Japanese scientists have - for the first time - developed an efficient way to make organic molecules that have so far been difficult to synthesize because of their overall bulky structure and general instability.
Spatial resolution of optical microscopy and spectroscopy is determined by how much one can confine light in space, which is usually restricted to about half-micrometer at the best due to the diffraction limit. However, light can be confined into nanometer scale by using metallic nanostructures through excitation of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR).
Our brains are notoriously bad at regenerating cells that have been lost through injury or disease. While therapies using neural stem cells (NSCs) hold the promise of replacing lost cells, scientists need to better understand how NSCs behave in the brain in order to develop effective treatments.
Now research led by the University of Plymouth helps to shed new light on the mechanisms used by NSCs to 'wake up' - going from their usual dormant state to one of action.
A new protein involved in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been identified by researchers at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS). CAPON may facilitate the connection between the two most well-known AD culprits, amyloid plaques and tau pathology, whose interactions cause brain cell death and symptoms of dementia. This latest finding from the Takaomi Saido group at RIKEN CBS uses a novel mouse model of AD. The study was published in Nature Communications on June 3.
In an increasingly connected world it helps to engage with other cultures without prejudice or assumption. This is true in engineering as it is in any other field, but UTokyo researchers reveal shortcomings in how intercultural communication is taught to potential engineers.
Forest conservation can be a source of tension between competing priorities and interests from forestry, science, administration and nature conservation organisations. The different stakeholders can create the public impression of disagreement with regard to the objectives and measures in forest conservation.
Aggregates of the protein alpha-synuclein in the nerve cells of the brain play a key role in Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases. These protein clumps can travel from nerve cell to nerve cell, causing the disease to progress. A team of researchers led by ETH scientists have now discovered how the body can rid itself of these damaging aggregates. Their findings might open up new approaches in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
Although we tend to think of them as solitary sojourners of the world, bacteria are actually very social organisms. In fact, the vast majority of bacteria live on surfaces by forming "biofilms": three-dimensional communities hosting thousands to millions of bacteria of such bustling activity that scientists describe them as "bacterial cities".
Some organic materials might be able to be utilised similarly to silicon semiconductors in optoelectronics. Whether in solar cells, light-emitting diodes, or in transistors - what is important is the band gap, i.e. the difference in energy level between electrons in the valence band (bound state) and the conduction band (mobile state). Charge carriers can be raised from the valence band into the conduction band by means of light or an electrical voltage. This is the principle behind how all electronic components operate. Band gaps of one to two electron volts are ideal.
An international research team led by the University of Liverpool has made a discovery that will help with the search for electric dipole moments (EDM) in atoms, and could contribute to new theories of particle physics such as supersymmetry.
Short lived isotopes of both radon and radium have both been identified as potential candidates for measuring EDM in atoms.