/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Special care must be taken with illnesses during pregnancy, as not all drugs are safe for mother and child. This is why an international research team involving Empa is now developing nanomedicines that will enable safe and effective treatment of inflammatory processes during pregnancy. /news/2025-05-nanomedicines-safe-treatment-inflammation-pregnancy.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 21 May 2025 04:17:05 EDT news667019812 When two organisms live together so closely that they merge into a functional unit, this is known as symbiosis. In the "1+1=1" project, an international, interdisciplinary research team is investigating how synthetic symbiosis between microorganisms can be created in a targeted manner—and what this reveals about the formation of complex cell structures. /news/2025-05-paramecium-cyanobacterium.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Mon, 12 May 2025 10:45:09 EDT news666265504 Today, most of us carry a fairly powerful computer in our hand—a smartphone. But computers weren't always so portable. Since the 1980s, they have become smaller, lighter, and better equipped to store and process vast troves of data. Yet the silicon chips that power computers can only get so small. /news/2025-05-unique-molecule-smaller-efficient.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 01 May 2025 17:04:04 EDT news665337841 New research has uncovered how a simple circadian clock network demonstrates advanced noise-filtering capabilities, enhancing our understanding of how biological circuits maintain accuracy in dynamic natural environments. /news/2025-04-circadian-clocks-robustness-environments.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 15 Apr 2025 15:22:04 EDT news663949321 Rapidly increasing data traffic is placing ever greater demands on the capacity of communication systems. In an article titled "Ultra-broadband optical amplification using nonlinear integrated waveguides" published in Nature, a research team from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, introduce a new amplifier that enables the transmission of 10 times more data per second than those of current fiber-optic systems. /news/2025-04-amplifier-bandwidth-super-lasers.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 09 Apr 2025 11:00:28 EDT news663406261 From the grounds of a gas-fired power plant on the eastern shores of Canada, a little-known company is pumping a slurry of minerals into the ocean in the name of stopping climate change. /news/2025-03-ocean-dumping-climate-solution-industry.html Environment Fri, 21 Mar 2025 07:30:03 EDT news661760990 It has long been thought that only nerve and heart cells use electric impulses to communicate, while epithelial cells—which compose the linings of our skin, organs and body cavities—are mute, serving mostly as protective barriers that can absorb and secrete various substances. /news/2025-03-silent-epithelial-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 17 Mar 2025 15:00:07 EDT news661419001 A vast number of chemicals are registered for production and use around the world. But only a portion have been thoroughly evaluated for their toxicity due to time, cost, ethical concerns and regulatory limitations. /news/2025-03-toxic-chemical-toxicologist-alternatives-animal.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 12 Mar 2025 13:10:01 EDT news661000450 Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have invented an entirely new field of microscopy called nuclear spin microscopy. The team can visualize magnetic signals of nuclear magnetic resonance with a microscope. Quantum sensors convert the signals into light, enabling extremely high-resolution optical imaging. /news/2025-02-microscopy-based-quantum-sensors.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 25 Feb 2025 12:28:03 EST news659708881 At Texas A&M University, one research lab is changing the game of droplet microfluidics, a technique that involves conducting experiments in nanoscale droplets of liquid in a controlled environment. The team has developed a system that makes droplet microfluidics faster, lower cost, and more accurate. /news/2025-01-droplet-microfluidics-advance-key-generation.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Wed, 29 Jan 2025 16:43:06 EST news657391382 Scientists have taken a major step forward in tackling one of the greatest abiding challenges in chemistry, by learning how to program the self-assembly of molecules in such a way that the end result is predictable and desirable. /news/2025-01-scientists-molecules-potential-applications-drug.html Biochemistry Materials Science Tue, 14 Jan 2025 05:02:54 EST news656053363 Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Lithuania researchers, and scientists from Japan have developed a unique nanolaser. Although the dimensions of this laser are so small that its structure can only be seen through a powerful microscope, its potential is vast. With applications in early medical diagnostics, data communication, and security technologies, this invention could also become a key tool for the study of light and matter interactions. /news/2024-12-silver-nanocubes-enable-nanolaser-generation.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 10 Dec 2024 09:35:29 EST news653045719 Researchers have developed a highly sensitive detector for identifying molecules via their infrared vibrational "fingerprint." This innovative detector converts incident infrared light into ultra-confined "nanolight" in the form of phonon polaritons within the detector´s active area. /news/2024-11-chip-device-exotic-rays-2d.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 18 Nov 2024 09:34:13 EST news651144841 In a new study in Â鶹ÒùÔºical Review Letters, scientists have demonstrated a method to control artificial microswimmers using electric fields and fluid flow. These microscopic droplets could pave the way for targeted drug delivery and microrobotics. /news/2024-10-scientists-precise-artificial-microswimmers-electric.html Soft Matter Tue, 29 Oct 2024 08:00:01 EDT news649353436 Step aside hard, rigid materials. There is a new soft, sustainable electroactive material in town—and it's poised to open new possibilities for medical devices, wearable technology and human-computer interfaces. /news/2024-10-peptides-plastics-combine-energy-efficient.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 09 Oct 2024 11:00:01 EDT news647686220 As phones and computers shrink in size, our need for data storage and transfer is growing. Electronic devices have been powered by semiconductors for decades, but as the push to miniaturize continues, there's a limit to how small semiconductors can be made. /news/2024-10-materials-techniques-microelectronics-quantum-technologies.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 02 Oct 2024 14:44:32 EDT news647099067 Spatial transcriptomics has emerged as a powerful tool for in situ analysis of gene expression within tissues. However, current technologies still face several challenges, including high costs, limited field of view, and low throughput, significantly hindering their application in large-scale tissue research and the analysis of complex biological processes. /news/2024-09-custom-microfluidic-chip-reshapes-framework.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 13 Sep 2024 09:41:03 EDT news645439261 Researchers are studying chemical processes in nature to develop new, cleaner means of chemical production and computers that can communicate with the human body. /news/2024-09-nature-chemistry-health.html Biochemistry Fri, 06 Sep 2024 12:35:05 EDT news644844902 Fungi have more to offer than meets the eye. Their thread-like cells, which grow extensively and out of sight underground like a network of roots, offer huge potential for producing sustainable, biodegradable materials. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam Science Park are using this mycelium to develop a wide range of recyclable products, from wallets and insulation to packaging. /news/2024-09-fungal-mycelium-basis-sustainable-products.html Biochemistry Materials Science Mon, 02 Sep 2024 16:19:39 EDT news644512776 Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University report that they were able to successfully put tadpoles of Xenopus laevis frogs into a hibernation-like torpor state using donepezil (DNP), a drug approved by the FDA to treat Alzheimer's. /news/2024-08-alzheimer-drug-state-animation.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 22 Aug 2024 12:24:05 EDT news643548242 Researchers at Purdue University have trapped alkali atoms (cesium) on an integrated photonic circuit, which behaves like a transistor for photons (the smallest energy unit of light) similar to electronic transistors. These trapped atoms demonstrate the potential to build a quantum network based on cold-atom integrated nanophotonic circuits. /news/2024-07-atoms-photonic-transistors.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 29 Jul 2024 15:53:23 EDT news641487195 Minneapolis is on track to become one of the first U.S. cities to invest in biochar, a multifunctional, charcoal-like material said to help grow bigger plants, reduce storm water runoff and remove carbon from the atmosphere. /news/2024-07-minneapolis-edge-biochar-carbon-sequestering.html Environment Mon, 15 Jul 2024 09:50:01 EDT news640254360 Silicon computer chips have served us well for more than half a century. The tiniest features on chips currently sold are approximately 3 nanometers—a startlingly small size given that a human hair is roughly 80,000 nanometers wide. Reducing the size of features on chips will help us meet our endless need for more memory and processing power in the palm of our hand. But the limit of what can be achieved with standard materials and processes is near. /news/2024-07-defects-tomorrow-technology-candidate-generation.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 09 Jul 2024 11:05:03 EDT news639741901 Advanced materials, including two-dimensional or "atomically thin" materials just a few atoms thick, are essential for the future of microelectronics technology. Now a team at Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a way to directly measure such materials' thermal expansion coefficient, the rate at which the material expands as it heats. /news/2024-06-atom-thin-material.html Nanomaterials Fri, 28 Jun 2024 07:29:27 EDT news638778562 Filamentous cyanobacteria buckle at a certain length when they encounter an obstacle. This was discovered by the research group of Stefan Karpitschka, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and professor at the University of Konstanz. The results, appearing in eLife, provide an important basis for the use of cyanobacteria in modern biotechnology. /news/2024-06-bacteria-buckling-propulsion-based-adhesion.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:06:03 EDT news637833962 Researchers in the field of nanophotonics have spent significant time in recent years investigating fascinating concepts known as polaritons and/or plexcitons. These ideas revolve around the strong coupling of light photons and/or plasmons to excitons in semiconductor materials. /news/2024-06-strong-coupling-catenary-field-hybrid.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 14 Jun 2024 12:48:21 EDT news637588097 By modifying the genomes of plants and microorganisms, synthetic biologists can design biological systems that meet a specification, such as producing valuable chemical compounds, making bacteria sensitive to light, or programming bacterial cells to invade cancer cells. /news/2024-05-qa-sustainable-products-faster-artificial.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 30 May 2024 13:32:00 EDT news636294711 To enhance the fields of drug development and medical research, there has been a strategic pivot from traditional animal experiments to the adoption of novel in vitro models. These models meticulously replicate human physiology, spurring the development of microphysiological systems or Organs-on-Chips. /news/2024-05-multi-electrode-gut-chip-intestinal.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 29 May 2024 13:24:04 EDT news636207842 Life has transformed our world over billions of years, turning a dead rock into the lush, fertile planet we know today. But human activity is currently transforming Earth again, this time by releasing greenhouse gases that are driving dramatic changes in our climate. /news/2024-05-climate-life.html Biotechnology Thu, 09 May 2024 11:42:04 EDT news634473718 Nature consistently inspires engineering applications. Recently, a group of researchers from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) drew new inspiration from the vascular network and developed a new type of fluidic system named VasFluidics. /news/2024-05-fluidic-advances-artificial-blood-vessels.html Biotechnology Thu, 09 May 2024 10:05:52 EDT news634467945