is special, because it works like an artificial tree.

Ammonia synthesized in sun-rich countries could facilitate sustainable ironand steelmaking   When it comes to sustainability and green steel, everybody talks about hydrogen. But current means of storing and transporting hydrogen request high pressures and low temperatures, which are both energetically and economically costly.

DNA replication is the process whereby cells make an exact copy of their DNA before cell division. A key part of the intricate DNA replication machinery is a molecular motor called CMG, which has the vital task of separating the two strands of the DNA double helix so that they can be copied. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from TU Delft has now developed a new methodology to assemble and image the motion of CMG with unprecedented resolution.

Publication of the CRAL in the journal Science on March 30, 2023. Communication of the CNRS-INSU on April 14, 2023. In this study, published in the journal Science , an international team involving French scientists from the Lyon Astrophysics Research Center (CRAL - OSUL, CNRS / ENS de Lyon / Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University) and the Institut d'astrophysique de Paris (IAP, CNRS/Sorbonne University) focus on one of the processes involved in the formation and evolution of galaxies.

Some materials convert photons into more free charges than would be expected. Using an ultrafast film, researchers have now been able to get a picture of this process. Physicists from the University of Würzburg were also involved. Photovoltaics, the conversion of light to electricity, is a key technology for sustainable energy.

Polypropylene, a hard to recycle plastic, has successfully been biodegraded by two strains of fungi in a new experiment led by researchers at the University of Sydney. Polypropylene has long been recycling's head scratching riddle. A common plastic used for a wide variety of products from packaging and toys to furnishing and fashion, it accounts for roughly 28 percent of the world's plastic waste, but only 1 percent of it is recycled.

Computer simulations have helped researchers understand in detail how pharmaceutically active substances cross cell membranes. These findings can now be used to discover new drug candidates more efficiently. Abstract Cyclic peptides are chemical compounds suitable as potential drugs. Scientists now know in detail how these compounds enter cells.

Professor, Department of chemistry and biomolecular sciences, University of Ottawa, Canada Affiliated Professor 2023-25 - April 21 to May 21, 2023 (Stays planned in January 2024 and April 2025) Inviting Researcher: Carine Michel Javier Giorgi is a Full Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Ottawa.

A research team of Freie Universität Berlin has shown how hydrogen molecules behave quantum mechanically when they collide with noble gas atoms such as helium or neon. In the study published in the journal "Science," the scientists used simulations to establish a direct link between measurements of atoms and molecules taken in experiments and theoretical models; the study includes both theoretical calculations and data from experiments conducted at the Technical University of Dortmund and the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel).

A UCLA-led study provides insights into how water might be formed by planets across the galaxy Science + Technology A UCLA-led study provides insights into how water might be formed by planets across the galaxy UCLA scientists and colleagues challenge the theory that Earth's water came from asteroids and comets colliding with our planet.

Clean drinking water is essential. Therefore, an international research team led by Dominik Eder has now shown how groundwater can be efficiently freed from pollutants such as glyphosate. Contaminated drinking water poses a major threat to our health. However, various pollutants such as pesticides, herbicides, hormones, medicines and other chemical compounds cannot be completely removed from groundwater with the methods currently available.

Twisted molecules play an important role in the development of organic light-emitting diodes. A team of chemists has managed to create these compounds with exactly the three-dimensional structure that they wanted. In so doing, they are smoothing the path for new and better light sources. They flash as a warning, glow red on standby mode, and light up your dinner table; light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have become indispensable in our daily lives.

Study by Freie Universität quantum physicist Professor Christiane Koch published in "Science" A Freie Universität Berlin research team headed by quantum physicist Professor Christiane Koch has demonstrated how hydrogen molecules behave when they collide with noble gas atoms such as helium or neon. In an article published in the journal Science , the researchers describe how they used simulations to draw connections between data from experiments and theoretical models of quantum physics ( www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.adf9888 ).

A team of researchers from the University of Toronto has created a triple-junction perovskite solar cell with record efficiency by overcoming a key limitation of previous designs. The prototype represents a significant advance in the development of low-cost alternatives to silicon-based solar cells, which are the current industry standard.

If one converts CO2 into synthesis gas, a valuable starting material for the chemical industry can be obtained. Researchers at TU Wien show how this works even at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Thinking of CO2, terms like climate-damaging or waste product probably quickly come to mind. While CO2 has been that for a long time - a pure waste product - more and more processes are being developed with which the greenhouse gas can be converted into valuable raw materials.

By Falko Schoklitsch A new type of meta-optics from Harvard has proven its functionality in experiments at Graz University of Technology. With it, it is possible to observe the smallest structures such as nanoparticles or transistors. Developed at Harvard, and successfully tested at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), a revolutionary new meta-optics for microscopes with extremely high spatial and temporal resolution has proven its functional ability in laboratory tests at the Institute of Experimental Physics at TU Graz.

In an advance they consider a breakthrough in computational chemistry research, University of Wisconsin-Madison chemical engineers have developed a model of how catalytic reactions work at the atomic scale. This understanding could allow engineers and chemists to develop more efficient catalysts and tune industrial processes - potentially with enormous energy savings, given that 90% of the products we encounter in our lives are produced, at least partially, via catalysis.

Reading time 4 min. Progress with organoids A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has induced stem cells to emulate the development of the human heart. The result is a sort of "mini-heart" known as an organoid. It will permit the study of the earliest development phase of our heart and facilitate research on diseases.

University of Queensland researchers are analysing compostable takeaway food packaging for potentially polluting chemicals. Associate Professor Sarit Kaserzon from UQ's Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) said little is known about the substances used in compostable paper or cardboard products and how they may impact the environment.