Article archives

Taste receptors: not only in the mouth, not only for taste

Taste receptors: not only in the mouth, not only for taste

Neurobiology

By José Ramón Alonso

The perception of food occurs when food enters the oral cavity and depends on the action of three complementary sensory systems: somesthesia (a group that includes mechanoreception, thermal sensation and nociception), retronasal olfaction and taste. Taste is one of the five classical senses, along with smell, touch, hearing and sight. One of the most common […]

Stable, high-energy-density and fast charging lithium-ion batteries

Stable, high-energy-density and fast charging lithium-ion batteries

ChemistryMaterials

By César Tomé

Convenient fast charging and energy density of lithium-ion batteries have long been considered a trade-off, which has hindered the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. A new process will help develop stable, high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries capable of fast charging. A crucial prerequisite for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is the enhancement of lithium-ion battery […]

MI weekly selection #562

MI weekly selection #562

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Evolution may have moved energy to brain from ovaries Human brain growth may have taken off by seizing energy left after ovarian follicles adapted to require less fuel. The math shows that evolution freed up about the same amount of energy from follicular maintenance that human brains needed to reach their current size. Full Story: […]

An odd nonlinear conductivity in chiral tellurium

An odd nonlinear conductivity in chiral tellurium

DIPC Advanced materialsDIPC Interfaces

By DIPC

Electrical transport in non-centrosymmetric materials departs from the well-established phenomenological Ohm’s law. Instead of a linear relation between current and electric field, a non-linear conductivity emerges along specific crystallographic directions. This non-linear transport is fundamentally related to the lack of spatial inversion symmetry. Ohm’s law is one of the most established relations in Physics and […]

Triple-decker antiaromatic π-stacking leads to a liquid crystal

Triple-decker antiaromatic π-stacking leads to a liquid crystal

Chemistry

By César Tomé

In organic chemistry, π-stacking systems are supramolecular structures that arise due to the dispersion force, a type of intermolecular noncovalent interaction. They are a common occurrence in nature. The stabilized structure of DNA is a very prominent example of a π-stacking system, and so are the arrangement of amino acids in certain proteins. Interestingly, π-stacking […]

MI weekly selection #561

MI weekly selection #561

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Fossils reveal worm with toothed, retractable throat An examination of well-preserved fossils uncovered in the 1920s has found a previously unidentified species of 10-centimeter sea worm with rows of sharp teeth covering a retractable throat that it could throw out to catch prey. Radnorscolex latus likely became extinct 424 million years ago and was the […]