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What causes the weathering of the Mars moon Phobos? Results from TU Wien give new insights, soon a spacecraft will retrieve soil samples. Of course, there is no weather in our sense of the word in space - nevertheless, soil can also "weather" in the vacuum of space if it is constantly bombarded by high-energy particles, such as those emitted by the sun.

Crucial new technologies such as hydrogen production or carbon capture require new catalysts. Experiments show: It's not just the material that matters, but also its atomic surface structure. On the way to a CO2-neutral economy, we need to perfect a whole range of technologies - including the electrochemical extraction of hydrogen from water, fuel cells, or carbon capture.

Infrared light can be used to detect molecules - but it is hard to create strong, short laser pulses. A new solution was found at TU Wien. Ordinary solid-state lasers, as used in laser pointers, generate light in the visible range. For many applications, however, such as the detection of molecules, radiation in the mid-infrared range is needed.

For years, physicists at TU Wien have been studying strange phenomena - now they have found an explanation that could help to understand unconventional types of superconductivity. Materials can assume completely different properties - depending on temperature, pressure, electrical voltage or other physical quantities.

In order to analyze tumors, they have to be cut into thin slices. Now, a new technology has been developed that makes pieces of the tumor visible in 3D without cutting them. After cancer surgery, the crucial question is: Are there possibly cancer cells left behind that can continue to grow, or has the entire tumor actually been removed? To find out, the tumor is examined by pathologists.

Decades-old data is being used to describe the propagation of tiny droplets. Now a fluid dynamics team has developed new models: Masks and distancing are good, but not enough. 1/2 images Droplets with a viral load [Translate to English:] Tröpfchen haben begrenzte Reichweite, Aeorsole können aber größere Distanzen überbrücken [Translate to English:] Tröpfchen haben begrenzte Reichweite, Aeorsole können aber größere Distanzen überbrücken Wear a mask, keep your distance, avoid crowds - these are the common recommendations to contain the COVID-19 epidemic.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can become more efficient and reliable if it is made to mimic biological models. New approaches in AI research are hugely successful in experiments. Artificial intelligence has arrived in our everyday lives-from search engines to self-driving cars. This has to do with the enormous computing power that has become available in recent years.

A human research team and a machine learning algorithm have found that we need to rethink much of what we know about iridium oxide.

Electrochemical reactions, which will play an important role in the future of energy supply, can now be explained in detail, thanks to measurements carried out by TU Wien and DESY. 1/4 images The elektrochemistry team at TU Wien: Andreas Nenning, Harald Summerer, Alexander Opitz (left to right) (Copyright: TU Wien) 1/4 images The elektrochemistry team at TU Wien: Andreas Nenning, Harald Summerer, Alexander Opitz (left to right) (Copyright: TU Wien) 1/4 images A Perovskite thin film electrode, on a ZrO2 crystal - compared to a pen.

In a very unusual way, the electrical and magnetic properties of a particular crystal are linked together - the phenomenon was discovered and explained at TU Wien (Vienna). Electricity and magnetism are closely related: Power lines generate a magnetic field, rotating magnets in a generator produce electricity.

Why do different measurements of material properties sometimes give different results? A research team led by the TU Vienna has now found an important answer. It is very hard to take a photo of a hummingbird flapping its wings 50 times per second. The exposure time has to be much shorter than the characteristic time scale of the wing beat, otherwise you will only see a colorful blur.

How can you perforate an atomic layer of material and leave the one underneath intact? Scientists at TU Wien (Vienna) developed a technique for processing surfaces on an atomic scale. Nobody can shoot a pistol bullet through a banana in such a way that the skin is perforated but the banana remains intact.

A major international research project led by TU Wien (Vienna) shows for the first time that flooding characteristics in recent decades are unlike those of previous centuries Overflowing rivers can cause enormous problems: Worldwide, the annual damage caused by river floods is estimated at over 100 billion dollars - and it continues to rise.

For a long time, something important has been neglected in electronics: If you want to make electronic components smaller and smaller, you also need the right insulator materials. Ever smaller and ever more compact - this is the direction in which computer chips are developing, driven by industry. This is why so-called 2D materials are considered to be the great hope: they are as thin as a material can possibly be, in extreme cases they consist of only one single layer of atoms.

To fully exploit the potential of the "wonder material" graphene, it has to be combined with other materials. A new study investigates what is important for this. Graphene consists of a single layer of carbon atoms. Exceptional electronic, thermal, mechanical and optical properties have made graphene one of the most studied materials at the moment.

A particularly well-ordered kind of laser light can be created by turbulence, which is usually responsible for very disordered phenomena. It is a very special kind of light, which can be used for important measurements: so-called frequency combs play a major role in laser research today. While the light of an ordinary laser only has one single, well-defined wavelength, a frequency comb consists of different light frequencies, which are precisely arranged at regular distances, much like the teeth of a comb.

Advances in neuroscience research and microscopy: Researchers look deep into organs and nervous systems of animals, ranging from squids and worms to fish and salamanders. Analyses of individual cells in the context of whole organs or tissues is becoming increasingly important in biology. A standard approach so far was to cut larger tissues into thin layers, study each of these sections, and then piece the information again together into a 3D model.

Stimulating the vagus nerve in the ear can help relieving chronic pain. TU Wien and MedUni Vienna have developed novel, sophisticated methods for electric stimulation of the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve plays an important role in our body. It consists of various fibres, some of which connect to the internal organs, but the vagus nerve can also be found in the ear.

Using an ultra-thin gold layer, scientists at TU Wien (Vienna) succeeded in creating an almost optimal infrared absorber. Possible applications range from astrophysics to virus detection. Infrared detectors play an important role in research: many molecules absorb electromagnetic radiation in the infrared range in a very characteristic way.

Using microscopically fine 3D printing technologies from TU Wien (Vienna) and sound waves used as tweezers at Stanford University (California), tiny networks of neurons have been created. Microscopically small cages can be produced at TU Wien (Vienna). Their grid openings are only a few micrometers in size, making them ideal for holding cells and allowing living tissue to grow in a very specific shape.