Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin)

Electrical currents can be now be switched on and off at the smallest conceivable scale enabling a new generation of ‘green electronics’ with the potential for great impact on the digital economy Robert Wolkow is no stranger to mastering the ultra-small and the ultra-fast. A pioneer in atomic-scale science with a Guinness World Record to

Norwegian scientists have unveiled a low-power autofocus lens for mobile phone cameras Mobile phone cameras generally aren’t known for their fantastic image quality. One of the reasons for this is the fact that most of them have fixed-focus lenses, as opposed to the autofocus lenses on all but the cheapest stand-alone cameras. The phone cameras

A special glass coating, inspired by spider webs, has been used in the UK for the first time. A lookout tower at Lindisfarne has installed it to protect the hundreds of species that flock to the island off the north-east coast of England. The Ornilux glazing reflects ultraviolet light which can be seen by birds

Buck researchers boosted the potency of a broccoli-related compound by ten times and identified it as a possible treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss affecting more than 10 million older Americans. The research, published in Scientific Reports, also highlights the role of lipid metabolism in maintaining the health of

Scientists from Jülich together with colleagues from Aachen and Turin have produced a memristive element made from nanowires that functions in much the same way as a biological nerve cell. The component is able to both save and process information, as well as receive numerous signals in parallel. The resistive switching cell made from oxide

Ammonium salts could provide a viable way of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere via carbon mineralization Removing excess carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere may be essential to curb severe climate change. Possible, but expensive, methods include burying the gas underground between rock layers or ‘scrubbing’ the CO2 in power station cooling towers before

Helping computers learn to tackle big-data problems outside their comfort zones Imagine combing through thousands of mugshots desperately looking for a match. If time is of the essence, the faster you can do this, the better. A*STAR researchers have developed a framework that could help computers learn how to process and identify these images both

Here’s a question that occurs only to madmen and geneticists: How do you get a gene that kills an organism to spread through a whole population of that organism? You can either make your gene deadly, and thus impossible to pass on, or not, and thus useless as a vector of attack. The solution has

Researchers at King’s College London have for the first time highlighted the natural regenerative capacity of a group of stem cells that reside in the heart. This new study shows that these cells are responsible for repairing and regenerating muscle tissue damaged by a heart attack which leads to heart failure. The study, published today

Laboratory studies by chemical engineers at UC Santa Barbara may lead to new experimental methods for early detection and diagnosis — and to possible treatments — for pathological tissues that are precursors to multiple sclerosis and similar diseases. Achieving a new method of nanoscopic imaging, the scientific team studied the myelin sheath, the membrane surrounding