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    Tumultuous Migration on the Edge of the Hot Neptune Desert

    January 20, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Did hot Neptunes ever exist? While astronomers observe gas giants and small rocky planets close to their stars, the SPICE DUNE project is investigating the ‘‘desert’’ of Neptune-sized planets. © Elsa Bersier – CFPArts / ESBDi Genève

    All kinds of exoplanets orbit very close to their star. Some look like the Earth, others like Jupiter. Very few, however, are similar to Neptune. Why this anomaly in the distribution of exoplanets? Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS have observed a sample of planets located at the edge of this Hot Neptune Desert to understand its creation...

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    Harnessing the Healing Power within our Cells

    January 19, 2023, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    A close-up of several human cells
    E. coli bacteria. Image: Adobe

    University of Queensland researchers have identified a pathway in cells that could be used to reprogram the body’s immune system to fight back against both chronic inflammatory and infectious diseases.

    Dr. Kaustav Das Gupta and Professor Matt Sweet from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience discovered that a molecule derived from glucose in immune cells can both stop bacteria growing and dampen inflammatory responses. Dr. Das Gupta said that the finding is a critical step towards future therapeutics that train immune cells.

    The research was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

    “The effects of this molecule called ribulose-5-phosphate on bacteria are striking—it can cooperate with other immune factors to stop dise...

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    Engineers Grow ‘Perfect’ Atom-Thin Materials on Industrial Silicon Wafers

    January 19, 2023, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    A pink wafer has square holes in a grid. The wafer is repeated 3 times. On top left, green and white atoms randomly float around the wafer. In the middle, the atoms line up inside the square holes in triangular formations. On the right, a closeup shows the perfectly lined-up rows of atoms.
    Caption:By depositing atoms on a wafer coated in a “mask” (top left), MIT engineers can corral the atoms in the mask’s individual pockets (center middle), and encourage the atoms to grow into perfect, 2D, single-crystalline layers (bottom right).
    Credits:Courtesy of the researchers. Edited by MIT News.

    Their technique could allow chip manufacturers to produce next generation transistors based on materials other than silicon. Engineers fabricated 2D materials that could lead to next-generation transistors and electronic films.

    True to Moore’s Law, the number of transistors on a microchip has doubled every year since the 1960s...

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    The Mechanism of Cosmic Magnetic Fields explored in the Laboratory

    January 19, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Contours of magnetic fields that emerge a result of self-organization of microscopic currents resulting from the Weibel instability in a carbon dioxide laser-produced plasma probed by an ultrashort relativistic electron beam.
    Contours of magnetic fields that emerge a result of self-organization of microscopic currents resulting from the Weibel instability in a carbon dioxide laser-produced plasma probed by an ultrashort relativistic electron beam.
    Image courtesy of Chaojie Zhang, University of California Los Angeles

    A novel experiment sheds new light on a possible mechanism that may seed magnetic fields for the galactic dynamo. Recent research shows that magnetic fields can spontaneously emerge in a plasma if the plasma has a temperature anisotropy. This mechanism is known as the Weibel instability. This new research is the first to unambiguously observe the Weibel instability in the laboratory...

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