Researchers have demonstrated a completely novel state of matter in a metal. It is created by the combination of four electrons — until now, only electron pairs were known. This discovery could lead to a new type of superconductivity, an entirely new research direction, and revolutionary technologies such as quantum sensors.

An international research team from the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat-Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter has demonstrated a completely novel state of matter in a metal...

Ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) have very low luminosities, comparatively few stars, and little star-formation activity as compared with normal galaxies of similar sizes...

A new gene therapy targeting the small brain region where dopamine neurons reside, the substantia nigra, substantially boosts the benefits of the drug levodopa in Parkinson’s. The therapy restored the ability of these neurons to convert levodopa to dopamine. Scientists also showed how damage to the powerplants inside dopamine-releasing neurons triggers Parkinson’s. The findings may help identify humans in the earliest stages of Parkinson’s disease, develop therapies to slow disease progression and treat late-stage disease.

In late-stage Parkinson’s disease, the drug levodopa becomes less effective in treating symptoms because of the inexorable loss of dopamine-releasing neurons...

Scientists at ETH Zurich have built a plant that can produce carbon-neutral liquid fuels from sunlight and air. The next goal will be to take this technology to industrial scale and achieve competitiveness. In a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers from Zurich and Potsdam describe how this novel solar reactor functions and outline a policy framework that would provide incentives to expand the production of “solar kerosene.”

Carbon-neutral fuels are crucial for making aviation and maritime transport sustainable...