As important as remembering, it is forgetting. As Sherlock Holmes said the brain is like a room that you furnish with memories but where space is limited and unnecesary information should be erased. Much on how this erasing works is unkown, but a new study points out to a certain immune cell population in the […]
What differentiates us from our closest relatives and how are these differences caused? Scientists are trying to answer t his question by comparing the genomic information of us and our closest relatives . Yet, we are far from having a genomic explanation that justifies the observed phenotypic differences. Human Accelerated Regions (HARs) However, some findings […]
Condensed matter • Materials • Nanotechnology • Quantum physics • Theoretical physics
When two photons with the same energy interact with a nonlinear material, they “combine” and generate a new photon with twice the energy of the initial photons. More precisely, two photons at the fundamental frequency are absorbed by a plasmonic structure to emit one photon at the second-harmonic frequency. This is called second-harmonic generation. Second-harmonic […]
Too much of anything is usually a mistake, when we speak of a substance of abuse so common, and so easy to find as alcohol we can really get in trouble. Why do some indulge in too much drinking while others seem to easily control those urges is a valid question for which there is […]
We all know what glass is, don’t we? We just point to the nearest window and it is that transparent sheet. Humans have been producing glass for at least 6,000 years, way before they knew how to smelt iron. Actually, the chemistry is well known: to produce window glass we just heat a mixture of […]
Renewable energy sources are crucial to react to the continuous increase of energy consumption and pollution by carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. Biofuels, where the energy content is derived from a biological source, are one of the alternatives to oil and natural gas. Still, some biofuels are controversial, like biodiesel, because they imply cultivating certain crops […]
Author: Xabier Irigoien is the scientific director of AZTI In 1906 the First Sea Lord John “Jackie” Fisher launched the HMS Dreadnought, what nowadays would be called a school case of disruptive innovation. Not a new invention, but putting together the most advanced technologies at the time in engines, armour and weapons, the Dreadnought made […]
Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), are strips of graphene with ultra-thin width (<50 nm). Graphene ribbons, introduced as a theoretical model by Mitsutaka Fujita and coauthors to examine the edge and nanoscale size effect in graphene, have emerged as a promising material for nanoelectronics, as they combine many of the extraordinary properties of graphene with a high […]
Smartphones are our everyday travel companion. Be it for work, in our leisure time or to connect with family and friends they accompany us. However, for some this utility turns into a need. A need such that it could even be called addiction. New research from Heildelberg University has shown that smartphone addiction is also […]
In late summer last year my doctor prescribed a monthlong course of antibiotics for an infection. Medicines like antibiotics are great at wiping out bacterial infections. The problems is that these drugs don’t differentiate between eliminating the “good” bacteria that may benefit our health and the “bad” bacteria causing infection. I was absolutely miserable and […]