Recent Comments

    Paving the way for Spintronic RAMs: A deeper look into a powerful spin phenomenon

    January 1, 2020, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Figure 1. An extremely simple MRAM
    An extremely simple MRAM

    The proposed combination of materials serves as a memory unit by supporting read and write operations. The spin injection by the topological insulator (TI) material reverses the magnetization of the ferromagnetic (FM) material, representing the “write” operation. Furthermore, the spin injection can also change the overall resistance of the materials, which can be sensed through an external circuit, representing the “read” operation.

    Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) explore a new material combination that sets the stage for magnetic random access memories, which rely on spin – an intrinsic property of electrons – and could outperform current storage devices...

    Read More

    Learning from the Bears

    January 1, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Grizzly bears’ muscles manage to survive hibernation virtually unharmed. Researchers are trying to understand the mechanisms behind this ability in order to help bedridden patients.
    © Gotthardt Lab, MDC

    Grizzly bears spend many months in hibernation, but their muscles do not suffer from the lack of movement. In the journal Scientific Reports, a team led by Michael Gotthardt reports on how they manage to do this. The grizzly bears’ strategy could help prevent muscle atrophy in humans as well.

    A grizzly bear only knows three seasons during the year. Its time of activity starts between March and May. Around September the bear begins to eat large quantities of food. And sometime between November and January, it falls into hibernation...

    Read More

    Giant Magnetic Ropes seen in Whale Galaxy’s Halo

    January 1, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Composite image of galaxy NGC 4631, the
    Composite image of the galaxy NGC 4631, the “Whale Galaxy,” revealing large magnetic structures.
    Credit: Composite image by Jayanne English of the University of Manitoba, with NRAO VLA radio data from Silvia Carolina Mora-Partiarroyo and Marita Krause of the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy

    Using the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array radio telescope, a team of astronomers has captured for the first time an image of large-scale, coherent, magnetic fields in the halo of a faraway spiral galaxy, confirming theoretical modeling of how galaxies generate magnetic fields and potentially increasing knowledge of how galaxies form and evolve.

    The international consortium, led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, and...

    Read More

    Calculating the Time it will take Spacecraft to find their way to Other Star Systems

    December 30, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Artist’s concept of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    A pair of researchers, one with the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, the other with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at CIT, has found a way to estimate how long it will take already launched space vehicles to arrive at other star systems. The pair, Coryn Bailer-Jones and Davide Farnocchia have written a paper describing their findings and have uploaded it to the arXiv preprint server.

    Back in the 1970s, NASA sent four unmanned space probes out into the solar system—Pioneer 10 and 11, and Voyager 1 and 2—which, after completion of their missions, kept going—all four are on their way out of the solar system or have already departed...

    Read More