Category archives: Technology

A virtual Earth-sized telescope shows how science is changing in the 21st century

A virtual Earth-sized telescope shows how science is changing in the 21st century

AstronomyAstrophysicsPhilosophy of science

By Invited Researcher

In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration produced the first-ever image of a black hole, stunning the world. Now, scientists are taking it further. The next generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT) collaboration aims to create high-quality videos of black holes. But this next-generation collaboration is groundbreaking in other ways, too. It’s the first large […]

Emotional dampening of antidepressants

Emotional dampening of antidepressants

MedicineNeurobiologyNeurosciencePharmacy

By José Ramón Alonso

Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a neurotransmitter involved in various cognitive and affective functions. Drugs targeting serotonin transmission, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are the first-line pharmacological treatments for many neuropsychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety. These antidepressants increase the concentration in the synaptic space of this neurotransmitter […]

Extracting the stone of madness: the art of brain surgery in the Renaissance

Extracting the stone of madness: the art of brain surgery in the Renaissance

HistoryMedicine

By Invited Researcher

madness Authors: Chiara Bressan, student of the European Master’s in Clinical Linguistics & Adrià Rofes, assistant professor of neurolinguistics at the University of Groningen Imagine yourself tied to a chair. You cannot move, you are fully conscious, and a strange individual behind you is about to carve into your skull. No, you are not an […]

Controlling the magnetic anisotropy of a transition metal complex

Controlling the magnetic anisotropy of a transition metal complex

DIPC Electronic PropertiesNanotechnology

By DIPC

As candidates for high-density data storage and quantum computation, magnetic transition metal complexes have attracted extensive attention. It has been established that the atomic surroundings of the magnetic ions play a significant role and govern the magnetism of these magnetic complexes. One feature in particular, magnetic anisotropy, which describes the preferential orientation of the magnetic […]

Mermin–Wagner theorem for practical length scales

Mermin–Wagner theorem for practical length scales

DIPC Advanced materialsMaterials

By DIPC

Mermin–Wagner The demand for computational power is increasing exponentially, following the amount of data generated across different devices, applications and cloud platforms. To keep up with this trend, smaller and increasingly energy-efficient devices must be developed, which require the study of compounds not yet explored in data-storage technologies. The discovery of magnetically stable 2D van […]

Beyond lithium: magnesium rechargeable batteries

Beyond lithium: magnesium rechargeable batteries

ChemistryMaterials

By César Tomé

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 […]

Engineering quantum states and electronic landscapes

Engineering quantum states and electronic landscapes

Condensed matterDIPC InterfacesMaterialsQuantum physics

By DIPC

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 […]

Food systems on Mars are set to transform food on Earth

Food systems on Mars are set to transform food on Earth

BiotechnologyFood processingMicrobiologyPlanetary SciencePlant biology

By Invited Researcher

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 […]