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Physics - 14.07.2021

Heisenberg Under the Microscope
The quantum movements of a small glass sphere could be controlled for the first time in Vienna by combining microscopy with control engineering, setting the course for future quantum technologies. A football is not a quantum particle. There are crucial differences between the things we know from everyday life and tiny quantum objects.

Physics - Electroengineering - 13.07.2021

Opening the gates to the next generation of information processing
New technology paves the way for improved information transfer in emerging 'magnonics' field Many of us swing through gates every day-points of entry and exit to a space like a garden, park or subway. Electronics have gates too. These control the flow of information from one place to another by means of an electrical signal.

Physics - Chemistry - 13.07.2021

Electrons in quantum liquid gain energy from laser pulses
The absorption of energy from laser light by free electrons in a liquid has been demonstrated for the first time. Until now, this process was observed only in the gas phase. The findings, led by Graz University of Technology, open new doors for ultra-fast electron microscopy. The investigation and development of materials crucially depends on the ability to observe smallest objects at fastest time scales.

Physics - Chemistry - 13.07.2021

Molecules in collective ecstasy
When fluorescent dye molecules nestle perfectly together, something completely new is created: an excited state distributed over many molecules. Such collective excitations can be used in a variety of ways - for organic solar panels, in sensors, for ultrafast data transmission or in microscopy, for example.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 13.07.2021

Galactic gamma ray bursts predicted last year show up on schedule
An artist's depiction of a hiccup in the magnetic field of a magnetar - a highly magnetized neutron star - that produces a powerful gamma ray burst visible from across the galaxy. UC Berkeley physicists have found an unusual pattern to these bursts that could help pin down the precise mechanism triggering the hiccups and generating the soft gamma bursts.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 09.07.2021

Scientists solve 40-year mystery over Jupiter’s X-ray aurora
A research team co-led by UCL has solved a decades-old mystery as to how Jupiter produces a spectacular burst of X-rays every few minutes. The X-rays are part of Jupiter's aurora - bursts of visible and invisible light that occur when charged particles interact with the planet's atmosphere. A similar phenomenon occurs on Earth, creating the northern lights, but Jupiter's is much more powerful, releasing hundreds of gigawatts of energy, enough to briefly power all of human civilisation*.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 09.07.2021

New Type of Stellar Grain Discovered
Unusual chemistry of grain could tell scientists more about the origin of Earth's water Scientists have discovered a new type of star dust whose composition indicates that it formed during a rare form of nucleosynthesis (the process through which new atomic nuclei are created) and could shed new light on the history of water on Earth.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 08.07.2021

Ancient star death unlocks 13-billion-year space mystery
In a world-first, astronomers from The Australian National University (ANU) have discovered evidence of a massive explosion that led to the destruction of a rapidly spinning, strongly-magnetized star.   The so-called "magneto-rotational hypernova" occurred around a billion years after the Big Bang and was 10-times more energetic than a supernova.    The breakthrough discovery, led by an international team of scientists, offers clues for why an unusually high concentration of metal elements were present in another ancient Milky Way star.

Physics - Mathematics - 07.07.2021

Zeitabhängige Berechnung eines Bose-Einstein-Kondensats
The term Bose-Einstein condensate describes a state of matter in which atoms or elementary particles combine into a single quantum mechanical object during extreme cooling. Science does not yet fully understand exactly how these macroscopic states - beyond the confines of traditional physics - develop from a thermal atomic cloud in just a few milliseconds and when statistical equilibrium is reached, according to Georg Wolschin.

Life Sciences - Physics - 05.07.2021

Researchers image an entire mouse brain for the first time
Advanced X-ray technology allows researchers to measure from synapse to whole brain level Researchers at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have imaged an entire mouse brain across five orders of magnitude of resolution, a step which researchers say will better connect existing imaging approaches and uncover new details about the structure of the brain.

Physics - Life Sciences - 05.07.2021

Nanomaterials shape and form influences their ability to cross the blood brain barrier - study
Nanomaterials found in consumer and health-care products can pass from the bloodstream to the brain side of a blood-brain barrier model with varying ease depending on their shape - creating potential neurological impacts that could be both positive and negative, a new study reveals. Scientists found that metal-based nanomaterials such as silver and zinc oxide can cross an in vitro model of the 'blood brain barrier' (BBB) as both particles and dissolved ions - adversely affecting the health of astrocyte cells, which control neurological responses.

Chemistry - Physics - 05.07.2021

Machine learning cracks the oxidation states of crystal structures
Chemical engineers at EPFL have developed a machine-learning model that can predict a compound's oxidation state, a property that is so essential that many chemists argue it must be included in the periodic table. Chemical elements make up pretty much everything in the physical world. As of 2016, we know of 118 elements, all of which can be found categorized in the famous periodic table that hangs in every chemistry lab and classroom.

Physics - 01.07.2021

A crystal made of electrons
Researchers at ETH Zurich have succeeded in observing a crystal that consists only of electrons. Such Wigner crystals were already predicted almost ninety years ago but could only now be observed directly in a semiconductor material. Crystals have fascinated people through the ages. Who hasn't admired the complex patterns of a snowflake at some point, or the perfectly symmetrical surfaces of a rock crystal? The magic doesn't stop even if one knows that all this results from a simple interplay of attraction and repulsion between atoms and electrons.

Computer Science - Physics - 01.07.2021

A new collaboration points to the future of data
EPFL and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) join forces to establish a new PSI research division: Scientific Computing, Theory, and Data. In collaboration with EPFL, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) is officially expanding its own focus areas and establishing a new research division: Scientific Computing, Theory, and Data.

Physics - 01.07.2021

Scalable manufacturing of integrated optical frequency combs
A collaboration between EPFL and UCSB has developed a long-anticipated breakthrough, and demonstrated CMOS technology - used for building microprocessors and memory chips - that allows wafer-scale manufacturing of chip-scale optical frequency combs. Optical frequency combs consist of light frequencies made of equidistant laser lines.

Physics - 30.06.2021

Multitalented filaments in living cells
Göttingen researchers investigate special properties of protein structures   The cells that make up our bodies are constantly exposed to a wide variety of mechanical stresses. For example, the heart and lungs have to withstand lifelong expansion and contraction, our skin has to be as resistant to tearing as possible whilst retaining its elasticity, and immune cells are very squashy so that they can move through the body.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 29.06.2021

First detection of gravitational waves from black holes swallowing neutron stars
For the first time, scientists have picked up the ripples in space-time caused by the death spiral of a neutron star and a black hole. University of Glasgow researchers played a key role in the international collaboration that made the detection possible. They contributed to the design of the detectors - the most sensitive scientific instruments ever built - and the advanced data analysis needed to provide an astrophysical interpretation of the signals.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 29.06.2021

The final dance of mixed neutron star-black hole pairs
Gravitational wave detectors have observed a new type of cataclysmic event in the cosmos: the merger of a neutron star with a black hole. The phenomenon was detected twice in January 2020. Several hypotheses could explain the existence of such mixed pairs. Further observations will be needed in order to settle the question.  Another missing piece has just been added to our knowledge of cosmic phenomena.

Electroengineering - Physics - 29.06.2021

Stretching changes the electronic properties of graphene
The electronic properties of graphene can be specifically modified by stretching the material evenly, say researchers at the University of Basel. These results open the door to the development of new types of electronic components. Graphene consists of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice.

Physics - Materials Science - 29.06.2021

This Crystal Impurity Is Sheer Perfection
Scientists at Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley design 3D-grown material that could speed up production of new technologies for smart buildings and robotics Crystallization is one of the most fundamental processes found in nature - and it's what gives minerals, gems, metals, and even proteins their structure.