Light emission from emitters is a valuable piece of information in a variety of sensing and detection techniques, capable of labeling physical and biological processes which occur in the proximity of the emitter. Furthermore, quantum technologies are currently exploiting the statistics of single-emitters light emission aiming at turning particular emitters into fundamental units to sustain […]
“ The dose makes the poison!” This adage, attributed to Paracelsus, explains a basic principle of toxicology: a substance can produce a harmful effect only if it reaches a certain “toxic” concentration. [ 1 ] In reverse, it also means that a substance is not harmful below this toxic dose, and can even be vitally […]
The question of the arrow of time has been on the table for centuries. The microscopic laws that determine the behaviour of matter (both in the classical and quantum regimes) are reversible. By seeing a video of a billiard board, with just a few balls, you will not be able to determine if the video […]
The discovery of superconductivity in 2D films dates back over 80 years. Initially, these were 2D metallic films deposited on inert substrates, but in recent times more exotic 2D systems have exhibited superconducting properties, such as the surface of topological insulators or twisted bilayer graphene. Superconductivity is caused by the interactions between atomic vibrations (phonons) […]
Think nothing. Your brain is always on, as your heart, liver or kidneys are, so thinking nothing is the closer you’ll get to a resting state for it, because even when we sleep the brain is quite active. We know that the interactions among different brain regions can be studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging […]
An electric current can be visualized as a flow of electrons through a conducting piece of material. The less the resistance the material structure opposes to the flow of electrons the better a conductor it is. Part of this resistance appears at the surface, where electrons first encounter the material; as with electromagnetic radiation – […]
The brain could be said to be an ubiquitous organ. So much so, that in the heart there is what is called the intracardiac nervous system. Now, a team of researchers at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia has created a 3D image of this heart’s brain in rats. So far that was not possible because […]
The cause of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is not known yet, but it is clear that there is a complex interaction between many genes and many environmental factors. Autism affects not only those aspects that are used for diagnosis: social interaction, communication, and restricted and repetitive behaviors, but also many other factors related to the […]
Future information and communication technologies will rely on the manipulation of not only electrons but also of light at the nanometer-scale. Squeezing light to such a small size has been a major goal in nanophotonics for many years. Particularly strong light squeezing can be achieved with polaritons, quasiparticles resulting from the strong coupling of photons […]
It seems that the genetic risk of an APOE4 variant in the APOE gene would not only increase risk for Alzheimer’s but also would increase the chances of getting infected by the COVID-19 virus. The APO protein is involved in cholesterol metabolism and the immune system. However, its precise role in Alzheimer’s disease is as […]