Category Archives: Technology
Topological Quantum Chemistry, the band theory of solids is now complete
Extended and refined by Bloch and others during the 1930s, Bloch’s theory, known as the band theory of solids, accounts very well for the conducting behaviour of materials. When atoms are joined together into a crystal, each of the individual […]
Materials for raising the temperature of the quantized anomalous Hall and magnetoelectric effects
Topological insulators are electronic materials that have a bulk band gap like an ordinary insulator but have conducting states on their edge or surface. The conducting surface is not what makes topological insulators unique, but the fact that it is […]
Brain tumours and the lack of molecular editing
When we talk about nucleic acids we generally think of DNA and RNA that code for proteins, and when we talk about brain cells we tend to think of neurons and their nerve impulse transmission. However, it is not news […]
Syphilis at Tuskegee
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by a spirochete, a bacterium, Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The main route of infection is by sexual contact but is also transmitted from the mother to the newborn in what is […]
Enantioselective polymerization of a biodegradable polymer using a substituted aminoacid as a catalyst
The idea that certain natural products such as rubber are composed of giant molecules, or polymers, consisting of many repeating units linked by covalent bonds arose largely from the work of the German chemist Hermann Staudinger (1881–1965) in the early […]
A link between straintronics and valleytronics in graphene
So-called “valleytronics” is a new type of electronics that could lead to faster and more efficient computer logic systems and data storage chips in next-generation devices. Valley electrons are so named because they carry a valley “degree of freedom.” This […]
LSD as a therapeutic agent for autism
Treatment of children with autism in the 1960s included shock therapies and many different psychotropic drugs. The results were bad: there was no positive change in those children although the treatments were occasionally maintained for years. Under these circumstances, more […]
Holidays, drug addiction...and cancer research
Cell signalling is the mechanism by which cells communicate with each other and with their environment. Stimuli, which are generally chemical, are transmitted via a signalling cascade to effector molecules that orchestrate the appropriate response. Signalling pathways are not isolated […]
Tuning graphene adsorption continuously
Since the discovery that graphene, the two dimensional carbon allotrope, can be isolated and incorporated into electronic devices intense research efforts have been triggered. Driving forces behind the experimental and theoretical studies of graphene are, e.g., the exceptional electronic properties, […]
Lung cancer can be detected through your nose
There is a word everybody fears and that is because when you listen to it out loud, it could be too late. Even though we have likely coexisted with cancer since complex multicellular organisms evolved, to us human beings, it […]