23 Mar 2020 |
Self-organizing, Self-healing Material of Magnetic Spinners
Jülich, 23 March 2020 – Smart and active materials can adapt their properties spontaneously in response to changing environmental conditions; these dynamically controllable properties have already led to a wide range of applications. Chromogenic materials, for example, enable window panes to darken automatically depending on the amount of light present, shock absorbers are able to adapt their dampening properties to prevailing road conditions with the help of magnetorheological fluids, and piezoelectric materials can be deformed by electric voltage, allowing robots to perform mechanical movements. An international team of scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich and the US research institute Argonne National Laboratory has now developed a new, active system of magnetic microparticles. The material self-organizes in a non-equilibrium steady state in the presence of a rotating magnetic field, and possesses potentially useful properties such as self-healing and controllable transport capabilities.
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28 Feb 2020 |
EU Promotes Further Collaboration with Russian Neutron Research
Jülich, 2 March 2020. Forschungszentrum Jülich will receive € 900,000 in funding to continue its collaboration at the Russian neutron source PIK in Gatchina near St. Petersburg. Cooperation in terms of European-Russian research with neutrons under Jülich leadership had already begun within the framework of the Horizon 2020 infrastructure project CREMLIN and will now be continued under the umbrella of the extended follow-up project CREMLINplus.
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24 Jan 2020 |
New Magnetic Interaction Discovered
Jülich physicists have discovered a new magnetic interaction with the aid of computer simulations. The discovery is not only important for basic research in physics, but the scientists also expect it to be beneficial in technical innovations. As an example, the interaction could help create special nanoscale magnetic structures. The so-called hopfions should enable the realization of neuromorphic computers, which are able to perform calculations in a highly energy-efficient manner modelled on the human brain.
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23 Jan 2020 |
How Cells Stay Clean and Tidy
Jülich, 23.01.2020. Tidying up and throwing away unwanted items is currently very much in vogue and can even, according to the author of a current bestseller, change lives. Without a doubt, regular clear-outs are also vital for cells: proteins and cell organelles that have become too old and no longer function properly must make way for new ones in due course. If this process is disturbed, cells may be damaged and neurodegenerative diseases can develop. A team of researchers from Germany and Norway has now published new findings on the cellular cleaning mechanism.
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04 Nov 2019 |
Science: Sensing magnetism in atomic resolution with just a scanning tunneling microscope
Jülich, 4 November 2019 – Scientists from the University of Strasbourg, France, in close collaboration with colleagues from the research centers in San Sebastián, Spain, and Jülich, Germany, have achieved a breakthrough in detecting the magnetic moments of nanoscale structures. They succeeded in making the magnetic moments visible with a resolution down to the atomic level using a scanning tunneling microscope, a device that has been standard in science for many years.
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B. Verlhac, N. Bachellier, L. Garnier, M. Ormaza, P. Abufager, R. Robles, M.-L. Bocquet, M. Ternes N. Lorente, L. Limot Atomic-scale spin sensing with a single molecule at the apex of a scanning tunneling microscope
Science (01 Nov 2019), DOI: 10.1126/science.aax8222
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19 Aug 2019 |
Protein aggregation: relevant not only for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease
Amyloid fibrils play a crucial role in neurodegenerative illnesses. Scientists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and Forschungszentrum Jülich have now been able to use cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to decode the spatial structure of the fibrils that are formed from PI3K SH3 domains – an important model system for research.
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Original publication: Christine Röder, Nicola Vettore, Lena N. Mangels, Lothar Gremer, Raimond B. G. Ravelli, Dieter Willbold, Wolfgang Hoyer, Alexander K. Buell & Gunnar F. Schröder, Atomic Structure of PI3-Kinase SH3 Amyloid Fibrils by Cryo-Electron Microscopy, Nature Communications, August 2019.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11320-8
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16 Jul 2019 |
Hidden Dynamics Detected in Neuronal Networks
Jülich, 23 July 2019 – Neuronal networks in the brain can process information particularly well when they are close to a critical point. However, experimental investigations of brain activity revealed much fewer indicators of such critical states than expected. Scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University have now proposed a possible explanation.
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Second type of criticality in the brain uncovers rich multiple-neuron dynamics, David Dahmen, Sonja Grün, Markus Diesmann, Moritz Helias
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (published 12 June 2019), DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1818972116
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