Lithium-ion batteries have remained unrivalled in terms of overall performance for several applications, as evidenced by their widespread use in everything from portable electronics to cellular base stations. However, they suffer from some important disadvantages that are difficult to ignore. For one, lithium is rather expensive, and the fact that it is being mined at […]
We, humans, have evolved pretty big brains compared to other mammals, and even compared to our primate cousins. Recent research seems to have found the reason for the higher number of neurons in our brains (about 86 billion). It appears that a single gene is responsible for our bigger brain. The Neanderthals are an extinct […]
Condensed matter • DIPC Interfaces • Materials • Quantum physics
Surfaces are at the frontier of every solid. They provide versatile supports for functional nanostructures and mediate essential physicochemical processes. Intimately related to two-dimensional materials, interfaces and atomically thin films often feature distinct electronic states with respect to the bulk, which is key to many relevant properties, such as catalytic activity, interfacial charge-transfer, and crystal […]
Biotechnology • Food processing • Microbiology • Planetary Science • Plant biology
Could we feed a city on Mars? This question is central to the future of space exploration and has serious repercussions on Earth too. To date, a lot of thought has gone into how astronauts eat; however, we are only beginning to produce food in space. Space launches are quite expensive. And with the growing […]
Gel-like materials that can be injected into the body hold great potential to heal injured tissues or manufacture entirely new tissues. Many researchers are working to develop these hydrogels for biomedical uses, but so far very few have made it into the clinic. To help guide in the development of such materials, which are made […]
Pain is a complex sensation that is mediated by both the peripheral and central nervous systems. In the peripheral nervous system, pain signals are generated by nerve fibers called nociceptors that respond to harmful stimuli. These signals are then transmitted to the brain through the spinal cord, where they are processed and interpreted as pain […]
Chemistry • DIPC Computational and Theoretical Chemistry • Materials
Nonlinear optics is concerned with the optical properties of matter subjected to intense electromagnetic fields. For nonlinearity to manifest itself, the external field should not be negligible compared to the internal fields of atoms and molecules of which the matter consists. Lasers are capable of generating external fields sufficiently intense for nonlinearity to occur. Actually […]
nicotine Author: Marta Irigoyen is a postdoctoral researcher at CIC bioGUNE Tobacco smoke contains a toxic mix of more than 7,000 chemicals. Among them, nicotine is a major cigarette component associated with human tobacco consumption and addiction. Despite not being a carcinogen (an agent that is able to generate cancer), several studies have reported the […]
At the end of 2022, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced they had observed a net energy gain through nuclear fusion for the very first time. This monumental milestone toward fusion energy represents a huge leap forward in powering our homes and businesses with the carbon-neutral energy source. But converting this scientific achievement into […]
A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change. The study of enzymes has provided us many of the prototypical concepts of catalysis, including the idea that a catalyst lowers the barrier to reaction and thereby accelerates the approach to chemical equilibrium, without altering […]