Renaissance of the incandescent light bulb?
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- Written by Georgios Ctistis
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Everyone knows the problems and the image incandescent light bulbs face. The most grave one is definitely the really bad energy efficiency. Their light emission is done by heating up a filament (mostly tungsten) to 2700 °C. The filament then glows bright white, and its spectrum resembles a black body spectrum a very broad spectrum of light that provides a warm look and a faithful rendering of all colors in a scene. But more than 95% of the energy put into the wire is wasted, predominantly as heat.
Optical control of excitation waves in cardiac tissue
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- Written by Georgios Ctistis
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A team of researchers from Oxford University (UK) and Stony Brook University (USA) presented a new way to manipulate the electric signals that regulate the heartbeat by light, which has been published in the leading scientific journal Nature Photonics (Nature Photon. 9, 813 (2015)).
This is a breakthrough and could mean a new treatment in cardiac arhythmia, without having the patient to go through the use of pacemakers or defibrillators or even medication, such as beta blockers.
Stealth effect of nanocarriers for drug delivery vehicles conferred more efficiently
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- Written by Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung
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Scientists of the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) decipher stealth effect of nanocarriers evading clearance by the immune system.
New Transport Mechanisms Gain Access To Brain
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- Written by Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
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How cancer spreads throughout the body
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- Written by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
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The Nanoparticle Kitchen
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- Written by Dr. Karl Mandel
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Adding specially designed nanoparticles will have a great influence on your product´s performance. Fraunhofer ISC provides consulting and technical support in generating and processing various nanoparticles for value-added products by utilizing special ingredients and modern equipment. With an extensive pilot line equipment Fraunhofer ISC can support customers with synthesis, modification as well as dispersion of nanoparticles in different upscaling stages. This includes the development of customized nanoparticles, nanoparticles in dispersion and the refining of conventional nanoparticles. Additionally, Fraunhofer ISC provides further processing of particles for instance to composite materials. Customers are welcome to test their synthesis, upgrade or functionalize their own materials.
All Sugars Are Not Alike: Isomaltulose Better Than Table Sugar for People with Type 2 Diabetes
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- Written by Deutsches Institut für Ernährungsforschung Potsdam-Rehbrücke
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Potsdam-Rehbruecke – Like sucrose (table sugar), the natural disaccharide isomaltulose (PalatinoseTM) consists of glucose and fructose, but it is apparently more suitable for people with type 2 diabetes with regard to regulating blood glucose levels. This has now been confirmed in a new study carried out by the German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE), a partner in the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD). The study showed for the first time on subjects with type 2 diabetes that the favorable metabolic effect of isomaltulose is due to the almost opposing release profiles of the gut hormones GLP-1 and GIP*.
Small clumps in the body: how nanoparticles react to proteins
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- Written by INM - Leibniz-Institut für Neue Materialien gGmbH
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Scientists at the INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials have found out that the protein haemoglobin influences the aggregation of individual gold nanoparticles to form clumps.
Electrical stimulation helps restore movement patterns
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- Written by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
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Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and EPFL, Lausanne have succeeded in restoring motor function following spinal cord injury. The researchers were able to show that coordinated muscle movement is the result of alternating activation patterns emanating from the spinal cord. Newly-developed implants, which use electrical stimulation to mimic these signals, were used to target and reactivate specific segments of the spinal cord. Results from this study have been published in the current issue of the journal Nature Medicine.*
Observation of Gravitational Waves
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- Written by Georgios Ctistis
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Finally, after they have been predicted a 100 years ago by Albert Einstein's general relativity theory and shortly before by Henri Poincaré, two scientific collaborations (LIGO and VIRGO) have measured the echo of gravitational waves, which were emitted by the merger of two massive black holes.
Production of an AIDS vaccine in algae
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- Written by Dipl. Ing. agr. Ursula Ross-Stitt
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Today, plants and microorganisms are heavily used for the production of medicinal products. The production of biopharmaceuticals in plants, also referred to as “Molecular Pharming”, represents a continuously growing field of plant biotechnology. Preferred host organisms include yeast and crop plants, such as maize and potato – plants with high demands. With the help of a special algal strain, the research team of Prof. Ralph Bock at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam strives to develop a more efficient and resource-saving system for the production of medicines and vaccines. They tested its practicality by synthesizing a component of a potential AIDS vaccine.
New paths for generation of ultracold molecules
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- Written by Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik
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Scientists at MPQ produce an extremely cold gas of organic polar molecules.
Green Climate Fund as leverage for carbon price talks
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- Written by press releaseMercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) gGmbH
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2PP technology enables freeform 3D microstructures
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- Written by Fraunhofer-Institut für Silicatforschung ISC
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From 13 to 18 February 2016 the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC presents its competencies in materials and process development for optical applications at the German Pavilion, Photonics West 2016 (San Francisco). The outstanding Two-Photon Polymerization technology enables aspheric and freeform microstructures and thus opens up innovative and improved applications for optical systems.
The most accurate optical single-ion clock worldwide
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- Written by Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)
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Atomic clock experts from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) are the first research group in the world to have built an optical single-ion clock which attains an accuracy which had only been predicted theoretically so far. Their optical ytterbium clock achieved a relative systematic measurement uncertainty of 3 E-18. The results have been published in the current issue of the scientific journal "Physical Review Letters".
More measurement precision in a short time
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- Written by Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)
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Researchers from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) have thoroughly analyzed the noise processes in their optical lattice clock with neutral strontium atoms. This analysis proves that their optical atomic clock has reached the best stability worldwide thanks to a newly developed laser system whose frequency is extremely stable. This allows high-precision measurements in a short time and considerably facilitates the future reduction of the total measurement uncertainty down to a few parts in 1E18.