Eating lots of fats increases the risk of metabolic disorders, but the mechanisms behind the problem have not been well understood. Now, University of California, Irvine biologists have made a key finding about how to ward off harmful effects caused by a high-fat diet. Their study appears in Nature Communications.

The UC Irvine research centered on a protein complex called AMPK, which senses the body’s nutrition and takes action to keep it balanced. For example, if AMPK detects that glucose is low, it can boost lipid breakdown to produce energy in its place...

Like batteries, fuel cells produce energy through an electrochemical process. Unlike batteries, they don’t run down or require recharging. However, the potential advantages of fuel cells are offset by challenges that include cost, performance and durability.

Michigan Technological University researcher Yun Hang ...

The early universe was a rambunctious place where galaxies ofte...

An international group of researchers has created a mixed magnon state in an organic hybrid perovskite material by utilizing the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya-Interaction (DMI). The resulting material has potential for processing and storing quantum computing information. The work also expands the number of potential materials that can be used to create hybrid magnonic systems.

In magnetic materials, quasi-particles called magnons direct the electron spin within the material. There are two types of magnons — optical and acoustic — which refer to the direction of their spin.

“Both optical and acoustic magnons propagate spin waves in antiferromagnets,” says Dali Sun, associate professor of physics and member of the Organic and Car...