Diagram of a six-stage cooling cycle for magnetic shape-memory alloys developed by researchers at the TU Darmstadt and the HZDR. Illustration: Alexey Karpenkov

A novel technology could provide a solution for cooling processes: refrigeration using magnetic materials in magnetic fields. Researchers have developed the idea of a cooling cycle based on the ‘magnetic memory’ of special alloys.

As a result of climate change, population growth, and rising expectations regarding quality of life, energy requirements for cooling processes are growing much faster worldwide than for heating. Another problem that besets today’s refrigeration systems is that most coolants cause environmental and health damage...

This is a liver section that shows liver fibrosis revealed by staining of collagen accumulation in a mouse with human like NASH.
Credit: UC San Diego Health

Researchers identify enzyme as responsible for onset and progression of fatty liver disease in mice and human clinical specimens. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered using mice and human clinical specimens, that caspase-2, a protein-cleaving enzyme, is a critical driver of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a chronic and aggressive liver condition. By identifying caspase-2’s critical role, they believe an inhibitor of this enzyme could provide an effective way to stop the pathogenic progression that leads to NASH — and possibly even reverse early symptoms.

The findings are published in...

This schematic of a neural network shows the assignment of rotational spectra (red bars at left) by an algorithm (center) to identify the structure of a molecule in the gas phase (right). (Image by Argonne National Laboratory.)

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have begun to use neural networks to identify the structural signatures of molecular gases, potentially providing new and more accurate sensing techniques for researchers, the defense industry and drug manufacturers.

This breakthrough work has been recognized as a finalist for a 2018 R&D 100 award. R&D 100 awards, called the “Oscars of Innovation,” are given out by R&D Magazine to the most significant innovations developed in a given year.

Neural networks – so named because they operate ...

Aftermath of the merger of two neutron stars. Ejecta from an initial explosion formed a shell around the black hole formed from the merger. A jet of material propelled from a disk surrounding the black hole first interacted with the ejecta material to form a broad “cocoon.” Later, the jet broke through to emerge into interstellar space, where its extremely fast motion became apparent.
Credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF

Jet appeared to move 4X faster than light. The supersharp radio ‘vision’ of a continent-wide collection of radio telescopes has answered an outstanding question about the aftermath of a merger of two neutron stars...